ARMY Magazine - Special Issues ARMY Magazine Jimin Special Edition | Page 32

Let that sink in. Jimin thought he didn’t
make much progress, but we’d like to ask
“on what planet?” The amount he learned
and the grace, flexibility and innate mus-
cle memory he developed usually take
dancers an entire childhood and years
upon years of intense training to develop.
He did it in the two solitary years he spent
at Busan Arts High School. He must have
practiced HARD. And relentlessly.
Once he entered BigHit, he said he felt
the need to spend every spare moment
practicing, to the extent of sleeping in the
practice room to be able to squeeze even
one more practice in. He was constantly
in danger of not debuting with the rest of
BTS. How could this be when he was such
an experienced and talented dancer? The
answer has to do with his dancing style.
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Since K-pop is predominantly hip hop/
street dance, Jimin had to transition from
classical dance to the hip hop needed for
BTS. Mastery of this transition is close to
impossible, or at least incredibly difficult
for most dancers to achieve. The reason
for this is based mostly in muscle
memory.
As a contemporary dancer, the founda-
tion is ballet. In ballet, the focus, if you
will, is up. That means while standing in
any position, the spine is elongated, core
is tucked, and energy is aimed upward.
Each movement then continues in this
upward theme. Leaps, for example, are
completed with the focus aimed at height,
all prep for leaps are aimed at achieving
that height, and position in the air is to
maximize height and a lighter landing.