When you hear the Korean word, “ajumma(아줌마)”, meaning a middle aged woman, what image does that bring up? For many, they will think of an older Korean woman, with short permed hair, wearing a sun visor and loud clothes, with a no-nonsense attitude. Now picture them hip-hop dancing! It may be hard to imagine, but you don’t need to because there is such a dance crew!

Based in the United States, in San Diego, an amateur hip-hop dance crew of middle-aged women have been performing flash mobs at a wide variety of locations for several years, dressed as the stereotypical ajumma. They’ve been doing so to celebrate ajummas and dispel the negative connotations surrounding the term, as well as have fun and bring joy to people as well.

They are called Ajumma EXP, and for this week’s Touch Base In Seoul, one of the co-founders, Lee Ann Kim, joined us to tell us more.