Katseye's Dance Effect

Paris Bahrami• October 28, 2025

“Gnarly,” “Touch” “Gabriela”– sound familiar? These names are none other than some of girl group KATSEYE’s most popular songs. Before creating these songs, the members were finalists on the competitive reality show The Debut: Dream Academy, where the winners would get to form their own K-Pop group. On the show, KATSEYE caught the attention of fans around the world due to the diversity of their members. They claimed that they wanted to take the “K out of K-Pop,” meaning that K-Pop’s distinct style did not have to be limited to only Korean members (Cosmopolitan). Their intricate moves and satisfying coordination also allows them to stand out in the pop music industry, and their talent resonates with many dancers. Recently, they were the main feature of an ad for Gap jeans that included an impressive dance sequence. Eventually, the ad’s influence made it all the way to Peninsula, where it had a notable impact on the Coed-Choreo team. The team felt inspired by KATSEYE’s captivating presence during their performance. While they enjoyed the ad and appreciated the messages of confidence and empowerment, the magnetic simplicity of the dance was what really caught the team’s attention.

Since their debut, KATSEYE has released many hit songs that have corresponding dances; the variation of genres the group practices diversifies their skills and widens their audience of dancers. Because their songs allow for a variety of matching dances, the Coed team hopes to use their songs at future performances. Sophomore Katie Faal, a student on the Coed team, described how the ad inspires her as a dancer.

“As a hip-hop dancer, I feel like all of our dreams are for us to be recognized as the main spotlight, not just a background dancer,” Faal said.“Singers and actors have always gotten their rightful recognition, and I think this ad will help dancers get the same attention for all the hard work we put in.”

KATSEYE’s dance uplifts Peninsula students both on stage and online, as social media feeds have been flooded with videos of students—like the boys football team— performing their own take on the dance.

Beyond being a purely creative inspiration, the ad has also inspired Peninsula’s dancers to believe that if they worked hard enough, they can also be as successful as the girls of KATSEYE, since they achieved their success through hard work. KATSEYE’s members were put through intense competition to prove they deserve a spot in the group, and now they get to live their lives as performers that they could once only dream of (Rolling Stone). Another member of the Coed team, junior Isabella Ebilane, mentioned how KATSEYE is influencing dancing groups as small as Peninsula’s to those at a global level.

“Since KATSEYE is a pop group, I think [their performance in] the ad will have a heavier impact on our dancing communities, especially on other all-girl dancing groups,” Ebilane said. “They help portray what us dancers who look up to them can achieve.”

It is clear that even if the ad was originally created to promote jeans, it did so much more by giving KATSEYE more visibility and the platform to inspire dancers worldwide. However, this Gap ad isn’t the only jean ad gaining traction as of now. Just this summer, actor Sydney Sweeney was the star of a controversial American Eagle ad that stated, “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans.” This expression sparked debates about the double meaning of the word “jeans,” referring to the idea that Sweeney’s “jeans” or “genes” were more desirable than those of others (Forbes). Yagi discusses how KATSEYE’s ad did much better than Sweeney’s ad and why.

“It was very obvious what [American Eagle’s] marketing team was trying to do [by focusing on Sweeney’s ‘jeans’]. [It] negatively impacted the feministic values [many of us] hold, while the Gap ad displayed a simple dance that shows the comfort and functionality of the denim,” Yagi said. “[In contrast,] the inclusivity of the KATSEYE ad succeeded at bringing dancers [and people] together.”

The difference between the two ads is the stark contrast in the way they chose to represent diversity. While American Eagle put people down by insinuating that Sweeney’s white, blonde, blue-eyed genes were “better” than other genes, Gap chose to advertise their product by uplifting the diverse populations of their viewers.

KATSEYE has had major impacts on fans and fellow dancers at Peninsula. They are one of the first ethnically diverse girl groups to reach such outstanding breakthroughs, with their EP Beautiful Chaos hitting number four on the Billboard 200 (Forbes). Their partnership with Gap has done nothing but good for their fanbase and growth as a group due to the creation of fun dance trends that are positively influencing the lives of both dancers and regular fans. Their harmony as a group is a key feature to their success, encouraging many students at Peninsula– not only to follow along with KATSEYE’s journey, but inspiring them to create journeys of their own.