j-hope and his dance beginnings in Gwangju

Today j-hope is one of the members BTS is most easily recognized by as a dancer, but his path into dance started years before their debut. Before Seoul, Big Hit, and BTS, there was Gwangju, a dance academy, and a local street dance scene where Jung Hoseok spent a large part of his childhood.

His first interest in dance showed up back in elementary school. j-hope later said his school used to play dance videos in the morning that the kids would try to follow along to, and his friends told him he was especially good at it. He started practicing at home and performing at local talent shows, then moved on to more serious dance classes in Gwangju.

He trained at the Joy Dance Academy, where he spent several years and met people who'd have a major influence on his style. He was especially drawn to popping, specifically its boogaloo style, which he loved so much that, in his own words, he'd sometimes spend all night practicing in the dance studio. He also took part in competitions and started building a name for himself on the local dance scene.

During that period, something happened that he later described as an important turning point. His family was going through a difficult financial stretch, and he could no longer afford the classes. Instead of dropping out, he kept showing up at the academy, dancing during breaks and trying to learn from others what had been covered in that day's training. People from the dance crew NEURON noticed how much he cared and invited him to join them.

That's how, at a very young age, he became part of the underground dance crew NEURON. In dance circles he performed under the name Smile Hoya, and he's repeatedly pointed to his years with the crew as one of the foundations of his growth. He learned technique from more experienced dancers, took part in battles, and got to know a range of street dance styles. Gwangju, as he put it himself many years later, was his first real introduction to dance.

When he arrived at Big Hit, the situation flipped. He came in as a dancer, but for BTS he had to develop something he didn't yet have equal experience with, rap. Still, his dance background stayed a major part of what he'd later bring to the group, from precision on stage to the role he plays in BTS's rehearsals and performances.

Just how much that period still means to him became clear in 2024, in the project HOPE ON THE STREET. j-hope went back to Gwangju, reunited with members of NEURON, and danced with the people he'd started out with. The project also took him to other cities and into different street dance cultures, but the final episode brought him back to exactly where his story began.

The album that accompanies the series carries that same connection. The closing track is called NEURON, and in it j-hope returns to his roots and the crew whose name he carried as a teenager. More than a decade after their debut, he didn't just look back on his dance roots, he went back to the same community and danced again with the people who were there before BTS.