Boston Conservatory Dance Students Perform in New Music Video by Pop Artist Piao
Piao (center) with Boston Conservatory students Tula Johnson, Sofia Pargas, Yulia Maeda, and Sasha Powers (left to right)
Fresh on the heels of their collaboration at the KCON convention in Los Angeles last summer, Boston Conservatory at Berklee commercial dance students have again teamed up with pop artist and Berklee College of Music alum Piao (B.M. '20), this time for a new music video currently making the rounds on Vevo and MTV. Taking its cues from the digitized, candy-colored world of virtual pets that Piao played with as a little girl, the video for “Neopets” combines childhood nostalgia with video game sound effects and K-pop-inspired dance moves.
Boston Conservatory student Sofia Pargas (B.F.A. '25, commercial dance) choreographed the video, calling the experience “nothing short of incredible.” Collaborating directly with the songwriter helped refine the dance routine, better serving the theme of the song, she says. “I was able to communicate back and forth with the artist on how to incorporate her lyrics into movement, and add an engaging touch of K-pop-styled moves.”
Watch Piao’s “Neopets,” featuring Boston Conservatory commercial dance students:
Pargas performed in the video as well, alongside fellow commercial dance majors Tula Johnson (B.F.A. '25), Yulia Maeda (B.F.A. '25), Sasha Powers (B.F.A. '25), and Kaylee Strange (B.F.A. '25). The video was shot in the broadcasting studio at Emerson College, and directed by Shaun Clarke, chair of Emerson’s Visual and Media Arts Department. Boston Conservatory at Berklee Chair of Dance Mila Thigpen executive produced.
The Neopets game, hugely popular in the 2000s, gave kids online “pets” to care for, feed, and play with. Pargas says recording the new video definitely evoked the virtual experience that Piao remembers fondly. “Getting to dance underneath the bright lights and cameras made me feel as if I were living in the song’s world, the world of Neopets,” Pargas says.