K-Pop Dance Mogul: MJ Choi on her Journey from Student to Icon

Discover the inspiring journey of MJ Choi, as she shares her remarkable rise from aspiring dance student to working with K-Pop giants like YG, HYBE and Cube. Join us as we delve into the beginnings of ILOVEDANCE, the leading K-Pop dance studio on the East Coast, and discuss MJ's experience on Broadway with the groundbreaking musical, KPOP. She also gives advice to aspiring dancers and provides insights into her fantastic team and crew. Enjoy the magic behind MJ Choi's extraordinary K-Pop dance legacy...and her exciting plans for the future!

Follow ILOVEDANCE: https://www.instagram.com/ilovedancenyc/
For more information on ILOVEDANCE, please visit https://ilovedancenyc.com 

References:

• MJ Choi - "Level Up" (Ciara) Choreography: YouTube Link
• MJ Choi teaching VIXX choreography: YouTube Link
• "OMG" (NewJeans) - ILD Reel: Instagram Link
• ILOVEDANCE 2015 Promo Reel: YouTube Link
• 2NE1 - "I Am The Best" MV: YouTube Link
• "I Am The Best" (2NE1) ILOVEDANCE Dance Cover: YouTube Link
• Chantel Nicole - "I LIKE U" MV (choreographed by MJ Choi): YouTube Link
• MJ Choi - "Burn Break Crash" (Aanysa x Snakehips) Choreography: YouTube Link
• ILOVEDANCE Crew KCON 2015 Performance: YouTube Link
• ILOVEDANCE on STAGE K performing "Bling Bling" by IKON: YouTube Link
• ILOVEDANCE Crew - "Blue Check" Reel: Instagram Link
• "Antifragile" (LE SSERAFIM) Dance Cover Reel: Instagram Link
• Chantel Nicole - "Here I Am" MV (choreographed by MJ Choi): YouTube Link
• KPOP Broadway - ILD Skeleton Crew for "This Is My Korea": Instagram Link
• KPOP Broadway - "Superstar": YouTube Link
• KPOP Broadway - "Supergoddess": YouTube Link
• "LEFT RIGHT" (XG) ILD Reel: Instagram Link
• "Pick Me" (Produce 101) - ILD Class: YouTube Link

Transcript (from YouTube):

if you type K-pop sign of dance the Studios have hosted events and auditions for some of Korea's biggest companies including YG hybe and Geffen the first biggest challenge was Viewer discretion is advised your fave will be criticized that's Chris that's Jan and we are CCTV the non-stop pop show and today we are speaking to a dancer choreographer entrepreneur and director of I love dance MJ Choi [Music] looking for an awesome Global Music podcast Chris and I have the inside scoop with extensive experience performing on stage and working at record labels we review and deep dive into your favorite artist songs and careers and also interview music industry professionals including artists producers choreographers and everything in between so join us on patreon at patreon.com CCTV pops and become part of our amazing crew including Lisette Lily Emily Kevin and Juliet and also subscribe now and let's explore the world of pop music together yes and today we are joined by MJ Choi welcome MJ thank you so much for joining the show hello everyone uh and Chantel and Chris thanks for having me my name is MJ I'm the director and founder of I love dance I'm very excited to be here yes we're excited to have you so we're gonna hop right into it because a lot of people don't really know how like Kpop dancing works or even like what's going on like in choreographer's mind so uh yeah let's just hop right into it you are originally from Korea so why did you come to the US initially I came to learn English yes sell progress oh really yeah that's that's what it was at the beginning and then I studied here and then I met my husband so I got to stay here forever now the history in American it was uh he was he grew up here he lived here so I stayed oh were you studying any other kind of major or were you like I'm here for English and dancing that's it actually I I graduated from uh design school my patient was industrial design wow okay very surprising I don't do anything this now dude I had my degree and that's it well the world had different plans because you're now very big in the dance world so we actually have a question from at Viv underscore what on Instagram and they asked what inspired you to start dancing I guess I always liked it since I was little um but then unfortunately my parents they were not supported they were very like strict conservative Korean parents they think they did love me a lot like but they're in a different way they're like oh dancing I don't know how you're gonna make a living with that and that typical Korean parents idea so they didn't support me so I didn't get to learn dancing until very late when I did camping 28 that's when I decided to pursue my dream but prior to that I had our interests I always like gonna watch videos and try to learn it myself and but oh they were had serious thought about oh maybe I should do this then later on I felt like I'm close to 30 I'm gonna look at it one day so I guess the insurance I always kind of liked it naturally since I was young I guess I had dancers art

