If you are a regular reader, you have probably gathered I am a FAN of the boy band – across decades and countries, all boy bands are my jam! Most recently, while North America and Europe take a break from boy bands (correct me if I’m wrong but there aren’t many right now), Korea continues to turn out boy band after boy band, hit after hit, and record after record! Most recently, of course, BTS made music history with their single Life Goes On when it became the first-ever Billboard Hot 100 number 1 sung primarily in Korean. And of course let’s not forget BTS’s Grammy nomination for best pop/group performance with Dynamite.
But there is one thing I find particularly interesting about the K-Pop boyband structure – the dance or choreography leader! Usually, K-Pop groups have an overall leader – one member who is more responsible for speaking on behalf of the group publicly (and referee for conflicts between members privately). But in addition to the “leader”, there is usually a different member appointed the choreography leader or “dance captain”. This is probably a necessary position due to the high volume of technical moves required for EVERY SINGLE K-Pop performance, and in many cases these dance leaders are responsible for keeping the choreography tight! Since I LOVE dance and find K-Pop choreography UNBELIEVABLE, let’s take a look at some of my favorite dance captains!
Taemin – SHINee
Since debuting when he was 14, Taemin has turned out a TON of visually stunning and complicated pieces of choreography – both with SHINee and in his solo endeavors. Some of SHINee’s choreography was considered the hardest of it’s time and it still holds up as some seriously tough and intricate dance (check out SHINee’s Everybody if you don’t believe me)! Taemin (as the youngest of the band members) wasn’t one to scold the rest of the band for not getting dance moves quite right, but instead just set the dance bar high for the other members of SHINee to rise up, work hard and meet him at the top!
Hoshi – Seventeen
Hoshi isn’t just the dance captain of the self-producing Seventeen, but also the leader of the EXTREMLY talented Seventeen performance team. Hoshi choreographs the majority of Seventeen’s performances himself and spends a lot of time working on the future dance moves for the next singles. Hoshi has publicly spoken about how he used to be pretty harsh towards other members when they didn’t get the dances right, but now the group looks back on those days and laugh about it. And of course Hoshi continues to be one of the reasons why Seventeen are one of the best choreographed and most in sync groups in K-Pop.
J-Hope – BTS
Probably the most famous of all dance captains, J-Hope is fantastic in this role. Of course he is a great dancer himself, but he also uses his good nature and humor to bring along some of the less strong dancers in BTS (self-admitted weaker dancers RM and Jin). When J-Hope switches into “dance teacher” mode, he is totally focused on making sure BTS’s choreography is bang-on and doesn’t disappoint! And we haven’t been disappointed yet!
The Chatty Enthusiast 