As for now, SM Entertainment has also made a huge impact in its country, South Korea, as their idols become the influence of the youth and the company itself has built a larger business development for their country as well as providing SMTOWN Coex Artium as an exhibition visit for domestic or international tourists who come to South Korea and also are big fans of K-Pop and want to see every SMTOWN merchandise and a lot more. In this article, aside from knowing SMTOWN as a big company of the K-Pop industry in South Korea, let’s find out more information about SMTOWN’s best female and male dancers!
TVXQ’s Yunho
Jung Yun-ho (Hangul: 정윤호) was born in Gwangsan, Gwangju, South Korea, on February 6th, 1986. He is known by his stage name U-Know (Hangul: 유노) and debuted with a boy group under SM Entertainment, TVXQ or DBSK (Hangul: 동방신기) on December 26th, 2003, with the release of their single titled “Hug” (포옹).
TVXQ originally had 5 members, but after a long hiatus, TVXQ returned with only 2 members, Yun-ho and Chang-min, while they made another comeback with Keep Your Head Down (2011). The former members, Yoo-chun, Jae-joong, and Junsu, ended their contracts with SM Entertainment and re-formed as another group, namely JYJ.
TVXQ has made their recent comeback on December 26th, 2018, to celebrate their 15-year-anniversary form their debut by releasing a music video titled “Truth.” The song is included as one of the tracks of TVXQ’s new album titled Chapter #2: The Truth of Love and is a song that tells us a story about someone after a breakup and how they handle their heartbreak then finding their actual true love after all.
TXVQ’s Yun-ho, also known as one of the best dancers in the K-Pop industry, is one of the first-generation K-Pop artists who made the Hallyu Wave become huge globally. TVXQ’s Yun-ho is definitely on the list of SMTOWN’s dancing machines and he has always appeared on a special stage in every SMTOWN concert.
On June 12th, 2019, TVXQ’s Yun-ho recently made his solo come back again with a music video titled “Follow.” The song is one of the tracks of his first mini-album titled True Colors which is a pop-dance track and a melody that sync into a dance beat. TVXQ’s Yun-ho has really made his best effort in this song as he performed along with dance moves which made his fans fall in love with him.
BoA
Kwon Bo-Ah (Hangul: 권보아) was born in Guri, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, on November 5th, 1986. She is known for her stage name BoA (Hangul: 보아) and debuted as a solo artist in August 2000 when she was only 14 years old. She released her debut album ID; Peace B in South Korea on August 25th, 2000, and suddenly it became a huge hit at that time.
BoA has been recognized as one of the solo artists from South Korea who is really successful throughout her career as a singer. Besides being a solo artist, BoA expanded her career as a songwriter, actress, producer and one of the directors of SM Entertainment. The solo artist who has the nickname Best Of Asia, herself, has released 3 albums in Korean, Japanese and English and she has also appeared as a judge on a reality competition show, K-Pop Star (2011-2013), a host for Produce 101: Season 2 (2017), and a cast member of Food Diary (2018).
BoA is known as a multi-talented idol who has worked hard along her journey in the K-Pop industry. She is also one of the best dancers in SMTOWN as her talent in dancing is really phenomenal. The most anticipated comeback from BoA was when she made a comeback with “Only One” which has more choreography than her previous comebacks.
On June 4th, 2019, BoA released her new single, “Feedback,” with a fresh concept. The music video really looks beautiful with the soft colors while the singer dances along the music as well. BoA took the most important role in this comeback with writing the song lyrics and arranging the track with Shaun Kim.
Super Junior’s Eunhyuk
Lee Hyuk-jae (Hangul: 이혁재) was born in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, on April 4th, 1986. He is known for his stage name Eunhyuk (Hangul: 은혁) and debuted as a member of Super Junior. Before debuting, he once went on an audition in SM Entertainment when he was 13 years old and received basic training skills, such as singing, dancing, acting, and attended a brief Mandarin language course. Starting from his trainee era, Eunhyuk has been known for his talent in dancing and was added to a project R&B group with Super Junior’s Sungmin and JYJ’s Junsu.
