K-pop is well known for its intense dance numbers, and it's no wonder that most K-pop acts can be taken as professional dancers in their own right. Apart from music, South Korean artists have their own repertoire of dance experiences under their belts — from choreographing dance concept videos to participating in dance competitions, these artists show how they can move just as well as they can sing and rap.
Here are 14 dance choreography videos from K-pop artists that dancers can't stop talking about, featuring the likes of BoA, SHINEE's Taemin, ITZY's Ryujin, BTS' J-hope, Jackson Wang, NCT's TEN, SEVENTEEN's Hoshi, BLACKPINK's Lisa, and more
Jackson Wang and The Kinjaz
We know something good is in the works when Jackson Wang and The Kinjaz partner up together. In a 2019 release, 'TITANIC', featuring 88rising's Rich Brian, the GOT7 member worked with the world-famous dance crew, The Kinjaz, to produce a hip-hop dance number that perfectly suits the track's heavy bass. In typical Kinjaz style, the dance is sharp and strong, yet full of swag groove that Jackson effortlessly fits into alongside the crew, intersecting his famous acrobatic stunts learned in his early GOT7 days.
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Jackson Wang has collaborated with The Kinjaz on multiple occasions, officially working with them for the Chinese dance survival show Hot Blood Dance crew. Since then, they've worked together on numerous projects including his single '100 ways,' and Street Dance of China 3.
Unbeknownst to some, Jackson Wang is the ultimate 'successful fan'. He went from learning a Kinjaz choreography in order to pass the audition for GOT7, to working with them on numerous occasions.
The Kinjaz crew has also choreographed for numerous K-pop releases including Big Bang Taeyang's 'Wedding Dress,' IKON's 'Love Scenario,' BTS' 'Fire,' and GOT7's 'Stop Stop it'.
OH MY GIRL's YooA
A change from her group's usual releases of refreshing song and dance, OH MY GIRL's YooA shows off her swag with her dance cover of O.T Genasis' 'Traffic'.
YooA shows her strength in hard and accurate hits on the beats of the song as she bounces on the beat — which looks easy, but is actually one of the hardest and most essential basics in hip-hop.
YooA has also released two other dance choreography covers to Jonas Brothers' 'Sucker', and Pharrell Williams' 'Happy'. She also went viral for a short snippet of her cover of NCT127's 'Kick it', where fans joked she can easily join NCT127 on stage with her clean moves. For those not in the know, YooA is the sister of 1MILLION choreographer Junsun Yoo — it's safe to say dancing is in her blood.
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NCT's Ten and Winwin
A break from the usual street dance swag style we see from K-pop choreographies and NCT's dance representative Ten, this modern dance number with Winwin showcases the versatility of Ten and his creative prowess. Based on the opposition of good and evil, the choreography effortlessly flits between the tension and harmony of these opposing forces.
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While Winwin was trained in Chinese Dance — which has some similarities to modern dance — Ten's hip-hop foundations are a far cry from the graceful moves of the genre. Formulated entirely by both of them, the choreography can easily be taken for a concept video by two modern dancers, as they let their flexibility, technique, and execution speak for them.
Ten has also participated in the dance reality series Hit The Stage, and was also invited as a guest performer on Street Dance of China 4.
Red Velvet's Seulgi
Seulgi's trademark sharp and strong dance style shines through in her dance cover of 'Uncover', one of the songs in Red Velvet - IRENE & SEULGI's 1st mini-album Monster.
Dancers would know it's hard to fill up counts fully with moves, but Seulgi does that perfectly by dragging out her steps fully such that we feel the music is fully utilised and emphasised by her dance.
Known as one of the best dancers of the second-generation K-Pop idols, Seulgi has dabbled in a plethora of dance styles such as hip-hop, girl's style, open choreography, and even voguing and tutting, which are rarely seen in K-pop releases.
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Jay Park
Jay Park's 'All the Way Up' was released during the height of the pandemic in 2020, and the dance visual was dropped a month later as an effort to help the dancers that have worked with him on multiple releases during the lockdown.
The dance is a playful hip-hop number that spotlights not only Jay's natural flow but the dancers as well. Not only does the choreography have easy and cute points perfect for that TikTok challenge, but also harder parts for the more ambitious dancers.
@satgotloco 외출때는 좀 움직여본다.. @ruhatenizo ♬ 오리지널 사운드 - 로꼬 Loco
When dance challenges were all the rage last year, Jay Park had already been in the game for a while. A former b-boy, the co-founder of AOMG and H1gher Music had been putting out dance visuals for his releases working with dance crews like Holy Bang and 1MILLION Dance Studio for releases such as 'Yacht', 'Me Like Yuh,' Hoody's 'Sunshine (Feat. Crush),' 'All I Wanna Do,' and more.
