Contemporary dancer Lee Bo-seul

Many remember the era of Kim Yuna and Mao Asada.

The two skaters were constantly compared, but as time passed, many concluded that what ultimately made Kim Yuna special was ‘artistry’. In how she interpreted music, the flow of her movement, and the depth with which she conveyed emotion, Kim Yuna overwhelmed Mao Asada, and she is still remembered not only as an Olympic gold medalist but as a figure skater beloved worldwide.

What is interesting is that while training in Canada, Kim Yuna took special lessons from world-renowned ballerina Evelyn Hart, refining her expressiveness and the lines of her body. By drawing the artistry of ballet into her skating, she broke down the boundary between sport and the performing arts.

Perhaps Kim Yuna was someone who foreshadowedslightly ahead of timethe era of K-pop performance that the world is now enthusiastic about. The power to convey emotion through the body beyond technique. The reason K-pop now captivates people around the world connects to that very point.

In this column, we look at K-pop performance through the eyes of ‘contemporary dancer Lee Bo-seul’.

Q) “When you view K-pop performances through the lens of contemporary dance, what is the first thing that catches your eye?”

A) “More than the choreography itself, I first look at how it breathes with the music, and how organically the energy among the members is connected.”

Throughout the interview, Lee Bo-seul frequently used the phrases “the grain of movement” and “the flow of energy.” What is noteworthy is that what he considered most important in a performance was the flow and energy that transmit emotion. That meaning can be read as ‘precision and flow, technique and communicative power’. Perhaps the persuasiveness of K-pop performance stems from such a ‘dogged pursuit of completeness’.

The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle described human beings as ‘imitative beings (Mimesis)’. People instinctively read and mirror the emotions and movements of others. The body conveys emotion before language. The reason young people across the world are enthusiastic about K-pop performance today may also be that the body reads emotion first.

K-pop has developed by absorbing diverse movement languages.

One representative example is Stephanie, formerly of The Grace. Trained in ballet, she crafted her own performances with lines and expressiveness that were rare among K-pop idols at the time. Later, performers such as Taemin of SHINee and Kai of EXO emerged, persuading not only through precision of movement but through the emotion and atmosphere within it, further broadening the ways K-pop expresses itself.

I then asked Lee Bo-seul another question.

Q) “Among recent K-pop idols, is there a performer who has left a strong impression on you?”

A) “Among female idols, An Yujin of IVE. I feel she has strong stability and balance. As her gaze work and use of the upper body connect naturally, her movement appears to expand much more broadly.”

She then mentioned J-Hope of BTS among male idols.

“J-Hope has highly striking control of dynamics and energy density. Rather than simply matching the beat, I feel he creates dimensionality in movement by using subtle timing differences within the music.”

In the end, the performances of An Yujin and J-Hope have entirely different textures, yet they meet at the same point: stability and balance; control of dynamics and energy density. Their modes of expression differ, but they are connected in that both are details aimed at persuading the emotion on stage.

The French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty viewed the human body not as a mere physical entity but as the center through which we perceive the world and experience emotion. Perhaps K-pop performances today are likewise refining and expanding that language of the body with greater intricacy.

Lee Bo-seul also said this during the interview.

“I think the person who dances well and the person who commands the stage are different.”

That sentence felt like the crux of the interview. Technical completeness is a given, and what ultimately immerses the audience is the persuasive power of the emotion contained in movement.

The German philosopher Nietzsche said that art has the power to make human emotion erupt collectively. If you recall the moments at K-pop concerts when tens of thousands of spectators are drawn into the same rhythm and emotion, it connects directly to today’s K-pop performance.

When viewed again through the eyes of Lee Bo-seul, K-pop performance appears less like simple group choreography and more like performing art that has evolved as different movement languages and artistic qualities have intertwined.

K-pop now stands at the center of the world stage.

The reason is likely that it has kept responding, continuously building stages that embody the sensibilities of the times and of people in the language of the body. As it has done so far, may it continue to evolve and expand without pause, standing at the center of the global stage for a long time to come.

Director, ‘Performance and People’ Research Institute, Good Arts Culture Foundation | Leo Kang