FKCC

Finnish K-pop Cover Championships is a dance competition aimed to give  experienced dancers an opportunity to showcase their skills in a high-level competition. Good indicators for a dancer's or group's level are the years of experience and the success in other competitions, but the final estimate of the level remains in the competitors' own experience. This competition is not suitable to be the competitor's first k-pop dance competition.

The competition is divided into two categories: solo/duo and groups. Solo/duo category is for a line-up that includes one (1) or two (2) members. In the solo/duo category, everyone must be an experienced k-pop dancer. Group category is for line-ups that have at least three (3) members. The biggest allowed number of members is ten (10). The group can partly consist of members that don’t see themselves as experienced dancers, if it’s no more than half of the members. The line-up of the group must be announced to the organiser immediately during the registration and may not be changed after the registration or during the competition (ex. between the pre-qualifying and qualifying rounds or between the qualifying round and final).

In exceptional circumstances (ex. illness and serious injury) change in the line-up is possible with the organizers authorization in the following ways: The dancer’s palace can be left empty and the performance is evaluated as is. In a case where the dancer had a bigger part in the performance, the dancer can be replaced by another dancer from the line-up leaving the other, smaller part, empty. The dancer can be also replaced by a dancer that was not in the initial line-up announced during the registration, if it’s possible before the deadline. All kinds of line-up changes made in exceptional circumstances must be notified as soon as possible to the organizer. The last day to send the details of the new member for the qualifying round is 30.4.2026. The schedule for sending the details regarding the final round will be announced closer to the event. 

2.1. Age

The competition is suitable for all ages. From all contestants below the age of 18, the organizer will ask for a guardian's approval to participate in the competition and permit to the possible photography and recording of the performance. Getting this information is a requirement for a minor to take part in the competition.

In a situation where the line-up of the contestant consists of only persons below the age of 15 (on the qualifying day 17.5.2026) they must bring one (1) guardian with them to the competition, who will look after the young contestants on the competition site. The organizer requests the contact information of the guardian before the qualifying round. The guardian will have access to all areas intended to the contestants. If the line-up includes at least one (1) person that is the age of 15 or older, the contestant is not required to bring a guardian to the competition site, if the person will look after the younger members of the line-up.

Every contestant is also allowed to bring, if they wish, one (1) coach or another supporting member to the competition, if it’s notified to the organizer by a certain date that will be announced in advance and if the role of the person is reasoned.

The registration to the competition is made by a registration form that will be published on the net. During the registration the contestants must report all the information obligatory that are marked mandatory. 

The registration form or other instructions for the registration will be announced in the organizers, Chingucon/K-pop Suomi ry, webpage (www.kpopsuomi.fi) and in social media (Instagram: @chingucon). The registration form will be open from Monday 19.1.2026 to Wednesday 28.2.2026. Any delayed forms will not be accepted. The registration will be accepted when the registration form is filled correctly and the organizer has confirmed the registration.

The registration form will request the following information:

• The count of the line-up

  • If the performance has backup dancers, the also the count of them

• The first and last names and birthdays of the dancers in the line-up

• The performer name of the line-up (ex. stage name of the solo dancer or the name of the dance group)

• The email of the contact person (we will send all info regarding the competition here)

• The competition music and its original artist (look at section 4.1.)

  • The music of the possible intro and/or outro, if it’s different from the main competition song

• Link to the reference video of the competition song (look at section 4.)

To participate in the competition the competitors are asked to record and send a registration video. The registration video is a part of the dance chosen for the competition and the part can be from any part of the performance. The minimum duration for the video is one (1) minute and maximum two (2) minutes (excess of a couple seconds is allowed, aka. a clipping margin). The registration video must be sent to the organizer’s email address stated in the registration form by 14.3.2026.

The video must be filmed in a single shot, with a fixed camera and directly from the front. Any editing of the video is prohibited. The background music can be added to the video afterwards if the original audio isn’t clear. Every member of the competing line-up must be visible on the video for its full duration. It’s advised to have unified clothing, since it will help the possible evaluation process of the judges. The clothes don't need to be the same as the performance clothes in the live-stages of the competition and the clothes will not be judged during the possible pre-qualifying round.

The registration video will not be shown publicly and will not be published after the competition by the organizer. Only the organizers and the judges will be able to see the registration videos.

3.1. Pre-qualifying round

The registration videos will be used in a possible pre-qualifying round, if all of the registered contestants don’t directly fit to the qualifying round. All confirmed contestants who have registered to the competition during the registration period (19.1. - 28.2.2026) and who have sent the registration video for the pre-qualifying round by 14.3.2026 will take part in the pre-qualifying. The judges of the competition will choose the resuming contestants by evaluating the videos with the scoring of the competition (look at section 6.) Every contestant will be informed of the result of the pre-qualifying round by email 12.4.2026 the latest.

