[ ♪ "Boy Meets Evil" by BTS playing ♪ ] GRACE: WOOooh! He broke the ground!! BOTH: OHHHOHOHO! GRACE: I don't think that was Franklin–!
CLAY: Oh shoot!! That was fire!! CLAY: What's up everyone? It's your boy Clay! I'm a dancer and Director of Video here at STEEZY. GRACE: Hi guys! I'm Grace. I'm a dancer and producer at STEEZY– AND I'm a member of BTS's army. WOOOOO! Don't worry, I'm not replacing Jessie. We're all good. CLAY: Today, we'll be reacting to dance videos of J-Hope from the legendary boy band, BTS, and giving a dancer perspective on his movement! For clarification, K-pop is technically NOT a dance form or dance style, in the same way that Popping, Hip Hop, Jazz or Dancehall are. So when you hear the phrase "K-pop dance" or "K-pop choreography," it's basically just choreography of any style, primarily street styles, done to K-pop music. BOTH: Let's gooooo! GRACE: 가자 CLAY: 가– 가자! What does that mean? GRACE: "Let's go." CLAY: Oh- oh that ALSO means "let's go!" GRACE: Yeah. BOTH: 가자~! GRACE: J-Hope is the back left. All the way back. CLAY: Oh, okay! Ooh.. Shoulders! GRACE: Yeah, the arms. He's like REALLY extending there-
CLAY: Yeah- he's SUPER extensive. Okay, so like- one thing I really noticed about J-Hope, he has REALLY strong, like- textural understanding. They do a lot of these like- like arm wave curl-ups. GRACE: Mhm.
CLAY: I see him specifically PULLING from like elbows to wrists
GRACE: Yeah. CLAY: to– all the way through, and I like completion- I think it's really hard to do.. GRACE: While you're performing? CLAY: While you're, yeah, performing, you're singing, which is like- so crazy 'cause I got asthma. Your boy can't handle that.
[Grace laughs] Yeah. GRACE: WOOooo! CLAY: Mm. GRACE: He felt himself! CLAY: See they- they love this little thing here. GRACE: Yeah. It's like the theme of the dance. CLAY: Yeah. GRACE: Like, here it comes. CLAY: His use of his shoulders is like- CRAZY. And I think something that's like, much more difficult to do in dance is utilizing your shoulders and not looking stiff. He's able to- to like– shoulder to shoulder, basically like touch his ear with it and still make it look like-
GRACE: Yeah. CLAY: REALLY grimy and juicy. Watch other people. Everyone's shoulders, reasonably low, aside from V- I think, right? In the back?
GRACE: Yeah. But J-Hope's always "Ungh!" "Jerrgh!" You see his shoulders rolled over there? And like, nobody else really did that! CLAY: Everyone is POWERFUL,
GRACE: Mhm. CLAY: but J-Hope's movements SELL so much better. It's pushing through the shoulders so you see this like- FULL-body completion there. Highly recommend utilizing your shoulders the way that J-Hope does in his dancing. GRACE: So this one is- well, it's a practice and it was Halloween, so they dressed up, and it was really, really cute-
[Clay laughs] He's the one in the green. CLAY: If you guys haven't seen the Brotherhood set, with Snow White– Editor, put it here. Put it over Grace's face. [Clay chuckles] GRACE: It's so clear, too. Like, he's marking it, but it– you can see the definition of his moments.
CLAY: Yeah. GRACE: He's not afraid to move his hips.
CLAY: No. GRACE: Or stick his butt out.
CLAY: Oh yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah. I know that it's like– pretty darn marked the whole way through, but- you see J-Hope pull out some like- little bits where he's like- GRACE: Yeah!
CLAY: He's just like– GRACE: He's kind of in his own world- CLAY: Yeah!
GRACE: in a little bit. [ ♪ "Elmo's World" plays ♪ ] CLAY: J-Hope's– ♪ World ♪ [song continues] CLAY: Even when you're doing something not full out, it's really great to be able to, like you said, live in your own world, right?