The known b-boy was also a judge on the Korean dance survival show Dancing9 and recently collaborated with Colour Dance Team to release a groovy TikTok dance cover of Bruno Mars' '777'.
@jayparkisoverparty @colordanceteam ♬ 777 - Bruno Mars & Anderson .Paak & Silk Sonic
BoA x Tapaha Dance Space
K-Pop icon BoA is known for her dance performances, which shine in this choreography video. Starting with feminine moves as she isolates her hips and extends her arms gracefully, it transitions to hip-hop as the beat kicks in. Evidently created for concept videos or live stages, the choreography makes use of the movement of camera angles in the dance, making the viewing experience even more dynamic.
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BoA has appeared as a judge focusing on dance in numerous reality survival shows, such as K-pop Star alongside YG Entertainment's Yang Hyun-suk and JYP Entertainment's Park Jinyoung, and Season 2 of Produce 101. Most recently, she was one of the judges in the hit dance survival show Street Woman Fighter, where it was revealed she was the dance idol of the participating professional dancers. BoA also starred in the 2013 Hollywood dance film Make Your Move 3D with Derek Hough, in which the choreography was highly praised.
BTS' J-hope
Let's have a little throwback to BTS' earlier releases. 'Boy Meets Evil' is the intro of their WINGS album released in 2016, and as a part of the comeback promotions, J-hope performed the now-iconic choreography by Dylan Mayoral to the hard rap track.
Fully embodying the angsty lyricism and grainy beats of the track, the open choreography expresses the push and pull within oneself that has J-hope's trademark hard hits, yet shows off his flexibility as he presents an experimental style that defies the boundaries of specific dance genres.
J-hope is well known as a versatile dancer, along with fellow 3J members Jimin and Jungkook. As BTS' dance leader, J-hope also has a large part to play in refining the choreography of their touring and performing stages — the grand and perfectly executed performances by BTS give us are the fruition of the blood, sweat, and tears of all the members of the award-winning group and their performance directors.
BLACKPINK's Lisa
Of course, we have to feature BLACKPINK's Lisa on a dance list. The rapper, singer, and dancer has been releasing a series of dance videos under LILI's FILM on her YouTube channel, showing off her dance knowledge in various genres of hip-hop, open choreography, street jazz, and girl's style.
Choreographed by Cheshir Ha, LILI'S FILM [The Movie] showcases Lisa's proficiency in hip-hop in a suit and sneakers, and street jazz flair in high-knee boots. Wrapped in the concept of a gambling den raid, the choreography shows how props and costume can be utilised in dance, where the poker table is used to portray the high stakes of gambling, and the suit jacket is incorporated into the dance.
Lisa had also collaborated with multiple dance choreographers such as Kiel Tutin covering Selena Gomez and Camilo's 999. She was also the dance mentor of the Chinese Idol survival show Youth with You in seasons 2 and 3, showing audiences the depth of her dance knowledge.
SHInee's Taemin and Koharu Sugawara
We definitely cannot miss out on dance icon SHInee's Taemin, who is an acknowledged dance idol of many, but still strives to push himself in different dance styles. Together with Japanese choreographer Koharu Sugawara, Taemin based his idea for the Hit The Stage performance around the concept of a devil. Drawing inspiration from modern dance, the open choreography switches between intense moves and flowy lines.
Koharu Sugawara has worked with Taemin on multiple projects such as his previous releases 'MOVE' and 'WANT', and 'CRIMINAL', each project showing a different dance genre, yet retaining Taemin's unique style — effortlessly graceful lines combined with powerful popping. Taemin has been extensively involved in the choreography process of every project he participates in, from adding the prop of the silk handcuffs in 'CRIMINAL', to coming up with a concept for the dance. When he collaborates with Koharu Sugawara, they always produce something spectacular
ITZY's Ryujin
Known for her "shoulder dance" in ITZY's 'WANNABE', Ryujin has perfected making hard dance moves look easy and effortless. Her knowledge and control of her body, combined with her more masculine dance style make her stand out as one of the prominent dancers among the 4th generation idols.
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Choreographed by Ali and Bell from Korean dance crew hypeup, the dance is sleek and controlled, accentuating Ryujin's strengths in dance and performance, as the closeups capture her finger tutting along with her expressions. What completes the choreography is the element of performance and confidence to carry the subtle moves that could otherwise look weak, and Ryujin, along with her team of dancers, not only shows interesting formations but strong moves that bring out the hidden beats of Billie Eilish's 'Therefore I Am'.
Apart from Ryujin, the group is known to be strong in dance performances, and have treated fans with numerous fancy stages both on regular stages, and year-end award shows, clinching a nominee for Best Dance Performance (Group) at the 2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards . Ryujin also frequently holds livestreams of her practising various dance choreographies along with her members.
