This month, a 45-woman dance crew traveled in a flash mob all through San Diego, wiggling towards Rihanna wearing ahjummas. The ahjumma is a cheerful stereotype of a colourful, usually mismatched middle-aged Korean lady carrying a solar visor and having quick, permed hair. , costume.
The group Ajumma EXP carried out to have a good time ladies of all ages for International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month.
This group was created in 2017. On her forty seventh birthday in San Diego, Lee Ann Kim wore a decent black high over black excessive heels, a skin-tight leopard-print skirt, and a padded bra to point out off her I used to be getting ready for a ladies’ evening out. .
Her buddies had different wardrobe concepts. They wore quick curly wigs, visors, and fancy garments. Kim, a former TV anchor, mentioned they “taunted her by saying, ‘Hey, ahjumma, you are over the hill.'” “So I went inside and altered her garments, and all of us went out that evening as ahjummas.”
That evening out sparked the concept for the flash mob dance group Ajumma EXP, which Kim based with the assistance of her buddy Sonia Chin and choreographer Melissa Adao. Now in its seventh season, the feeling the group turned viral continues to be going sturdy.
Ajumma flash mob at San Diego International Airport on March eighth.Gavin Dzau
“It was very liberating to not have to fret about how we have been seen and never have to fret concerning the male gaze. But on the similar time, there was no gaze. We actually It was an invisible presence,” Kim mentioned.
“BTS was beginning to come out, and BLACKPINK was already right here. And we selected the title Ajumma EXP as a result of it seems like Okay-Pop and EXP means a number of issues: expertise, experimentation, expression.” mentioned Kim. “We particularly selected hip-hop, not Okay-pop, as a result of folks have been anticipating us to do Okay-pop. And we additionally confirmed up in grocery shops and buying malls.”
They began with about 12 ladies, however now they’ve almost 50 ajummas from quite a lot of backgrounds, together with different Asians, Latinas, black ladies, and white ladies.
“I can not imagine how only a enjoyable, cheeky thought changed into a literal motion. There are so many ladies in several cities who’re like, ‘Oh my god, I wish to begin one thing!’ Masu. “Oh my god, you encourage me.”
Last 12 months, a video of Ajumma EXP’s flash mob to Missy Elliott’s “Work It” acquired almost 1 million views on Tik Tok. Kim mentioned ladies in different cities and even different nations have expressed curiosity in beginning chapters. Currently, the San Diego group is the one one.
On March 2nd, the ladies placed on their largest efficiency thus far. A sequence of flash mobs occurred at typical San Diego venues, together with Balboa Park, the San Diego Zoo, Fashion Valley Mall, and even inside San Diego International Airport. Forty-five ladies, carrying colourful patterned pants, curly wigs, visors, fanny packs, scarves and vests, threw themselves to Rihanna’s “Don’t Stop the Music.”
History of ahjumma
In South Korea, the place Kim and his co-founder Chin have been born, ahjummas are handled with respect, concern and even ridicule. The phrase roughly interprets as “spouse” or “auntie” and refers to ladies of their 30s to 70s who’re planning to get married, moms, and housewives.
Historically, these ladies have been those who raised their households whereas supplementing the labor shortages brought on by the Japanese occupation and the Korean War. As a consequence, ladies who lived by these turbulent many years have been stereotyped as brash and unfriendly, usually carrying black or colourful prints or visors to maintain the solar off their faces.
Short, tight curls are a visible shorthand for ahjumma. The roots of this coiffure date again to the Japanese colonial period of Korea, when perms, which have been solely out there at division retailer salons, symbolized wealth. Women have been relegated to house responsibilities, childcare, and incomes a residing, and with electrical energy in brief provide within the Fifties and Nineteen Sixties, perms have been a cost-effective, low-maintenance method to model your hair. In order to maintain the curls so long as potential, the “Ajumma perm” was initially set very tightly.
For Ajumma EXP, staying true to this stereotype is vital, even whether it is changing into outdated. “This costume is de facto an homage to the old school ahjumma,” Kim mentioned. “But should you present up wanting like an outdated lady, [people will think] “Oh my god, what are these women making an attempt to do–like Zumba?” And then you definitely’re like, “Oh…they only threw in some hip-hop strikes!” will get their consideration. And we’re simply making an attempt to show issues round for folks. ”
Today, as a consequence of demographic and cultural modifications, Korean ladies of their 40s, 50s, and 60s usually work in workplace jobs and cling to strict Korean magnificence requirements that emphasize thinness, good glass pores and skin, and excessive style. Still in compliance. The stereotypes related to the ahjumma have develop into so destructive that the time period is being phased out amongst post-war generations.
The first assembly of Season 7 Ladies will happen on Vinya in September 2023.provide
For Kim, it is vital that her time period lasts and that her wild prints and perms stay intact.
“Basically, the phrase ahjumma is beginning to disappear from the Korean vocabulary as a result of it is thought-about such a hateful phrase.” They deserve a lot extra love and a focus when you concentrate on what they’ve put collectively.”
She additionally mentioned they’ve a deeper mission. “Ajumma EXP isn’t just about placing a highlight on middle-aged ladies. Especially within the case of me and Sonia, we’re each Korean-American. It is about reclaiming the phrase ahjumma and making it a optimistic factor. , and redefining it as one thing we are able to personal.”
And Kim factors out that girls don’t should be a part of an official group to hitch the social gathering. She mentioned, “You ought to get a visor and a wig and exit with your mates for an evening like an ahjumma. It’s such a wild expertise.”