GRACE: Mhm. And EMBODY it. He's our hope... That's why he's "J-Hope"... Oh- oh no, he's grabbing this– CLAY: Money! Money gun! Ayeee! [Clay laughs] Just butt slaps... The amount of people who would pay to be able to slap his butt. GRACE: –or be slapped. CLAY: Or BE slapped... GRACE: This is, uh- "Butter", the special dance performance, so it's just focusing on them dancing. CLAY: Ooh. Completion.
GRACE: Yess! I think he– CLAY: Doon! Wooo! GRACE: WOOO!
[Clay laughs] CLAY: Oh my God! It's the fast to slow- CLAY: One of my favorite sayings-
GRACE: The dynamics. CLAY: is, "You have to use your fast and slows and highs and lows." or contrast or dynamics. What J-Hope has is a GREAT understanding of tension and release. And so he'll SNAP into a movement like, WHOOM– right? And then he'll go GOOM, into this CRAZY pul– almost like there's like, taffy or like- gum or something.
GRACE: Yeah. CLAY: That's just like STRETCHING out, And he'll- whip out of that. That is SUCH a great way to make a regular move REALLY effective. GRACE: He's pulling out his hope-
CLAY: He's– GRACE: to give to everybody!
[Clay laughs] CLAY: You and the hope thing! GRACE: Giving his hope to people!
[Clay grunts] He said, "I gotchu guys~!" [Clay grunts again] [releases tension] And- and he does this like, jump. CLAY: Ooooh!
GRACE: Oh yeah! It goes all the way up!
CLAY: One more time one more time! This time, look- This knee is- he's using it as a momentum pull for this, like- really quick tension release. It says, GOOM! And you'll notice that his head, isn't– going out of frame, right?
GRACE: Yeah. CLAY: It's not jumping up. It's actually, his leg- PULLING his underbody under himself and then, GOOM- landing. Learn how to control where your head placement is, and have the rest of your body sort of moving around it, or moving towards it, without everything- having to move together. GRACE: Like butter... [whispers]
CLAY: Like butter... [whispers]
GRACE: Like butter... GRACE: It's so dark. CLAY: Ohh!
GRACE: There he is! WOOOOO!
CLAY: Oh! CLAY: Ooh! GRACE: You feel that?
CLAY: Levels! GRACE: You feel that?!
CLAY: Levels. Ooh... Wow. GRACE: This is him rapping too! CLAY: Fire. [Clay laughs] CLAY: Is this Frankie??
GRACE: Okay he– [Grace laughs] GRACE: Does it look like Franklin's movements?
CLAY: Franklin, did you choreograph this? GRACE: He–
CLAY: I'm gonna- I'm gonna ask you later! GRACE: Let us know... Oooooh!! He broke the ground! BOTH: OHHOHOHO–! GRACE: I don't think that one was Franklin–!
CLAY: Ohh shoot!! That was fire!! GRACE: I don't think that one was– CLAY: No, Franklin DOES do stuff like that! GRACE: He does that?? CLAY: Yeah, Franklin totally does stuff like that! Ooh!! Nice little sleeve details! That really works. Ohhh! GRACE: Down the– yeah.
CLAY: Crispy- crispy landing there. Yo I'm pretty confident. GRACE: You're gonna bet money on it? CLAY: Yeah. GRACE: Alright. GRACE: Look, he's doing STUNTS! CLAY: Wait this is 2016, right? GRACE: Yeah.
CLAY: That's a little far back. GRACE: That is far back. That's why I was like, I don't know if that's Franklin. CLAY: Probably not. But man, does it feel like it. GRACE: Oh he ate that. CLAY: Hey Devin, can you pass me the- my phone? I'm gonna call Franklin, just to check. [phone ringing] FRANKLIN: Hello? CLAY: Hey Franklin. FRANKLIN: Hey Clay!
CLAY: I have a question. FRANKLIN: What's up? Yup?
[Grace laughs] CLAY: Have you choreographed for BTS before? FRANKLIN: No, I haven't. CLAY: Awww, dang.