yeah I don't remember there was any like special incident that dance but I I just always liked music dancing all that yeah oh that's interesting because a lot of people say oh yeah you know when I was little MJ you know Michael Jackson love you but you know oh MJC he showed me you know so they use that as like their motivation or like oh Britney Spears but oh but you've always just had it like in you uh Destiny was calling um so so how did I love Dan start how did you become an instructor because you were just dancing so how did you start your little your the groundwork for what you have now so I was commuting from Connecticut to New York City to learn DNC so what media center that's where where I was trained so and I was commuting um I learned there are so many talented people in this world I wasn't even that good I was like what I expected so yeah so like Community was pretty long it you know and money and all that so I was kind of poor but it was like maybe they should um they still had two there were two reasons why I started teaching so one day I was oh thank you I'm not improving like fast enough so I was thinking maybe it's a language so because I wasn't I was still kind of like okay with my English so maybe I should look for Korean instructors so I went to this Korean website called hey korean.com it's like Korean people yeah and they they didn't exchange it a whole different type of information there like room for rent cars or how to get your visa extend and all those little information so I went in there they had a bunch of clubs inside of a korean.com so I could put dance club and then I found one oh oh so I went there thinking oh maybe if I learned from Korean tissue maybe I can take more information and that's going to help help me to improve faster so I went but strangely these people are so tight together so when I came in as newbie they didn't really welcome it was almost like

disappointed and sad again

and I wasn't obsessed like oh okay so I'm on outside enough so I went home looked it up how'd they create the club and it was just reservous anyone can do it but back to my husband was dating my boyfriend so I was like I should create one for myself so I can teach because when I went there he wasn't he was a great dancer but he wasn't a good teacher so I was thinking well maybe I can teach like basic to really really beginner people and I can also maybe make money on my training and stuff like this since I'm commuting anyway so I can come early maybe teach and then go to my class or the other way so I looked it up and then I uh created a club it's like three uh flick clock so I did it but I didn't charge people like ten dollars per class and stuff like that I do my boyfriend um I should name something or something like you can easily remember whenever my kids think of school age can you hear me he's like oh yeah you should create something simple so people here and they will always remember us I said yes I feel like I will dance he's like oh maybe it's a good start so I named the club I love that that was uh 2006 octo October 6 2006 wow like Fitness club oh and I obviously didn't have any background as a dancer so I didn't have anything to show off and attract people but I did it anyway and then tried to put little ass there like oh this is dance quora they are beginners welcome I'm going to teach hip-hop and all that so like couple big Duquesne and sometimes nobody show up so that's how everything started and then I realized I really enjoyed teaching and I created my warm up and I'm making my choreography and it was fun and then I actually did find my passion in teaching and I I I loved it I'm like oh wow this is well and I love helping people to understand certain ill style or fundamental or whatever that is to make it easy for them and I thought I was good at it so I kept on going and here I am I love that so obviously you were training at the same time but teaching dance is a very different feast and can be very difficult for even the best dancers to be good teachers so abandoned children asked how did you feel the first time you taught a dance class and also what were some of the biggest challenges you faced in your Beginnings as an instructor good thing was I was going to then like you said I was going to dance studio myself so every time I'm going to take my classes not only learning choreography I also had a good observation on how older instructors are teaching so I took a lot of notes oh this is good when he don't say this or even a language or the sentence itself I just steal and then write it down and I memorize this sometimes that's how I study how to teach and also dancing right and the challenge was because let's say if I was backup dancer of someone like people instantly give me the trust oh she used to be dancing with this artist right but I didn't have that so the first biggest challenge was burning everyone's trust and faith they asked me oh how long you been dancing like one year that's what I was I thought I was still good enough to teach like basic basic stuff but there's still when people hear it they want to learn from somebody who's been dancing for 10 years or or who dance with this artist or choreographer this artist so I didn't have that so I just have to physically show and prove that I'm capable of being a good teacher so like it's here's one of the example I went through um eventually I also wanted to work at the dance studio to gain more experience so when I went there and I instantly told them oh I don't have crazy good background but I believe I'm a good teacher so during the interview instead of having question and answer and all that I'm like can I teach you right now so the deaf Studio owner they're like well like two people oh okay so I gave them like 20 minutes less mini class they loved it love it oh my God you're such a great teacher you're higher that's how I that person so you just need to find a way to gain people's trust and faith that was the first challenge for me because I didn't have any like backgrounds so that that and then um having the people come and making them stay and also and it's like hard to please everybody because you know everybody came from different backgrounds different dance levels sometimes even though even though we say it's a basic price there are beginners but some people just pick up stuff fast some people would just a little bit slower right but then I have to make sure that everybody's enjoying the class that's the biggest challenge I think that's the challenge even now to any instructors like if you have 50 people in your room I mean it's almost impossible to make everyone happy but someone you want them to be satisfied after the class and come back again so that was the base challenge yeah yeah that's very insightful I know when I teach class I have that issue I'm like am I talking to all the kids that they feel seen and yeah that's a that's a huge thing um so with I love dance having all the small classes and you were doing it in pre-existing Studios now you have three Studios so how was that Journey getting into making the studio and flushing and then the studio in uh Fort Lee and then finally in Times Square it's almost like I was so busy working and growing and all that so sometimes it feels like endless memory I don't it's like I blink my eye and then

