Overview:
Four Colorado dancers ages 15 to 19 balance school, work and long rehearsals as they grow MAYÚKO, a K-pop cover group.
Ava Palm drives nearly 50 minutes to practice. Anna Heath juggles high school, college classes, work and Korean language school along with rehearsal. Myah Alexander balances accounting classes with dance, while Azul Brena helps shape the group’s visual style amid college courses.
Together, they make up MAYÚKO, a Colorado K-pop cover group whose members spend several hours each week rehearsing choreography, planning costumes and preparing for performances. The work can be exhausting, but Alexander said the nerves disappear once it is time to take the stage.
“The feeling of getting ready to go on stage is always a little bit nerve-wracking, but I’ve always had a lot of excitement for it too,” said Alexander, 19, an accounting student at Pikes Peak State College. “It’s like an adrenaline rush, just getting ready to burst.”
MAYÚKO’s four current members range in age from 15 to 19. In addition to performing, they choreograph routines, assemble costumes and create videos for a social media following of more than 4,500. Some of those videos have reached much larger audiences.
Heath, 17, started the group after struggling to find an existing K-pop dance team she could join.
“I always wanted to be in a K-pop group to meet people with the same interest and express my love of music through dancing,” Heath said. “I was too young, or I lived too far away from them to join them. So I decided to start my own.”
That decision has turned into a demanding schedule. Heath is a high school senior who also takes four classes at Pikes Peak State College, works several days a week, attends Korean language school and continues studying hip-hop dance.
“It’s honestly a lot,” Heath said, “but I would never choose anything other than this.”
Palm, 15, understands the balancing act. The Castle Rock sophomore joined MAYÚKO around the time she entered high school and began making the long drive to rehearsals in Colorado Springs.
“When I first joined the group, I had just gone into freshman year of high school, which the switch from middle school to high school is jarring, especially in my experience,” Palm said. “Balancing that, especially driving 50 minutes to Anna’s house and back at the beginning of my dance journey, was a lot.”
The group has since moved practices to a YMCA in Monument, cutting down Palm’s commute and giving the members a more central meeting point.
From practice rooms to festival stages
The hours have started paying off. MAYÚKO performed at the Colorado Springs Korean Festival in September, where the event featured K-pop performances and competitions alongside other Korean cultural programming.
The group also performed at Mile High Trick or Treat in Denver in October. Palm said one of the group’s biggest milestones came when MAYÚKO won a $500 prize in the Take It Up 2026 KonnectPop competition for a performance combining aespa songs “Armageddon” and “Whiplash.”
“We actually won the competition, the grand $500 prize, which was really exciting because that was our first competition that we went all together,” Palm said. “It was a very big milestone for our group.”
Some prize money goes back into the group to help cover rehearsal space and costumes, while members still pay many expenses themselves. Fashion has become part of MAYÚKO’s identity, too. Brena said her personal inspiration often comes from alternative fashion and characters from “Monster High.”
“I feel like it is a huge part of me, especially because I never really got to express that side of me during school,” Brena said. “Now, since I’m no longer in that school, I get a chance to be who I am and express myself.”
Heath said the members often study music videos and stage performances before deciding how they want their own version to look.
“We talk about what our mood board is, and we just kind of go off a theme,” she said.
Finding community through K-pop
The performances have also given the members something less tangible. Brena described herself as introverted and said social situations can drain her energy. Rehearsals with MAYÚKO feel different.
“The moment I’m there, it’s like, oh, well, I feel better and don’t want to leave,” she said. “I would say it’s like a safe space for me.”
Alexander said working through disagreements has also strengthened the friendships behind the group.
“We’ve been able to get through these things, and us speaking about our issues has made us stronger as a group,” she said.
Up next, the team is competing in the Turn It Up competition at the Pinnacle Events Center in Federal Heights, Colo., on Nov. 20-21, performing “Money” by Lisa. MAYÚKO now hopes to add members in early 2027. Palm said prospective dancers will be able to contact the group through social media and submit a short dance video.
Growing the group could also open the door to larger opportunities. One of their biggest ambitions is eventually performing at KCON, the international K-pop convention where dance-cover groups have been featured in competitions and fan programming.
“KCON is like the Coachella of K-pop,” Heath said. “I think it is one of our biggest goals, at least for me, but I know we all are pretty into this.”