[Grace gasps] Well if it's not you- FRANKLIN: No. CLAY: –then it's okay, anyways, how you doin'? [Grace giggles] FRANKLIN: I'm okay. How are you? CLAY: Okay, cool. Hit you up soon, bye! FRANKLIN: Okay, bye-bye.
GRACE: Bye~! CLAY: Alright, it wasn't him! GRACE: I'm buffering- CLAY: Mkay.
GRACE: No, there's just too much greatness here. CLAY: Okay, yeah- this- this was a STELLAR, stellar performance. There were movements that were so unexpected, like the through-the-leg thing, that didn't feel like a gimmick. You know a lot of people will be like, "Oh! Big trick here!" right?
GRACE: Mhm. CLAY: "Big Trick Entertainment." Just kidding.
GRACE: BIG–! [Grace gasps] That was a really great moment- there were a lot of great moments in there that didn't feel like, "Hey, pause." GRACE: Yeah..
CLAY: "Let's do a trick!" GRACE: I'm just so impressed, like- I don't even know how he sets up for it? CLAY: Whoever choreographed, also... By the way! If you love K-pop dance, K-pop choreography, then I HIGHLY RECOMMEND- you check out STEEZY Studio, where you can take classes from the BEST instructors and tons of K-pop instructors that- do some crazy covers.. Like, like- like what? We got- wh- what's the–? GRACE: We got Ellen and Brian. CLAY: Ellen and Brian?! GRACE: We got Linda Wang! CLAY: Linda Wang??! GRACE: We also have Sienna! We got Brian Friedman, too! CLAY: Oh, you're right..!
GRACE: Oh my gosh, Ellen Kim! Wait, I forgot that we had all these- [gasps] Should I go take a class right now? CLAY: We should go take a class right now. GRACE: We should go take so–
CLAY: Let's go! GRACE: Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go! This stage performance is amazing, too. Whoever blocked this, like- props.
CLAY: I love a good blocking. CLAY: Woo! Wooo! That was fire! GRACE: Careful.. GRACE: To the left. GRACE: Open hands. CLAY: Open hands. [Clay chuckles] CLAY: Ahh..
[Grace sighs] GRACE: DO YOU SEE how they're just ending without–?!
CLAY: That's really– GRACE: –like, not even breathing? GRACE: That just-
CLAY: Me- me at the end.. [dying] Why aren't their chests raising? GRACE: I'm just- confused! CLAY: So they're- they're– they have- so much money that they installed oxygen tanks
GRACE: Mhm. CLAY: into their lungs so that they can continue to dance this way. GRACE: Absolutely. CLAY: It's not fair. It's not right. I don't really have much to say about that one. It was an all-around great performance and– I will say this, it was pretty messy, and I, again-
GRACE: Yeah.. CLAY: I didn't care. GRACE: They're all a little bit–
CLAY: Look at that, DRRRROOM- the way they rose up. [Clay laughs] It's another great example of, like, people don't really care about cleanliness- GRACE: Mhm.
CLAY: –when it comes to something like this. They care about energy. I was sold the whole way through. I remember this. –was their music video..
GRACE: And then J-Hope is- with the shorts. Not wearing the Timberlands. The white shoes.
CLAY: Gotchu. What year is this? GRACE: 2016-17? Or maybe even '18. GRACE: All the dancers...
CLAY: Whoa. [Clay chuckles] GRACE: The way he ota–
CLAY: Energy. GRACE: The shoulders!! CLAY: But that's a shoulder move..! [Clay laughs]
GRACE: That's true. CLAY: He looks- he looks tired here. I'm saying that because- those attacks are really STRONG, but it's more about like his like- in-betweens, that aren't the- to the level- that HE normally performs at, GRACE: Yeah.
CLAY: –but is still better, than a lot of other people would be able to do. GRACE: This IS also like a dance practice too,
CLAY: Yeah. GRACE: so it's like, they probably went through a couple hours of rehearsal and this is the last run.
CLAY: Mhm! Again, like that's not a critique on J-Hope,
GRACE: Mhm. CLAY: it's just something where like, GRACE: You notice.
