I. Introduction
Kyle Hanagami is an award-winning American dancer, choreographer, creative director and educator who has worked with artists in Western and K-pop, including Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bieber, BoA, Girls' Generation, NU'EST, After School, f(x), Red Velvet, Taeyeon, Astro, Blackpink, EXO-CBX, Weki Meki, NCT, Somi, (G)I-DLE, LOONA and aespa.
II. Career
Hanagami began sharing his dance videos through YouTube as a college student. The videos went viral and he became a highly sought out instructor and dancer within the industry. He went onto choreography, creating dances for videos, TV shows and ads. In 2012, he began choreographing in kpop with groups from Pledis and Big Hit Entertainment, then added work for groups from SM Entertainment, Fantagio and YG Entertainment.
Hanagami is noted for his work with girl groups, creating iconic choreography for Red Velvet and Blackpink. He started with both groups at the beginning of their careers and continues to choreograph for them, winning awards including the 2020 iHeart Music Award for "Favorite Music Video Choreography" for Blackpink's "Kill This Love".
Additionally, he has choreographed eye-catching k-pop moments like BoA's upside down walk in "Woman" and NCT Dream's hoverboard dance on their debut with "Chewing Gum."
In addition to choreography and work as a creative director for videos, TV and movies, he continues to run a tremendously popular YouTube channel of his dance classes.
III. Choreography
Work in k-pop
- NU'EST - "Face"
- After School - "Flashback"
- f(x) - "4 Walls"
- Girls' Generation - "Holiday"
- Girls' Generation - "Forever 1" (with Harimu)
- Girls' Generation - "You Think"
- Girls' Generation TTS - "Adrenaline"
- Red Velvet - "Be Natural"
- Red Velvet - "Automatic"
- Red Velvet - "Ice Cream Cake"
- Red Velvet - "Russian Roulette" (with Ryu So-hee)
- Red Velvet - "Lucky Girl"
- Red Velvet - "Red Flavor"
- Red Velvet - "Power Up"
- Red Velvet - "Peek-a-Boo"
- Red Velvet - "Zimzalabim"
- Blackpink - "Boombayah"
- Blackpink - "Ddu Du Ddu Du" (with Kiel Tutin)
- Blackpink - "Kill This Love" (with Kiel Tutin)
- Blackpink - "How You Like That" (with Kiel Tutin, Sienna Lalau)
- Blackpink - "Ice Cream" (with Kiel Tutin)
- Blackpink - "Lovesick Girls" (with Kiel Tutin)
- Blackpink - "Playing with Fire"
- Blackpink - "Ready for Love"
- BoA - "Woman"
- Astro - "Crazy Sexy Cool"
- EXO-CBX - "Hey Mama"
- NCT Dream - "Chewing Gum"
- Taeyeon - "Why"
- Tiffany - "I Just Wanna Dance"
- Weki Meki - "I Don't Like Your Girlfriend"
- Somi - "Birthday" (with Kiel Tutin)
- (G)I-DLE - "Senorita"
- LOONA - "So What"
- aespa - "Black Mamba" (with Han Haeun, Janell eGinestra)
- aespa - "Girls" (with Bengal Park, YoonYoung Kwak, Rie Hata, Bada Lee, Selene Haro)
- Girls On Top - "Step Back" (with Kiel Tutin, ReiNa QueenMe)
- Girls on Top - "Stamp On It" (with La Chica, Kiel Tutin, Reina Queenme)
Dance practices or performances are included whenever possible to show the full choreography.
Red Velvet - Red Flavor
BoA - Woman
Photo courtesy Kyle Hanagami Instagram.