sometimes even when I'm opening my studio like do what I stick my uh keys so I don't know I'm like it's very nice today and also like I started without plan having long plan like it's not like oh I wanted to be a Dance Studio owner I never thought about it it's like let me give you some chain see I need some money to pay for my dance class that's how it started without like too much planning and then even dance oh flashing Studio I had an idea of like oh assist now I have it because in the beginning I was just renting uh hourly base like small room and I was teaching so I I now I built a lot of followers they've been consistently coming to my class I think like well maybe I should open a dance studio but I didn't have a detailed plan like oh okay so by this month how much I'm Gonna Save this type of space that's what I mean I didn't have that but then uh one day I was waking up I told my husband like I think I should open us to do it blushing he's like why do you say this I don't know I just [ __ ] it bad business plan that's already happened but then once I'm the type of person once I uh set up a goal if I have a one step forward and then everything gets just faster and I have to do it so that's how it started then same thing for New Jersey too I like flushing like always enough people now is covering everything is great and then well there are more people still want to come yes class learn K-pop but you know they don't want to cross the bridge so or maybe I should open another one and that I actually thought I'm in the shower

horrible I have to do not stupid New Jersey exact same thing I think why I don't know I just spelled it when I was getting shot that's what happened but man then I think I that I kind of took my time because like it's a prime location all the lease and everything is not something that you can do and not do it and it's like you have to think about it so yeah after that now third one got easier I guess because now I have more experience in uh running business so and I was like that had a little bit of bread yeah and I did it and the journey was it's like I said because it just could have happened suddenly everything so I don't really remember like any anything that was happening step by step but it fascinating it's very I feel like it's a miracle to me yeah and we've both known you for a while now like when it was just the flushing studio and it's been amazing watching the growth of I love dance and just watching all these opportunities come for you um it's yeah it's been absolutely amazing to watch and we respect you so much for that so yeah definitely congrats on on the success of I love dance um but of course success depends also on K-POP so K-pop when you started back then like the 15 20 years ago it was a very small fan base and following in America and of course since then K-pop now has a huge following in America like it's been very tough to get into some of your classes yeah you had to add so many extra classes and be all sold out right so it's been amazing watching k-pop's growth so how has your experience been watching K-pop grow there was like huge change between like when I first started and now for example like my class was 100 oh oh I had like 100 of Korean students in the beginning because K-pop was a global at all it was like Korean especially like Korean people who came from Korea to study they're like oh I miss my oh I miss my culture I miss my you know Museum all that so they entered into my class in the beginning and then I had a couple of North Korean people first came in and that's about it like it was like very small number of people who were aware of K-pop and there was no such thing called K-pop actually we call like Korean I called my class Korean hip-hop that's something like I don't know what where in a book created K-pop but that word but like yeah we didn't have the words anyway so um the hours back then and then look at my class now ninety percent of people are non-proding people so it's not even like full Korean members and a couple of Americans like and people who live in New York City and then now it's like I have 10 of Korean people probably yeah so that site crazy and I remember oh people were not aware of my Korean culture at all but then like Gary likes you know food or not just K-pop it's a food makeup all that it wasn't very popular now we're getting a lot of requests from like Google signal all those corporate company they request workshops after so many workshops with those companies and like we get invited to a lot of events and stuff like that that's huge Improvement yeah from the beginning right because people were not like they're not familiar with our culture at all but now it's like they want us everywhere and like high schools Middle Schools elementary school they want after school program and they want to teach K-pop there so for me like I witnessed how it's been like different like improvises then for me I feel very proud and happy as myself on Korea I was born and raised in Korea and it's just in the beginning it's almost like oh they don't really know us but now like everybody knows Kpop and especially like personally I feel very happy and you know proud as you should yes yeah it's been it's been interesting yeah are there any artists or specific songs where you were like whoa I think that's starting to spread oh I did first time when I felt this is oh just crazy like I already kind of felt it gradually like slowly little by little but then my personally I love this having a hit was I am the best we we entered I didn't even know what dance cover was what means so like Yay actually it was 16 years old

