Tecktonik Is Enjoying a Revival

By Lee Seung-hee, Guest Reporter

“It is similar to the pleasure when we are eating barley rice instead of white rice.”, “Is it familiar?”, "It does not cause you to be ashamed rather promotes an image of sharpnes.”, and “Remember that you should be unfashionably dressed.” Do you know what these statements above have in common? The answer is the attraction of Tecktonik as an example of revival. Trends that repeat themselves are called a reactionary tendency. These days, one of the fads is Tecktonik which is well-known for being a dance with rhythmical movements as well as electronic music.

This fashion spreads widely and rapidly thanks to mass media such as User Created Contents (UCC), television, and popular songs. Without question, the contribution of the genre leads to its popularity. For example, Koo Jun Yup, called DJ Koo, is the most popular Tecktonik singer who is a former member of a group called ‘Clon’ and a CEO of a club in Seoul. In this perspective I provide specific information regarding where Tecktonik comes from. In addition, I discuss the ways in which the vogue implicates the sub-categorizations as well as its properties.


Introducing the Origins in Korea

When it comes to the word Tecktonik, it refers to a type of dance which is categorized as a blend which creates a new word by combining parts of the two different words. That is, the word Tecktonik combines “Teck” from Techno and “tonic” from electronic. From a historical point of view, the dance was initiated at the party called “Tecktonik Killer” in the club “Metropolis” in Paris in 2000. According to Cyril Blanc, one of the copyright holders, it was the club in France where the dance was first designed to adapt to the music Techno which had swept through Europe at that time.

Although music was varied at the time, some examples include Jump in Belgium, Hard From in Netherlands, Electro in Italy, and Tech House in Spain, people simply danced to the music. Therefore, alternative dance was invented that mixed and matched all of these genres of music by Cyril Blanc and his friends. After that, elements of Tecktonik such as music and reactionary tendency, were introduced and many young people followed the fashion, and in Korea as well. Park Jung-kyung (Junior, Dept. of Chinese Language and Literature) said, “It is a fantastic cooperation between the cheerful beats of the past and the movement with a sense of ideas for the present” Before long, it appeared in almost every section through a number of singers such as DJ Koo, Chunja, and Hwangbo.


Covering Wide Scope

Tecktonik is an umbrella term for a variety of scope as a culture. For example, it is not only for music or dance, but also for fashion style and as a marketing strategy. The first field of Tecktonik is music and dance. Having dealt with the origins of its music, there is no limitation to its genre since most music is suitable for dance. Instead, the dance is likely to have various movements focusing on hand or arm movements such as covering their face, poking the sky, and winding round. Song Ju-ye (Junior, Dept. of Geography) said, “I heard that the most important point is that your whole body moves freely and separately. Just feel free to move here and there with any kinds of music.”

The second one is fashion style. Bang Yeon-mi (Sophomore, Dept. of Food and Nutrition) said, “It differs from present style in terms of fashion. In the past, people wore narrow leg pants and were uncouthly dressed while, nowadays, it seems more modern. Even future-oriented clothing is suggested such as Uhm Jung-hwa’s.” As she said, a new style was created using fluorescence, neon color, on shirts or jumpers. Some people wear Mohican hairstyles which shows short hair cut except in the middle part, called Mohawks. Moreover, people would wear make-up like a star around one eye.

The other one is a marketing strategy. One of my interviewees, named Kim Min-jeong, (Senior, Dept. of English Education) said, “If you look at the advertisements of Lotteria, you could begin to understand the dance. Actually, when you start with this interview regarding the dance, I misunderstood that you were going to dance because you could attain a free gift from the fast-food store with UCC of the dance on the street.” As she mentioned, Lotteria, a fast-food chain, gives publicity to upload UCC which consists of Tecktonik dance of customers. It displays a strong bond wide spread of the dance with business as a product.


Involving Dynamic Characteristics

Along with this scope, Tecktonik has created a great deal of characteristics as well. For instance, there are reactionism, connectivism, and commercialism in this regard. The first feature is reactionism. Jin Dong-yun (Graduate, Dept. of Electironics and Computer Engeneering) said, “There is nothing under the sun. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again. Thus, if people are bored of familiarity of what they have now, then they seem to miss the past. That is the reason for the recursion of vogue.” He explained the reason why vogue repeats itself for Tecktonik. Moreover, another interviewee identifies the reactionary trend of Tecktonik in the advantage of economy. Yeom Da-jeong (Senior, Dept. of Education) said, “I never throw away old-fashioned clothes, rather I keep them because when the fad comes again, I could put them on again with only a slight repair. That is, it is a kind of sublimation of fashion in the past into adapted fashion in the present.”

The next one is connectivism. This trend encourages people to gather together. Im Sae-mi (Junior, Dept. of Political Science and International Relations) said, “It arouses peoples’ empathy among generations as an intersection. Since young people always seek something new, fresh, and creative, they finally recreate culture with the existing culture. For the older generation, they could have a more positive and familiar perspective concerning fashion, whereas for the younger generation, they not only draw creating new beauty in order to pursue originality through imitation but also attain affirmative social response to them.”

The last one is commercialism. Motorola, a cellular phone company, released their television advertisement which demonstrates the dance. Moreover, Jang Keun Suk and Ara show off the dance in commercial as models of the Etude, a cosmetic company. Kim Sang-ah (Freshman, Dept. of Applied Bioscience and Biotechnology) said, “When more than two people dance with this kind of song, it would be more fun. Regardless of their dance proficiency, all of them could enjoy the cheerful atmosphere itself.” Due to this simplicity it could demonstrate easily everywhere and brings advertisement effect.


Reviewing the Old and Learning from the New

Tecktonik culture distinguishes itself from simply returning to the past. Although it includes some elements which are almost the same as in days gone by, there are a number of noticeable distinctive features. Above all, the dance has a name that is blended and a different route of introduction. Besides, the trend has an effect on wide fields, such as entertainment, clothing, and marketing. Furthermore, it involves creating unique characteristics such as integrating with the past and the present, association among generations, and marketing strategy. Park Hong-kyun (Graduate, Dept. of Family Environment and Welfare) said, “It depends on the person who makes use of it. As same products can be shown differently either as luxury or as cheap goods, relying on its user, it can be diversely perceived and modernized.”

Likewise, there is a proverb which goes “Try to find a guide into tomorrow by taking lessons from the past,” in other words, “Review the old and learn from the new.” Kim In-hwan (Senior, Dept. of Political Science and International Relations) said, “It is a kind of combination between the past and the present.” Since Tecktonik not only accepts the components of the past but also adds them of the present bounding to the future, it is an adapted form of culture that acts as an example of fusion.