On November 6th, 2005, Eunhyuk made his debut as a part of the 12-member project group called Super Junior 05 where they performed their first single titled “Twins (Knock Out)” in SBS’ Popular Songs. In March 2006, SM Entertainment recruited another member for Super Junior and added Kyuhyun while they made a comeback by releasing their first CD single, U. Super Junior’s Eunhyuk is also a member of Super Junior’s subunits, Super Junior-T, Super Junior-H, Super Junior-M, and the duo Super Junior-D&E.
Super Junior’s Eunhyuk is also known for his talent and ability in dancing. He has positioned as the lead dancer in the group and is famous for his dance moves which are considered to resemble those of Michael Jackson which is why he is often called the K-Pop version of Michael Jackson. Back in the days when Super Junior was still in the Sorry Sorry era, Super Junior’s Eunhyuk was chosen to have a special stage as he performed solo in Super Junior: The 2nd Asia Tour Concert ‘Super Show 2’.
On April 14th, 2019, Super Junior-D&E released another comeback with 땡겨 (Danger). The new single has come with other 7 tracks in a new album while Super Junior’s Eunhyuk took the most important role in making the lyrics for “Dreamer” and “Sunshine.” In this comeback, Super Junior’s Eunhyuk and Donghae looked fierce in the dark concept music video along with a strong beat and EDM instrumental.
SNSD’s Hyoyeon
Kim Hyo-yeon (Hangul: 김효연) was born in Incheon, South Korea, on September 22nd, 1989. She is known for her stage name Hyo-yeon (Hangul: 효연) and debuted as a member of SNSD (Hangul: 소녀시대) or also known as Girls’ Generation with 8 other girls.
In August 2007, SNSD’s Hyoyeon debuted with her group and released a music video titled “다시 만난 세계 (Into The New World)” and in this music video, we could see that SNSD’s Hyoyeon played a role as a dancer which describes her the most. When she was in the elementary school, SNSD’s Hyoyeon started her dancing lessons as she learned hip-hop, jazz, and latin dance before 1999. She joined as a trainee in Winners Dance School, which is a famous dance school in South Korea specializing in hip-hop dance moves. SNSD’s Hyoyeon has also appeared as a participant in dancing variety shows, such as Dancing with the Stars 2 (2012), Dancing 9 (2013), and Hit the Stage (2016).
SNSD’s Hyoyeon is really famous for her talent, especially in dancing. She is one of the best female dancing machines in the K-Pop industry and no one ever could beat her since she is also a member of a legendary girl group in the K-Pop history.
Apart from being a SNSD member, Hyoyeon made another solo appearance by releasing a few tracks, such as “Mystery” (2016), “Wannabe” (feat. San E) (2017), “Sober” (feat. Ummet Ozcan) (2018), and “Punk Right Now” (feat. 3LAU) (2018). She also appeared as a DJ starting from April 2018 under the name DJ Hyo with various solo activities as she promoted in domestic club tours and EDM festivals around South Korea.
F(X)’s Victoria
Victoria Song (Hangul: 빅토리아 송), or Song Qian (宋茜), was born in Qingdao, Shandong, China, on February 2nd, 1987. She is known for her stage name Victoria and debuted as a member of the girl group f(x) in September 2009, with 4 other girls.
Before debuting, f(x)’s Victoria was a traditional dancer at the Beijing Dance Academy and majored in Chinese ethnic dance. Around 2007, f(x)’s Victoria was scouted by SM Entertainment and originally trained as a model or actress. Slowly but surely, f(x)’s Victoria was introduced to the public as SM Entertainment’s trainee while making an appearance in commercial and become a model for SM Entertainment artists’ music videos. f(x)’s Victoria has stolen the spotlight right after her debut, f(x) promoted while they appeared in various television programs as guests and f(x)’s Victoria always showed her talent in dancing, especially in Chinese traditional dance and most known for her flexibility. During SMTOWN Concert in 2011, there was a special stage which every lead dancer in each group performed in a dance parade and f(x)’s Victoria & Luna were in there to perform together with another group’s member.