we only had two days left and uh so I decided I had a plan like okay we're not two days left it also they also count due to they were pretty late so I'm like okay we should take advantage of our uh location let's go Time Square I think I might be the first one who actually recorded time yes yeah that's how I found you that's how I found you when I was a kid in high school yeah so I recorded it in that I I select the the background intentionally Times Square dress and so like you know people will go wow so we quickly put the videos together and then we were the first place there wasn't like grand prize in the US so that's how I'm going to start finding us come to YouTube that's when I realized oh my God there's so many people there's so many people like listen to it and dance and that's when I first kind of opened my eyes like okay so there are a lot of people oh listen to our music yes so I think I am the best towards the point that I felt like okay

that's how I found you oh my God that's crazy now I think I was in high school all I remember I used to go to the library for lunch every day 21 had just come out that song had you know got really big too as the years went on and then I found you I was like oh oh my God they're in the middle of this so embarrassing how they're doing in the middle of the city like there was a lot of like I felt nervous for you that's so cool um wow but um yeah so you have been expanding I guess the culture in a sense you say you've been kind of going to like companies here in America um and you do host the classes that we've discussed um but the Studios have hosted events and auditions for some of Korea's biggest companies including YG Hive and Geffen so how did these relationships forms and how do you maintain them uh first I think they was I think YouTube helped me a lot in the beginning like to promote myself even though I didn't really try to promote myself and like pitch Daniel at all come to my studio to do with this show I never actually did that but then they naturally found out about us I guess through YouTube and like when you do Global search like right now we're the we're actually dominating the market in New York City [Laughter] I know there are a few small classes here and there in other Studios as well but then we're the biggest K-pop or dance studio so obviously when they want to come over to New York if they want to run the audition now you naturally want to come to us so that's how we first got into it and once I have one audition let's say with YG then next time jyp when they do oh we heard this place actually did with YG so they probably have experience let's go back to them so that's how I built more and more relationships and how I how I maintained was um smart I'm just smart good for you when they actually were an audition I organized it pretty well so when they come in it's just kind of easy work for them versus if you they go somewhere else they might have to tell them what to do but for me like I think natural like organizing those things so I was you know good helps for those people so they people want to come back to me yeah I agree because you did my audition you did my audience I didn't have to do anything except sit there and say yes or no I was like yeah so yeah I agree I think yeah I have also danced for you for a few projects and you are very organized and I always love working with you so that's definitely you make it makes sense yeah um so yeah you've mentioned the covers that you now do and of course I love dance also has a dance crew as well and you've performed kind of all over the world so how has your experience been directing a dance crew and tell us more about some of the opportunities you've had like you've danced with G Idol at MSG some of your members have competed in stage K which was televised in Korea so that's awesome so how how has that been for you oh I definitely want to mention about my dance crew without them I don't think I'm here today seriously OMG smart but to be honest the way I feel is more than anything meeting good people is the key to grow and in that sense I was very lucky to have all these students and my instructors my dance team members they are just so talented good people and very loyal and very sincere and very supportive and not enough words to describe how wonderful they are so yeah so I got very lucky so big thanks to all those people who helped me along the way and my dance team members I found them most of them were my students so in the class I dance with them oh very tough dude I want to dance with them so oh do you want to make a dance cover with me that's how it started we didn't officially have a dance group but it was more like oh let's do it together so I picked out a few people and we we made a few videos together it became more like our thing right and then later on I asked that you want to teach I think you can be a great teacher so I trained them I'll sign up briefly teach them how how to teach so they that they became became my instructor and also Dance Company members and later on I decided okay let's just make a crew so it was more official so we can practice together and we can do stuff together and once we start creating against uh videos more and more people started looking for us for events and if moments and um that's why those opportunities actually came through like dancing with GI Road or performing at the cape con or like even going to uh that