CLAY: you can- you can- you can really notice it, like- he's not using his HIPS the way he normally uses his hips to his advantage. I'm sure they've done a crazy amount of run-throughs before this and here he is just pushing. Still fantastic performance overall. GRACE: Just casually.. CLAY: Oof.. the head looks! God the head looks. The head looks-
GRACE: Yeah. CLAY: OOH! GRACE: He's like– lazy leaning.
CLAY: Yeah. GRACE: WOOOO! Did you see how that was like two minutes of him just dancing and performing? CLAY: Woo! GRACE: Wooo!
CLAY: Shoulders-shoulders-shoulders– GRACE: And bounce– oh God. He's just traveling through.
CLAY: Nah. GRACE: Going towards them.
CLAY: That was- that was big. Ding! Aye. It's funny to see Becky G next to him, GRACE: Yeah.
CLAY: –'cause, she's so clean. and then J-Hope's just grimy with it, like digging in. GRACE: You know how he was saying that like, he really stands out but he can blend? CLAY: Yeah.
GRACE: Of course, this is like his song, but– he looks SO good standing out with this group.
CLAY: Oh 100 percent! GRACE: Like, they just accentuated his movements so well. His hairography is also on point. Most people don't think about it, but it's like, it LOOKS and it's accentuating all the movements correctly. CLAY: Mhm. You know how like, dancers dress like dancers? It helps you FEEL better, but also accentuate movement. For someone like Slim Boogie, when he wears skinny jeans, it HELPS him. It accents those movements of his, so- it really depends on the– GRACE: The person, the style.
CLAY: the character, the style that you have. So J-Hope's hair in this, in particular, like- outfit and hair, they did a really great job with that as well. GRACE: Okay, I'm a Baby Army, As in like, I didn't become army until 2019. CLAY: That's the phrase? "Baby Army?" Baby Army. Like when you're just entering army and you're like, "Oh I like them," "but I don't know the whole history" "and the culture of them yet." So I'm still, like, learning that
CLAY: Mhm. GRACE: and there's still so much. CLAY: Okay. GRACE: So this is like their own talent show. GRACE: So they're going to actually do other songs-
CLAY: Huh! GRACE: that's not even their own songs. CLAY: Baby army... Do you think- could you beat an army of 100 babies? CLAY: Or would they beat you?
GRACE: I would love that– Oh... You would love to- GRACE: I- I meant like be AROUND 100 babies!
[Clay laughs] Ohh, don't take this the wrong way!! Noooo!! CLAY: Grace wants to- to beat 100 babies!
GRACE: I just love babies! No as in like, "Oh, it would be so CUTE to be around 100 babies." CLAY: Mm. CLAY: Open hand, open hand, open hand– All relaxed. Look at his hands there. Guys– oh! Like it's not just the open hand, it's about the confidence that he sells in them. Look at the difference between my hand doing this and my hand doing this, and my hand doing this– I'm going, DOOM... or- GOOM... or- toom... GRACE: Ahh.
CLAY: This like- relaxation here, it's sells that and it- it's– you can see he's BREATHING there. So like, in dancing, we need to use these moments to POOM– [inhales] [exhales] –to really sell that. GRACE: Even if I didn't know there was a camera down there, he's still performing looking down there.
CLAY: Yeah. GOOM! That move in particular, the stability before that pop,
GRACE: Mmm. it allows him that space to be grounded– BOOM- THEN hit that pop. Watch the other dancers and watch him. Look at that WEIGHT.
GRACE: Mmm. CLAY: Trrt- OOOOH!
GRACE: There it is~! Doesn't the Korean heart look like one big heart? [heart noises] [Grace gasps] GRACE: 'Cause your hand is a heart! CLAY: Atrium- no, these are atriums. This is why I do dance stuff.
GRACE: We're not doctors. [laughs] He's in the red- blazer– with the polka dots. CLAY: With the hair again! CLAY: Nice. [Grace laughs]
CLAY: Oh fun! Cute. Nice isos. GRACE: There's so man- so much happening I can't even comprehend. CLAY: Yeah, there's a lot happening. Did he just- did he just sheesh it?! GRACE: Just wait, just wait. Ready? CLAY: AHHHHH!