In her recent activities, f(x)’s Victoria is mostly active in China to promote her solo career as an actress, model, and mentor. In 2018, f(x)’s Victoria released her solo debut song titled “Roof on Fire” along with the music video. Later on, f(x)’s Victoria joined a dance variety show in China, Hot Blood Dance Crew, and became a mentor in the Chinese reality variety show titled The Next Top Bang.
EXO’s Kai
Kim Jong-in (Hangul: 김종인) was born in Suncheon, South Jeolla, South Korea, on January 14th, 1994. He is known for his stage name Kai (Hangul: 카이) and debuted as a member of the boy group, EXO, in December 2011 and made his first appearance on television with his fellow members Chen, Luhan, and Tao, while performing at the year-end music program SBS Gayo Dae-jeon.
EXO’s Kai was also one of the members of the SM Artist project unit, Younique Unit, with SNSD’s Hyoyeon, Super Junior’s Eunhyuk and Henry, SHINee’s Taemin and EXO’s Luhan by releasing a single on October 31st, 2012, titled “Maxstep.” This unit was created by the lead dancers from each SM Entertainment girl group and boy group who has a talent in dancing on another level.
EXO’s Kai is known as one of the best dancers in his group and also the dancing machine of SM Entertainment. He took the position as the center of the group and has more lines in dancing. Before debuting, EXO’s Kai learned dancing for the first time when he was only 8 years old and he originally learned jazz dance. In the 3rd grade, EXO’s Kai began to learn ballet after he watched The Nutcracker. He then joined an audition for SM Youth Best Contest with the encouragement from his father and eventually won, then signed under SM Entertainment in 2007 as a trainee. On December 13th, 2018, EXO released another music video along with their previous comeback in November 2019 titled “Don’t Mess Up My Tempo” and the comeback has become a huge success as the music video has surpassed 100 Million views on YouTube in just 2 months, 19 days, 4 hours and 16 minutes since its release.
EXO’s Lay
Zhang Jiashuai (張藝興) was born in Changsha, Hunan, China, on October 7th, 1991. He is also known for his stage name Zhang Yixing (张艺兴) or Lay Zhang (Hangul: 레이) and debuted in 2012 with EXO’s subunit, EXO M, under SM Entertainment.
EXO’s Lay, was once a child actor in China as he played a role in the television drama, We The People (1998), as Huan Huan when he was only 8 years old. 2 years later, EXO’s Lay made another appearance in a Chinese TV show as a fan club member of the Taiwanese singer and actor, Jimmy Lin, and signed a contract with his first entertainment company at that time. In 2005, EXO’s Lay won the 3rd place at the competition named Star Academy. Before debuting, EXO’s Lay was originally prepared and trained to be an actor until, in 2008, he joined SM Entertainment’s global casting auditions in Changsha and moved to South Korea for his idol training.
SM Entertainment has recognized EXO’s Lay’s talent as a professional dancer and he made a solo debut on October 26th, 2016, by releasing an EP titled Lose Control with 6 Mandarin tracks and a music video for the title song. In his solo debut, EXO’s Lay took the most important role as the producer, composer, arrangement, choreography, and song lyrics when it comes to translating into Korean, Chinese, English, and Japanese version. On June 14th, 2019, EXO’s Lay released a new EP with its music video titled “Honey.” The album Honey has broken several records when it was announced for pre-order on June 11th, 2019. In just a matter of minutes, fans have invaded the purchase of the album Honey to reach the diamond level in China QQ Music. Honey also received double diamond status with the achievement of pre-orders reaching 1.87 million copies. Previously Lay’s album titled NAMANANA also reached a record within 11 hours and 57 minutes.
But the album, Honey, only took 3 minutes to break the record of NAMANANA. Whereas Lay himself is still active as a solo artist in China and later began to explore promotions in America; one of them by attending the Grammy Awards.
