When sophomore Kate Dang created her Instagram account @katexdance the summer of 2015, she was a mere middle schooler with a passion for dance. Nearly four years later, Dang continues to post regular dance covers of Korean-Pop songs and now stands as one of the most popular dancers on the platform with 15.6 thousand devoted followers.

Her dance covers of K-Pop songs amass thousands of views each. However, it took years of effort for her to reach her current level of success. Starting as a self-taught dancer at home, she fine-tuned her dance skills and knowledge at Pacific Dance with hip-hop, lyrical and jazz classes once a week.

“My account started off pretty small and had a steady growth for a while, and it was actually the winter of 2017 when it began to reach the 10k point,” Dang said. “It has definitely opened up opportunities in dancing and has helped me develop more confidence in my dancing.”

The dedication Dang has put into her account has been proven by her popular content. Instagram is an outlet for her unlimited passion as she continues to motivate and challenge herself.

Being “Instagram famous” does have its downfalls, however. During the time Dang has maintained her account, she has faced struggles in balancing her Instagram responsibilities with school, work and social life.

“Lately, it’s been really difficult because a lot of time goes into making covers. You have to learn the dance, then film it and usually, especially if it’s outside and the weather’s not good, I can’t film,” Dang said. “It’s very hard, but I usually try to section out an hour or two for dance. Even if I’m not posting covers, I try to practice [and] finish all my school work as early as possible so that during my weekends, I can spend my entire time dancing.”

Dang is also a part of NØLIMITS, a group of six K-Pop cover dancers. Together, they perform group choreographies, participate in competitions and share an enviable friendship.

“I like to say we’re a family – we’re pretty close,” Dang said. “After practice, we eat together and take care of each other. Even though we’re different ages and have different time commitments, we try to understand each other and help each other out not only with dance, but with life in general.”

NØLIMITS began in February 2017 after one of the members reached out to Dang, inviting her to practice as a group. In August 2018, they won their first competition at KCON, a Korean culture convention, receiving first place in a dance-off competition with their performance of “Shine” by Korean boy group Pentagon.

“The account itself and the followers don’t mean a whole lot to me,” Dang said.“Rather the content on it, such as my progress videos, and the opportunities that I’ve gotten from it have much deeper value to me and have really helped shape my lifestyle these past few years.”