3.2. Qualifying round

The qualifying round of the competition is in Arctic Lights Comic Con that is held in Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre Sunday 17.5.2026. The contestants will perform a version of their competition perfomance on site. It is possible for the audience to follow the competition. The maximum length of the performance is two and half (2,5) minutes. The performance isn’t allowed to include intro, outro or a dance break during the qualifying round.

The contestants are required to be on site during the competitor info, the performances and the release of the finalists. There will also be a rehearsal on the morning of the competition day, where the contestants can familiarize themselves with the stage (5 x 10 meters). The performance order will be drawn. More detailed information about the performance order, rehearsal and the qualifying day will be sent to the contestants closer to the competition day.

For the performance the contestants must provide the organizer the audio of their competition music as a ready to be played mp3-file. Other file formats won’t be accepted. It is advised to have the competition music also on the contestants phone (with AUX) or on a USB-stick for good measure on the competition day.

The contestants can be requested to provide additional information for the access control and safety of the competition site. Additional information can also include introduction materials for social media, the contact information of the guardians of young contestants and the photography/video recording approvals. Supplying the audio and the possible additional information is a requirement to participate in the qualifying round and possible final.

3.3. Final round

The final round of the competition will be held in Chingucon in October 2026. The finalists will perform a full version of their competition performance on site. It is possible for the audience to follow the competition. The maximum length of the performance is five (5) minutes. It is allowed to change the performance between the qualifying and final rounds by adding the intro and/or outro reported to the organizer in the registration form. The competitors are also allowed to perform the dance break included in the competition music in the final. The competition music must otherwise stay the same as in the previous rounds and the contestants can only add the intro, outro and/or dance break to the music.

The finalists are required to be on site during the competitor info, the performances and the award ceremony. There will also be a rehearsal on the morning of the competition day, where the finalists can familiarize themselves with the stage. The performance order will be drawn. More detailed information about the performance order, rehearsal and the final day will be sent to the contestants closer to the competition day.

If the intro, outro and/or dance break is added to the competition music, the finalists must provide the new version of the audio to the organizer as a ready to be played mp3-file. Other file formats won’t be accepted. It is advised to have the competition music also on the contestants phone (with AUX) or on a USB-stick for good measure on the competition day.

The competition is a cover-competition, so the performance must be based on the original performance as closely as possible. We recommend that the contestants  in the group category choose a song where the line-up of the members meet with the count of the group. In the solo/duo category the contestants can adapt the formations and transitions to suit the competing line-up better and they aren’t required to have as many dancers as in the original performance.

When registering to the competition, the contestants must provide a link to a reference video of their competition song. The judges will evaluate the performances by comparing to this video. The reference video can be any video of the original artist where the full choreography and the places of every dancer can be seen during the full video. Accepted videos are, example, dance practice videos, fancams and performances from music shows, if those are free from close-ups.

Own choreographic edits aren’t allowed (excluding intro/outro). These include changing the way the movements are executed, changing places/formations, changing the transitions, changing the acrobatic elements (ex. making those easier to execute or removing completely) and mixing the parts of the dancers (ex. changing the dancer who executes the vocalist during the performance).

The competitors can add spice to their performance and enhance the theme with an intro or outro. This refers to a clip of no more than one (1) minute that either starts or ends the main performance. It is possible to add both of these into the performance, if it can be executed in the maximum time frame of the final performance (5 minutes). The contestants can also perform their own choreography or performances from different survival-shows in this part. Intro and/or outro is only allowed in the final. Adding these to the performance isn’t mandatory and the main emphasis of the evaluation is in the main performance.

It is also possible to do lip-syncing. That means mimicking singing by moving lips to the rhythm of the competition song. Either all of the line-up (excluding background dancers) is lip-syncing or none. Lip-sync is allowed in the group category if it follows the original performance and the members execute it according to the danced parts. In the solo/duo category it’s allowed to lip-sync the parts of multiple artist members in a way that lip-sync is executed throughout the full performance.

4.1. Music

The competition music should be a piece by a k-pop artist. The language of the song is optional, as long as the genre of the song is k-pop. The music should be the artist's own work or a new version of another artist's song. It’s not allowed to edit the chosen song in any other way than to shorten it to match the allowed performance time. If the performance consists also of an intro and/or outro, all of the chosen songs should be by the same artist. The “same artist” rule also includes cases where the competitors unite solo-artists' song into a group song when the solo-artist is part of the group (ex. Nayeon & TWICE) and uniting subgroups of a certain group together or a subgroup to the main group (ex. BSS & Seventeen or NCT Dream & NCT U).