stagecape competition was also like they probably found this through YouTube and stuff like that but they contacted all oh why don't you have your team enter so that's what we did and it's just I feel like I have amazing family yes family so I'm super proud and she just feels strong very strong like right I trust them completely you know I always have fun with them and they are very important particle of I love dance I can't I can't think I love yes without those members so that's how important they are and yeah it's just God loves me sending these people well you know yeah I think that does play a huge part I mean especially when you have certain highs it's good to have good people with you but when you have low moments as well because um you have had some challenges as an entrepreneur and as a dancer like for example you did have your spine injury for those several years and it took a few months to recover from and having a team is really important a good team who care about you right so could you just give us a little bit more examples of some challenges that you've had to overcome either by yourself or as a team so yeah that's one good example because uh I had my spine surgery right around Kobe happened and like we my team instantly happened to Zone class so I survived during the cold my business because I had it was good thing to have several vocations but at the same time when equipment hit you have to pay for the rent for those space that you don't even use it was home well I'm still paying for my red yeah so that was a little crazy experience but like I said we had an amazing team so we had a discussion who's going to come in and teach like we had all Subway keys because we at that time we couldn't meet each other they have this impact everything they come in and teach was some class and then go and then the other person coming so they they were very like helpful and supportive of that and luckily it's over and we we survived it yeah back here as a normal people love normal life yeah so uh that was pretty challenging and also I like I said I had on back surgery so I was basically in my bed in the beginning and slowly started recovering like starting from walking Sandy walking for five minutes and increase 15 minutes 30 minutes so uh even without covet I could have I it just there's no way I would have to teach my classes so my team were there for me so it was I was like easily overcome my obstacles so that that was that was one of the case and besides that too like not pretty I didn't have too much of down up and down in the business what business-wise because oh K-pop was constantly growing and I'm teaching K-pop mainly so it kind of followed the flow but um I would say not everyone can be happy 100 all the time right so because I have this team I always get inspired and by them sometimes when I'm down or I feel like today I feel a little tired or less motivated and stuff like that they're there as a good examples and stuff like that so they helped me and during those times yeah emotionally yeah that's awesome well yeah we've we've both met your crew and danced with them and they're all awesome people so yes the whole I love dance team is amazing you've definitely surrounded yourself with really great people for sure um so yeah so what are some of your future plans for I love dance and how do you plan to grow it further and this is the question from our viewer Derek hope I do even though I've been doing all social media YouTube and all that but to be honest I I couldn't have too much focus on those things because running business and it's a lot going on but then my next goal is I just want to create more content for my channel to expect that just basically as a dance studio but it's more like as a YouTuber or or just social social media in general that's gonna be help us to reach out to more people not just New York City area like everyone all over the world right so that would be my goal or to be more focused on those days like creating more fun content and Tick Tock and Instagram all that uh I think I've been very slow for those things so I want to try to you know pick it up that and for that studio wise I would love to open my fourth location sometimes here so that's another Island Long Island Long Island yeah trains expensive I've been I've been thinking of opening one and a few years ago I took before Kobe happened right before my surgery I was talking to someone already but then my spine surgery happened so I was like okay maybe this is not the time batch but but throughout my life I learned when something doesn't go the way you want it's not always bad sign and when I was younger I would get actually I was getting like disappointed like oh my God I want to get this it didn't happen I wanted to do that did it happen oh they didn't like meals but sometimes it's it happens to protect you imagine I was gonna get the surgery imagine I would imagine we were we were getting cool bit imagine if I signed the lease and open another Studio back then I don't know about that so so it was good that it didn't happen um right away because there was a lot of delay when I was looking for Long Island okay so there was a little bit lazier in there so it kind of slowed down and then there's a surgery so I finally said okay this is not gonna happen right now but then I I'm glad it happened that way because we were locked in in our house you need to call it after that so I'm like okay