GRACE: SHEEEESH! CLAY: SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE– EEEEEEEEE–
GRACE: Keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going! EEEEEEEEE–
GRACE: You got this! You got this! EEEEEEEEE–
GRACE: 'Til you turn blue! [gasps for air] BOTH: AHHHHHHHHH!! DEVIN: This video is from 2017. CLAY: D'oh! GRACE: You're sleepin'!
CLAY: Y'all think you're a part of a trend?? J-Hope– GRACE: They were on that. CLAY: Look at how he places his left hand- which is our right, on the floor ahead of time and stays under himself. So his legs had a complete control and like, basis to like move off of. It had a really strong foundation.
GRACE: It like, stabilized him. Watch Jimin do it, and watch how FAR his hand placed out there, right? I– I'm sorry guys, if I'm bagging on your dancer, I don't mean to, this is to help you with dancing– but you'll notice how FAR he placed his hand away from his body and that made him have a LITTLE bit too much to slide, 'cause he didn't have enough leg momentum to push into that. J-Hope KNEW to stay under himself and that allowed him to recover really quickly and switch to the other side quickly. [laughs]
GRACE: Why do you keep playing this Devin? [in "DNA" harmony]
CLAY: Sheesh sheesh. [in "DNA" harmony]
GRACE: J-Hope. CLAY: One more time. [harmonizing]
J-Hope. CLAY: Oh no, that was– GRACE: You weren't on it.
CLAY: Alright, let's move on. That was fantastic. That was super good. GRACE: He's wearing white pants. CLAY: White pants, 'kay! GRACE: Ooh, he's got a little sneak peek of his body!
CLAY: There it is. Oop- again, the dig! Ooh! Hand behind. GRACE: He's [indistinct]. Oh, but his hips–
CLAY: Ooooo, BOTH: WOOOOOO! That was fire. [Clay indistinct chatter]
GRACE: Very lazy.. Look what's happening. CLAY: Really great transition there! He was quick with it! GRACE: Yeah. He had a lot to travel! CLAY: Yeah. GRACE: His knees are–
CLAY: Nice! GRACE: –just going all- he's going full out.
CLAY: Yes! You'll notice, because he HAS to travel so much further, he uses the twist of his body, not JUST for the look of the picture, which he does a really good job of, like- his transition– LOOKS like a dance move and it's funny to see, I think it's like RM over there who just like- stays in the same place– look at him? [Clay speaking gibberish]
[Grace laughs] CLAY: Ooh, ooh, ooh! [both laugh] [laughing]
What is that? If I was being, like, super nitpicky about this and I was like- CLEANING dancers, I would tell my other dancers, "Hey, even though you're standing in place," "I still need you to turn fully" "and FULLY step behind so that the IMAGE is really crispy," like- Yeah, it's like, that's like a little transitional difference that- sells really well. Nothing wrong with the way they're doing it, but it would look really, really special if everyone still hit the same levels.. Maybe they did during a big performance. Maybe just not during the dance practice.
GRACE: They probably do. CLAY: But, yeah- I don't know! GRACE: And they're saving energy to sing, we get it, BUT
CLAY: Yeah! from the dancer perspective, it would be nice is if everybody had that up-and-down motion. CLAY: Most definitely. GRACE: That's him in the middle right now. With the camo hat. CLAY: I love the- I love the stillness. Ooh! Oh, oh, oh! Oooh! The little, like, dig-
GRACE: Yeah. little turn. CLAY: Okay!
GRACE: That dig with that hip! Okay Monastery! Monastery chicken head with a little like- pause right after. That was fire. He used some booty there! I liked it. Nice– boom, boom, dah. Great dime stops. Oooh! That was a nice little activation. Ooooh! GRACE: They're practicing their mic choreo too.
CLAY: Yeah! CLAY: Fire. GRACE: That transition– CLAY: I love it!
GRACE: –when you see it live, that transition is FIRE.