Two competitors aren't allowed to have the same competition music. The first to register the music is allowed to perform the chosen song. The reserved songs are going to be published in a separate list that is intended to be updated every 24 hours. The link to the list is shared on the registering form and in Chingucon Instagram (@chingucon) and we ask every contestant to check the list before registering into the competition. In a situation where we receive large amounts of registering forms at the same time, we unfortunately aren't able to keep the list up-to-date, so the contestants must prepare for a case where their preferred song is already reserved. Overlapping songs are intended to be notified to the contestants who registered the song subsequently in 24 hours of registration.

4.2. Background dancers (group category)

The use of background dancers is permitted in the group category if the original performance also includes them. This should be executed in a way that the full count of the competing line-up doesn’t exceed the maximum members in a group (10 members). The background dancers must be performing on the stage at least 50% of the performance. The number of background dancers does not need to match the original performance and formations can be made more sensible for the number of background dancers you use. Choreography movements may not be modified.

When using background dancers, it must be clearly distinguished, for example by clothing, which of the line-up members dance the parts of the actual members and which the backgrounds. The roles of the dancers must not be switched during the performance (ex. in a case where the group performs a song from a solo-artist, one dancer of the competing line-up will dance the part of the artist for the full duration of the performance). 

The clothing of the contestants should match with the theme of the competition music but it doesn’t need to be based on the original performance. Because of this we don’t need any comparison material of the clothes. Arctic Lights Comic Con and Chingucon are both events aimed at all ages so the contestants must consider this when choosing performance clothes and adhere to the limits of good taste. The clothing shouldn’t include anything that could smudge another surface or any parts that can be undone and fall during the performance onto the stage. The clothing will be evaluated as part of the expression of the performance.

The contestants can incorporate props into the performance if it’s also included in the original choreography. The competitors must pay attention to the props and that those are on the stage during the performance and that those are taken off the stage at the end. It’s prohibited to bring anything that could bring mess to the stage or anything that someone can slip into (ex. glitter, confetti, petals).

The performances of the contestants will be evaluated in three or four categories. Also the possible intro or outro is evaluated separately. The maximum score from one judge is, depending on the round, 30/32 in the solo-duo category and 40/42 in the group category.

The scores of each category, the full score and possible comments from the judges will be sent to the contestant after each of the live-competition rounds. During the qualifying round, the competitors won’t be notified about their placement in the competition. The awarded finalists (main 3) placements will be announced also publicly. The evaluation categories are:

6.1. Technique - 0-10 p.

This section reviews the technical performance of choreography, the way in which the movements are performed, and the skill level of the dancers in the following

areas:

• Execution of the choreography compared to the original

• Overall execution

• Balance

• Body control, agility

• Flow

• Durability, strength, energy

6.2. Expressions - 0–10 p.

This section evaluates the ability of the group to express themselves through dance, expressions and gestures in the following areas:

• Implementing the style and emotional state of the original choreography

• Presence and charisma

• Compatibility between the clothes, props, and other external elements, and in relation to the theme of the performance, music, and choreography

• Credibility and uniformity of lip syncing

6.3. Use of space, stage performance and rhythm - 0–10 p.

This section evaluates the use of space, unity and rhythm of the performance of the competing dancer/group in the following areas:

• Resemblance between your performance and the original

• Accuracy in performing to the music

• Staying in the rhythm during the full performance

• How the dancers use the stage and move in it

• Choreographical decisions

6.4. Intro/outro - 0–2 p. | Only on the final round

An intro and/or outro grants the contestant a maximum of two (2) extra points. In a case where the performance includes both of the add-ons, those will be evaluated as one addition. A possible add-on will not be evaluated compared to the original choreography, as it may also include choreography done by the contestant itself. When scoring the judges will evaluate whether it adds value to the main performance.

The next sections will be evaluated only in the group category:

6.5. Formations and transitions - 0-10 p.

This section evaluates the formations the group performs and the way the transitions between the formations are executed:

• Resemblance to the formations and transitions in the original performance

• Clarity of the formations and location on stage

• Fusibility of the transitions and presence

During the competition the organizer has the right to film and photograph the performances in the live-events and use this material in marketing. The organizer may use the recordings in their own website and in other publications and materials related to the association. More in depth recording plans will be announced to the contestants before the events when completed.

The recording and publication permit is issued electronically by the instructions given by the organizer. When using the possible recorded materials given by the organizer, it's mandatory to give credit to the original photographer and editor. If the contestant later wants to revoke their permission, this should be announced to the organizer in written form.