The Drool Wiping and Other Essential Steps In K-pop Choreography

Show a K-pop performance to a non-connoisseur and the first thing he or she will notice will most likely be the choreography. The music may not be as original, the lyrics might be unintelligible, but anybody can be amazed by a flashy choreography and five, seven or even thirteen Koreans dancing perfectly synchronized — my friends, as a matter of fact, always beg me to do the “Sorry Sorry” dance when we go clubbing.

So while choreographies never really stop looking cool, at some point you most probably realize that lots of the dance steps are easy to spot in the different choreographies. So without further ado, these are the six dances that you can’t miss in a K-pop choreography.

1. The drool wiping

The drool wiping is probably as old as K-pop; maybe not as a part of the choreography, but every boy group MV has to include a member wiping his drool to camera — it’s just a K-pop unspoken rule. From veterans such as DBSK‘s Junsu in “Mirotic” to youngsters as Teen Top‘s L.Joe in “No More Perfume On You” and Infinite‘s Sunggyu in “Can U Smile”, every idol must learn it. But the drool wiping is an art, and MBLAQ are the pros here. Not only can you see Joon mastering it in MVs like “Cry”, but they actually stepped up by including it in the “Mona Lisa” choreography. Extra points for putting it in the chorus.

2. The crotch grabbing

Not the classiest dance ever, but definitely effective. Infinite is right now displaying a very obvious kind of crotch grabbing in “The Chaser”, just like Teen Top and MBLAQ did before — “No More Perfume On You” and “Mona Lisa” are being of good use for the purpose of this list. But we definitely can’t forget about the most relevant feminine crotch grabbing in K-pop: Rania. The girls basically spend half of the “Dr. Feel Good” MV grabbing their crotches — so yes, they win.

3. The magic fingers

The magic fingers has to be my favorite from the list, mainly because it’s the only one I can perform accurately. Now in the spotlight thanks to Taetiseo‘s “Twinkle”, this step consist basically in, well, moving your fingers in a cute way. You can also find a good example in A pink‘s “I Don’t Know”, where they mix it with the butterfly dance — but mind you, the magic fingers are unmistakable. And just in case you are wondering, yes, boys can also do magic things with their fingers — special mention to Infinite‘s “Nothing’s Over” because they manage to combine the drool wiping with the magic fingers.

4. The “I really wanna touch myself”

Yes, idols are sexy and we know it. They probably know it too, because they definitely like to touch themselves. Ask Yunho and Changmin in “Before U Go,” where their slow down dance, that combines this dance with the crotch grabbing one, made millions of fangirls squeal. It’s hard to reach that level, but U-Kiss is definitely trying with “Dora Dora”. U-Kiss are not strangers to this dance, anyways – they already displayed a variation, the “I really wanna touch you” dance, in “Shut Up”. I would recommend them to keep the “I really wanna touch myself” one instead, because the other one looks just… awkward.

5. The chest popping

This dance admits two variants: the pure chest popping and the chest waving. Probably the most infamous example of the first one is Super Junior‘s Eunhyuk passionate chest popping in “It’s you”. The chest waving has a long tradition, including Rain‘s “Love Song,” MBLAQ’s “Oh Yeah” and, eventually, SISTAR19 with “Ma Boy,” who made the chest waving the key point of their choreography.

6. The hip thrusting

Let me start this introduction with 3 minutes of Rain hip thrusting. And after this break — you can thank me later — the hip thrusting has a pretty graphical name and is basically a must-have in every boy band choreography. Not to be mistaken with the crotch grabbing, the hip thrusting has been mastered by Rain, but can also be found in “Love Ya” by SS501 and “Paradise” by Infinite, for example. And let’s not forget about Junsu’s gratuitous hip thrusts in “Mirotic”. And by gratuitous I definitely don’t mean unwanted.

So these are my top six essential K-pop dances — my motor coordination is limited — but which ones are yours, Seoulmates? Have you ever watched a K-pop MV without any of these dances? If so, please comment below!

(SM Entertainment, NH Media, Woollim Entertainment, Starship Entertainment, goochan90)