IKON DK and The Kinjaz
What can we say about The Kinjaz appearing again? They're not known as a world-famous crew for nothing. This time, Anthony Lee and Vinh Ngyuen have collaborated with IKON's DK for a cover of 'Coming in hot' by Lecrae and Andy Mineo. The Kinjaz has choreographed multiple IKON dances, namely Love Scenario, Beautiful, Rubber Band, Killing Me, and Goodbye Road. Their smooth, slick style and quick footwork complement IKON's style well, and resident dancer DK aces them all.
In this special choreography video, DK shows us another side of his dance with a harder hip-hop style that focuses more on popping and accents. You know it's good choreography on top of dancing when you can see the beats of the music being brought out and expressed, as shown by DK, Anthony Lee, and Vinh Ngyuen. This video specifically received high praise from worldwide choreographer Megan Batoon, who mentioned she had it on replay — likewise for us as well.
No stranger to street dance, DK himself trained at DEF Dance Skool — a prestigious dance academy in Korea — before becoming an idol. He also occasionally posts dance videos with member Jay on YouTube.
SNSD Hyoyeon and YGX Leejung Lee
SNSD's Dancing Queen, Hyoyeon, has served us a number of fantastic performances since her debut, and she has given yet another treat with her dance cover of Cardi B's 'Press'.
The new-school hip hip swag style is typical of choreographer YGX Leejung Lee. Young but already accomplished, Leejung Lee competed on dance survival show Street Woman Fighter, and choreographed a number of viral K-Pop dances such as ITZY's 'WANNABE' and 'Mafia In the Morning', TWICE's 'Fancy', BLACKPINK Lisa's 'LALISA' and 'MONEY', Chungha's 'Bicycle', and Jeon Somi's 'DUMB DUMB'.
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Although surrounded by professional dancers, Hyoyeon shows she can hold her own ground as she hits with the same strength and groove as her accompanying dancers. Leejung Lee's sharp, yet 'loose' style is difficult to execute well, especially on camera, but Hyoyeon shows her years of experience as she holds the camera both with her performance, and dance.
Hyoyeon has experimented with many styles, including those more obscure in K-Pop, such as dancesport. She competed on Korea's Dancing with the Stars II, and idol dance show Hit The Stage, finishing as first runner-up in the final round for both. She was also a judge and mentor on Mnet's first dance survival show Dancing9.
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SEVENTEEN's HOSHI - 'Spider'
Who would think of using pull-up bars in a choreography? Evidently, SEVENTEEN's Hoshi did.
For his solo single, 'SPIDER,' he wanted to portray the feeling of being trapped, materializing the concept in the form of a fragmented cage — very much like a spider's web. The props are utilised well in the choreography, and Hoshi shows how dance can utilize more than one dimension to express concepts. A combination of Hoshi's trademark sharp open choreography and acrobatic influences (via the props), this choreography is truly a feast for the eyes.
[17'S 호시] 10시 10분 선물🐯
— 세븐틴(SEVENTEEN) (@pledis_17) June 25, 2020
Bazzi - My self
Choreography by
HOSHI, Jemma lee pic.twitter.com/aFVQDLdpRZ
Hoshi is an acknowledged choreographer in his own right. Aside from frequently choreographing dance covers of songs, he also choreographed many of SEVENTEEN's releases along with the choreography team, such as 'Highlight,' 'Clap,' and Seventeen Performance Unit’s cover of Lili Yabbay's '13 Month Dance'.
CHUNG HA and LA CHICA
When you think of multi-talented soloists, Chung Ha comes to mind. From taking Korea by storm with her impeccable dance skills in the idol survival show Produce 101, to topping the charts as a soloist, Chung Ha has become one of the performers people look out for.
Chung Ha's 'Snapping' shows off her sharp accents and her distinct, yet controlled isolations that accentuate her feminine and strong dance style. While keeping Chung Ha as the center, the dance also highlights her dancers with interesting formations.
Once a backup dancer herself, Chung Ha works closely with dance crews A.ssa and LA CHICA, who have been with her since her solo debut. Chung Ha's strengths are her clean isolations and impressive body control, as well as her unique flair that softens moves along with the music. Choreographer Rian of LA CHICA plays up these strengths well, and was the brains behind Chung Ha's viral performance of 'Roller Coaster'. Aside from 'Snapping', Rian also choreographed Chung Ha's 'Gotta Go,' Her dance performance of 'Dream of You (with R3HAB),' and 'Stay Tonight'.
A dance graduate from Sejong University, Chung Ha's passion for dance is well known, as she frequently posts dance covers on YouTube and prepares special stages for fans, going viral on numerous occasions.
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