the next to my spine surgery that's what happened yeah yeah oh my goodness crazy timing works out um but yeah you know I've we've been watching you you growing on your your Tick Tock in your your Instagram reels we see you we see the team you guys making those funny videos um but yeah even with things like that you are expanding out to more people which means you get like what sometimes you get wedding you get to make wedding dances or proposal videos right so do you choreograph Derek also asks you to choreograph any original pieces and would you want to create a piece of K-pop uh dancing for like an idol or a group in the future I mean um I'm not very objective person so I don't think I'll be talented enough to create anything for Kpop idol no okay like I mean you know there's like groups but but I I love creating myself so I've done um your videos

then I very appreciate you know that you worked with me it's a lot it means really a lot and uh also um yeah I love it so I've done like those wedding videos those are my choreography and I I love doing those and I used to teach yeah just from class hit podcasts in the past so I guess I like it but uh in terms of our goal um I mean if anyone come to my way and hey let's work together like K-pop Broadway I was uh working as a associate choreographer those things happen oh definitely I want to grab it if anyone coming to my way and say oh let's work it together let's do this can you make something for me yeah I'm gonna try but then I don't have like I want to be the choreographer of this K-pop Idol that's right come on there are too many talented people young intelligent people and they should do it and I'll be happy to watching them

while you're being very humble because the choreography you've done the original stuff has all been really good and of course you've mentioned K-pop Broadway so we have to talk about that so K-pop the musical was on Broadway uh kind of at the end of 2022 and both of us attended the show and we're so proud that you got to be a part of it so how did you get involved with the project how did they reach out to you oh it was through email in the beginning again I'm sure they found us through Google and I'm telling you if you type K-pop a sign of day

yeah yeah so and there are a lot of things you can look it up so they probably saw us oh okay they are very heavily into K-pop so uh the main choreographer she wanted to work with Korean because she was a little Korean herself so she wanted to create something more authentic so she needed to have a Korean where people can work with her so that's how they first reached out to me and uh first was three email and then I said I showed my interest okay I'm interested let's have zoom meeting so I had to zoom in with the choreographer just one-on-one and she liked me as Stanley she said but you know and I I think I like you but we have to create dance together so we gotta make sure we're compatible as a you know partner so we met our at our studio and we created something together on the spot just to try out see if it works that was my first time actually doing something with someone on the spot I always do it myself and like organize it and then come to the rehearsal and teach so this is like oh first time doing it I was a little nervous but I did it and then she like did we had a good time so she said oh it's yes to me but now you have to talk to producer and director and those people office people so that's it okay so we had another so so first submitted with her and then one section with her and then I went to another Zoo meeting with all the producers and directors and we had a long conversation they asked my background and also they asked if there's a theater background because there is it's J-pop is subject but then still it's a Theater Broadway show they wanted to make sure that I have some uh background so I told them I went to I major in China I majored in acting stage acting so I did have some background surprise

yeah so so uh they liked me and they didn't like the fact that I am very much experienced as a teacher because at the end of the day or once we create something we have to teach the dance to the full cast and then work together so teaching part actually to big person so they they liked it so I was hired nice yeah that's awesome so as you mentioned you were choreographing and uh just you're used to making up your own like formations having everything in a notebook I've seen it he's seen it we've all seen your creative process right um but you did like recently post some footage of the ild dance company as like Skeleton Crew for some of the choreographies uh so Aaliyah Carey from IG asks what was your favorite song from K-pop Broadway to help create I love Superstar oh yeah yeah that's the uh last song for the first half I really liked it the music I love the music and the dance came out nice oh yeah I love this massage in super goddess this is for this is from Artemis the girl group oh it's very more mature and sexier Vibe and you know all the swag and I loved it and I also loved how those test performed it so I think that's those two are my favorite yeah so Broadway is the whole Beast that is very new for you so what were some of the biggest challenges you faced first because China was not knowing anything because we hit a whole big process of making the dance in the beginning even prior to meeting or everyone me and being choreographer we got together daily and disappeared but yes so that was fun and then once we went to theater like we also space I started working with other people because they've been doing that for a while a lot of people experiencing a theater but that was my first time doing it so like not knowing anything every day it was more like I was I I had to stay away and make sure pick up things fast but also it was very fun as well challenging and fun uh and coming in the middle of theater and K-pop was very challenging because trendy and it's like constantly changing and you know all that but theater has to be consistent like you don't you don't create uh a musical thinking that you want to play for a week they normally when they play they're hoping to run it for long run so something that has to work for a long time the K-pop is more like instantly oh this is my this this is the the dance and the music and the next month we have another coming out so stuff like that so meeting in the middle and also even tests so some of them are real like themselves they were Idols so they have K-pop background but some of them are very heavily like the other background so how can we harmonize together as a whole those things right always have to find a way to blend everything well so it works for post Kpop fans when they watch it or it has to look assisting authentically K-pop at the same time when Theater events come in oh this is musical you know what I mean so it that was the most challenging part for uh all of us it should not just me like all the 14 in but my experience is great like everybody was so nice I learned so much I made some great friends so yeah that was amazing experience for me for some people who wanted to come see the show they were a little sad that had ended so early um so some people were just wondering what were your thoughts on the show being closed so soon and how do you feel about it that whole week a couple of week New York weeks we were so sad like us like our crew and also cast of can't even like imagine how disappointed they were so we were very emotional sad and there was a lot of cry and all that but down the road later on I start to feel more like accepting like because when something is decided I mean only thing that we can think of it is moving forward and you know did otherwise want to be like stuck in there and you know you know you have to move one yeah so yeah in the beginning when it happened I felt like oh my God practice and you know what was that creating