CLAY: That- that looks- that's super hype. CLAY: I just love the pauses. Honestly, the pauses in this- they feel really crispy and especially of like, quick little dime stops– Being able to make an effective "doom doom doom" like that. You don't have to do much- to- to sell a great motion there. GRACE: He was using his butt, too!
CLAY: Look at his butt! GRACE: Yeah with his booty!
CLAY: Like, the way he pushes upwards, like- PUMPS himself up, that is- that is grimy. GRACE: I could do this all day. CLAY: Yah yah! GRACE: Woooo! CLAY: Aye! GRACE: There's that dynamic. CLAY: Oh! Full arm reach to the sky, pull down. Nice. Great shoulders. Great use of his butt. Great use of his range and LOTS of dynamics. Fast, slows, highs and lows. GRACE: Are you falling in love with him? CLAY: I- I already have. [gasps] GRACE: Okay, well prepare yourself. This is where you're going to say, "I do." GRACE: 'Kay, J-Hope-
CLAY: Let's go. to the left. CLAY: Alright. GRACE: You ready for this? You ready??
CLAY: No. Nice. Nice! Ooh. That breakdown! OOHoooo! That was nice~ Everyone's going off! GRACE: They really are.
CLAY: Everyone's REALLY going off. GRACE: This is last year, CLAY: Ahh!
GRACE: so– They put it in a training, man! GRACE: Yeah! CLAY: You can tell, everyone's like– OOOOH! GRACE: Whoaa, I can't– CLAY: They- they worked on that moment, yo. Nice. GRACE: I don't know why he's still doing the little- Oh, see V's pulling up. CLAY: Wow, look at the range everyone's getting! I'm so proud of everyone! They've improved so much! GRACE: That was my goal for you. [Clay chuckles] CLAY: Ooh! GRACE: And they're allowing themselves to just breathe at the end. [dying exhale] [Grace gasps] You can see them breathing!
CLAY: Yeah. JIMMY FALLON: BTS! [mimicking Fallon]
GRACE: BTS! CLAY: Like J-Hope, same. [Grace laughs]
CLAY: Same, dawg. It goes to show that even though a lot of them were already fantastic dancers, it's like-
GRACE: Consistent training. CLAY: –you can still improve! Right?
GRACE: Yeah. GRACE: J-Hope improved. CLAY: J-Hope improved! GRACE: This was the finale, this is the one where I wanted you to walk away seeing their progress-
CLAY: Yeah. GRACE: and seeing all of their work because, it transcended from them just being like- it- I've ALWAYS seen them as like- dancers too,
CLAY: Yeah. GRACE: but it's like, this is where they really embodied it, and really gave respect to the culture
CLAY: Yeah. GRACE: and to the people AROUND them, CLAY: Mhm.
GRACE: that were like, giv- going just as hard. CLAY: Yeah. Every single performance was so, SO fun to watch and this is a person who doesn't watch a ton of K-pop videos. It is a special experience to watch dancers GROW- It doesn't matter how famous you are or how skilled you are in the beginning– like seeing progress, even over the course of like three years, GRACE: Mhm.
CLAY: is HUGE in dance. It's a difference between me being like- able to go in public and be like, "Hi." or going like, "Hi!"
GRACE: "Hey!" CLAY: It's SO small, but the impact is enormous. GRACE: So now are you army? CLAY: I'm army. GRACE: YES!!
[Clay laughs] YES RIGHT, YES! YES!! My- my job here is done. I'm g- mic drop. I'm just gonna- CLAY: Alright y'all, well, um.. you know–
[Grace sighs] if you guys enjoyed this video, we haven't done something like this before- please let us know if you'd like us to react to any other dancers. They don't have to just be K-pop, but they could be. Let us know in the comments. Anything you want to say, Grace? GRACE: Thank you so much for having me. Thank you so much for letting me share my love of BTS. This is like my dream come true.
[Clay laughs] CLAY: Well guys, make sure you like this video- it really helps us in the algorithm, and also subscribe to our channel. It will be INCREDIBLE because you'll get served more dance content, and we know you want that. GRACE: We know you want that. BOTH: SHEEEEEEEESHHHHHHH!
