Courtesy of Alexander Hoang

Yale’s first and only K-pop dance group Yale Movement performed its Mean Girls showcase today at the Off Broadway Theater.

The performance combined group dances with an accompanying video production inspired by the movie “Mean Girls.” The show featured Movement dancers and the accompanying film was produced by the creative directors Kaylee Chen ’27 and Jessica Liu ’25.

“The concept is really funny. But it’s bittersweet to know that this will be the last time rehearsing and performing with my friends. Movement has felt like a family for the past few years. I just wonder how much dancing I’m gonna do after this.” said Shen-Vey Lai ’24, who plays the character inspired by Regina George.

Recalling the chaotic production process, Lai said his most remarkable memory as the movie’s lead was shooting the scene where his character gets run over by a bus. The scene was filmed in front of the School of Music, near Cross Campus.

Lai jokingly recalled that many people watched him yell at the character Cady in public. Confirming that he did not, in fact, get run over by a bus, he credited the creative team for the post-production edit that depicted the accident.

The film’s screenwriter Kaylee Chen ’27 said that the toxic culture depicted in the movie contrasted Movement’s welcoming social scene.

“‘Mean Girls’ has a very dramatic plot, so it was funny transplanting that onto Movement,” Chen said. “Everybody is very welcoming, but you get to act like it’s a super cutthroat environment. People are getting pushed around, and all that.”

Chen said that coordinating the schedules of the actors, finding props and editing the scenes were challenging. The entire feature was produced during the school year. Given the difficulty of continuously reserving the same spots for a long time, the group had to film the production at various locations around campus. 

Founded in 2018, Movement has grown from a small dance club into an ever-growing presence on campus.

“K-pop has gotten more popular in the three years that I’ve been at Yale,” Josie Chan ’25 said. “The number of people auditioning is increasing, but we do accept people from different backgrounds. I, personally, didn’t dance before college. But we do have an audition process, and it has gotten a little bit more difficult to get in.”

Chan said that the group has been preparing the show for months and that the skit is integral to the audience experience.

For the first time since the club’s founding, all four shows of their biannual performance have sold out. The group is accepting audience members from the waitlist, amid the high demand.

Movement will perform two showings per day at 6 and 9 p.m. on April 11 and 13.