daily right but then when that's good I feel like no I feel so empty it was like huge disappointment but then like I said I accepted it and probably everything happens for reasons so I'm sure something better will be reserved for all of us like me and the team members so now I'm I'm better but before I was like Richard Coco body is so sad but now I'm now I'm okay I'm sure you know there's no regrets like it was still a good experience so yeah I'm still thankful and happy yeah I mean at the end of the day it was a groundbreaking show you know it's the first show on Broadway that featured an all Asian cast and it was it was really cool to see and it was it really is amazing that you got to be a part of it for sure and you know it originated as an Off-Broadway show and then there's still the soundtrack that's coming out as well so there's still potential life there so if the show ever does get brought back in some form like a tour or another city or something and you get to work on it again is there anything that you would do differently or that you would change now Having learned everything I think so like you know how like when you create something you I don't know if there's anyone ever feel like 100 satisfied okay this is good I'm not gonna change anything it's like when you look back like I wish I did this part like that which I still have this so if the show comes back if I get to work with them again then I definitely walk to the whole entire dance

there's anything that we can improve definitely oh goodness well just a quick insight to um people who don't really know your crack like your choreography style like your practice style she likes to go eight count by eight count and I analyze each finger and things like that so yeah we could totally see you doing that that would be so cute just the finger is not right for your k um

Look to Him sure

but it matters it matters it matters because like you know honestly you've been such like a uh an influence even on my choreograph choreographing like I've choreographed since I was like a kid but even now when I'm teaching my kids I'll still go five six seven eight stop at the eight don't go any further just the eight why is your finger here why is it you know because I do I'm like why do I I've never done this

so yeah it's it's you're definitely like influencing a lot of people you have touched so many lives for sure believe me um but yes we have one more question from a couple more questions rather but we have one question from another IG um subscriber and her name is Julie Lim that's an interesting name hi sweetie um looking back at all the hard work you've done so far did you think that you'd get this famous so just to kind of fluff that up a little bit you've worked with Nike you've been on Broadway so how do you feel about your own personal success I don't think I don't know if I'm famous so I'd be a little oh that's not me yeah my business grew in there more people recognize me when it comes to you know dance student uh Kpop death student and I see I never imagined but I I know since I was young I wanted to dance I wanted to sing I wanted to do acting all that so I guess I wanted to become someone who stands out and stand in front of other people so I guess they I had the heart since I was young but then uh I didn't like focus on that when I was working towards to it it's more like I followed my heart like people say like oh I want to do this I just do it and it brought me to where I am right now yeah that makes sense do it with love not for Love Yes it really is amazing you are definitely an inspiration to both of us and all of your students as well um so Kpop dance can be very difficult and you are one of my favorite instructors so what advice would you give to our listeners who who want to start learning dance and K-pop dance they should be very forgiving to themselves in the beginning I think this actually works for both students and teachers I want to deliver this message to both folks so the people um like I think I think you you too dance so you should probably can you know relate to this like when you go to like first time when you walk into dance studio it's not really about dance it's about feeling comfortable not feeling anxious about not doing well I think that's how I sell when I went to my first dance class especially I was very like older than a lot of them I feel like I was nervous I was worried that people would judge me and I was oh worry that like everybody is is keeping up but I was left behind so I'm like it's just it felt uncomfortable and I was very like I felt very like maybe I don't have talent to spell like disappointed and so now I think about it um or anything anyone when you do something for the first time it's very normal that you're bad so you should give yourself that room to be silly and make mistake and look bad in the class and it's okay if you're the slowest Learner in the room because that if you have the mindset of like okay that's fine I can be silly I can I can make mistake I can be bad it's no problem once you once you can do that your learning experience is probably more fun and your action one is fast the science that's why when I some of the teachers uh that I'm working with I sometimes mentioned that make sure exchange your energy with students even turn around actually directly making eye contact and talk to them and make sure they feel comfortable and don't look away when they make mistake but don't make them think that's something that I have to pretend that I didn't see laugh at it right laugh together it's okay to make mistakes so you have to give them the inline of like oh it's okay to fall it's okay to do something different and I turn the other way sometimes like you just pretend you don't you did a scissors they don't feel embarrassed no you should let them know that I saw it and it's okay yeah so that that feeling you should you should get rid of a feeling when you first walk into dance studio like it's hard to do it but then that's the first step and then from there learning dance starts yeah yeah yeah that's my advice just be free and give yourself you know opportunity to mess up I felt that ah no I agree I agree since we are a music show we've got to ask what is your favorite song or a song you've been listening to lately it doesn't have to be K-pop but if it is let us know um but yeah what have you been listening to lately oh yeah you don't have like me monthly right yeah but then that's me we like that song Personally because we doing bullets and there are times like you don't like this you see well I don't like these days when I step to it make sure you know so um but this one is I got lucky um it's actually I don't know if I'd say quality I don't think it's K-pop because XG yeah that's us as our argument too like wait they're singing in English or Japanese yeah I'm confused I don't want to get in trouble I'm quite sensitive it's not by the way correction here it's not J-pop it's done in English they're not Korean members I'm like I don't want to get in trouble people who's watching this um I don't know but anyway they asked me what I like to listen to this is um Left Right by XG I love it dance and also music it's very catchy I like it I think that's my my music these days and sometimes like think about it you teach like four or five times a week sometimes she's just like get sick of it yeah right but so far I'm still like enjoying the dancing I'm done actually since tomorrow is my last time someone would actually like uh left right well I'm I'm still enjoying it so I guess that's my my song now at the moment nice nice speaking of the songs where you don't like the choreography can you think of a class where you were really annoyed that you had to teach it yes you don't even you have to finish the question I'm like already lace it's coming the memory is coming back

