The 2025 Aeguk Hanyang Cheer Festival: Resonance(Aehanje) took place for three days from September 17 to 19, featuring vibrant scenes. Starting with the dance contest ‘Street Hanyang Fighter 2’ and followed by the mimicry singing contest with mask ‘When Life Gives You Tricks’ the next day, unique competitions were held. On the final day, special guest President Lee Ki-jeong took the stage. Let’s look back at the exciting moments over the three days at this year’s Aehanje.

‘Street Hanyang Fighter 2’ was held for the second time at this festival after the initial event in 2023 by Rachios. Of the three final rounds, the first and last performances featured teams performing self-prepared songs. The second round challenged dancers to improvise to randomly played tracks and other teams’ first-round songs. The three finalist teams, ‘111’, ‘ArsCanDo’, and ‘Moljjogi,’ showcased various types of street dance including house, locking, and hip-hop. The winners were determined by real-time audience voting through text. Despite adverse rainy conditions, the performers successfully completed their stages, accompanied by an enthusiastic audience.

The winner was the Moljjogi team. In the first performance, Moljjogi offered a funky locking dance to Dynamic Duo's <Chool Check>, and in the final, performed to a rearranged track combining BLACKPINK's <DDU-DU DDU-DU> and Jennie's <like JENNIE>. The team's name was formed by combining the College of Engineering’s street dance club ‘Morelib’ and ‘Geumjjogi.’ ‘Morelib’ was reorganized from its predecessor ‘EDM’ to revive the street dance culture at Hanyang University and is now in its fifth year.

The team Moljjogi choreographed their routines and practiced for two weeks, even rehearsing late nights for the four to five days before the contest. Team leader Lee Woo-jin (third year, Department of Data Science) expressed gratitude, “Winning was totally unexpected. I could win because my juniors didn’t find me difficult and we could encourage each other.” He also hoped that more dance clubs at Hanyang University would gather, compete, and perform together.

The mimicry singing contest ‘When Life Give You Fools’ was newly named for this year’s Aehanje. Contestants performed twice: the first round masked, and the second after revealing their identities, performing freely. The winners were chosen by audience text votes. Five participants imitated singers such as Jang Beom-jun, Kim Kwang-seok, Stray, and Kim Jang-hoon, with one remarkable contestant imitating five singers at once.

Jeon Min-gyu, a fourth-year student in Mechanical Engineering, won first place. As this was his last semester, he said, “Participating in the contest was like the ending credits of my university life. Now I can leave school without regrets.” He joined because a friend applied and he followed. In the first round, he impersonated singer Kim Kwang-seok and received great applause for yodeling in the second round. A yodel song he sang during his freshman orientation became his signature throughout university. He humorously added, “I prepared new lyrics for the second verse but forgot them, so I improvised on stage.” Jeon encouraged fellow Hanyangians, saying, “Standing on the festival stage is a precious experience you won’t get twice in life. Don’t hesitate, and even if you’re nervous, step up and try.”

On the last day of the festival, President Lee Ki-jeong stepped onto the main stage. Attending the festival for the first time since inauguration due to overseas trips overlapping with festivals’ schedule, the president said, “Our students are the pride of Hanyang University. I hope your dreams will grow and come true through Hanyang.” He revealed his regret of missing ‘backpacking’ in college and promised, “After my term ends, I plan to travel to the outback and will take the first five students who email me.” A surprise event gave a bag to the student with the most photos taken in the ‘President Four-Cut’ photo booth.