oh yeah

for me and I I don't know because also maybe because that pet buff sounds it's like if you you know how when you teach you have to replay the section sometimes

and then also oh it's not my style that's why it's also like it was hard and I didn't have a lot of students I know I remember the last class you know we sometimes support it I assume I had five people in this box so I have to be like super like extra energetic so people doesn't feel like you don't feel like oh you don't have that many people I want to make sure that they feel like they're dancing with 20 people so much

not all of this dance like crazy it's like obsessed then that's my professionalism but yeah but that song I didn't enjoy it unfortunately like it was I was very happy when I'm when I was done you know what that is so welcome here because Chris and I have gotten some like and by the way because we said we don't like something even though we've had like facts to pack it up it happens yeah yeah nothing like everything yeah yeah I'm fine with that yeah not mature now so it's like no I don't like the way you dance it's fine

yeah yeah you it like the after a while it's like meh I'm still going I'm still gonna make these dances so [Music] there was actually YouTube College oh empty looks old right there I'm like all right

brilliant for you but yeah speaking of like ild and even you um and YouTube and everything else you're trying to do with growing your um your platform and your business what is next for you any kind of projects that you can tease or tell us about you know a little teaser right now I don't have anything big oh but sure there we just get a lot of performances and all that so I do have some oh I do have something uh so what we're going to do is we're going to sorry to interrupt here but the news is not quite ready to be announced just yet so for now we're gonna take this time to plug chantelle's music videos for I like you and here I am Linked In the description which feature MJ's choreography all right back to the show so that's my next exciting that's really cool all right so you've mentioned wanting to expand your platform so here's your chance to plug where can people find you on social media where should they follow you I love this NYC works for everything it's our website Instagram tick tocks so just remember I love the end that's our name but we're in and like we started NYC so I just put it there I love this NYC so follow us the reason why you need to follow us is because your life is still Fuller with my energy and my people's energy which I love dance we're very positive

was it too much no not at all no not at all and you've been to my studio and you guys are like I mean you've been very supportive both of you like I mean like I said I always meet good people and you too are included definitely yeah and I'm always like yeah doing amazing job on the MC thingy the contest like so talented seriously I was like wow that's crazy and so much dedicated you know preparing all the I was very touched and that's also reason why I I will stay thankful and happy that you invited me to your show and I felt like okay this is how I can pay back and support them too because they've done so much for me as well and and yeah and also yes so you know you've been to our studio everybody in in our group our family very nice positive welcoming people a lot of people gain their confidence and became happier or found their new talents or passion ever since they walked into our studio so yeah follow your heart but also follow I love dance um thank you so much MJ for hanging out with us today and for all of our listeners and viewers go to I love dance on YouTube and all the socials and if you are on the East Coast come to I love dance and Times Square and flushing in New York or Fort Lee in New Jersey Chris and I as MJ has said go to classes all the time so definitely come dance with all of us thank you to everyone for listening and submitting your questions and let us know what other aspects of the music industry you'd like to hear about hang out with us and the crew on patreon and please comment below or message us at CCTV pops on our social media don't forget to like subscribe and turn on those notifications for our YouTube channel and if you're enjoying the show on a podcast platform please give us a follow rating and a review until next time that's Chris that's Jan and that's MJ [Applause] the non-stop pop show [Music] foreign