Lee Chae-hyun at her studio Dancing Bora in Hapjeong-dong, Seoul, March 30. Korea Times photo by Kim Bo-eun
With 200,000 followers on TikTok under the account @dancingbora, Lee Chae-hyun is widely recognized by BTS fans. As a remarkable dancer, ARMYs from around the world seek her classes to learn the moves to the globally famous idol group’s songs. Without talent, she would not have made it this far, but there was one other key element.
“If it is anything that can promote BTS, I will do it,” Lee said without hesitation, when contacted for a visit to her studio for an interview. Her sincerity for the seven-member group is behind the studio’s name Dancing Bora. “Bora” means purple in Korean, a reference to the official color of BTS’ fandom.
For Lee, becoming a fan of BTS changed the course of her life.
Having majored in musical theater, she performed for a while but found it wasn’t right for her and moved on to run a small restaurant with her mom. But then she encountered BTS in 2017.
With a passion for dancing, she began uploading her cover dance videos in 2018 to BTS fan communities, back when it was known BTS members kept an eye on these sites. Fans started requesting she teach them, and this led to the opening of Dancing Bora in 2019.
She lost students over BTS’ recent three-year hiatus when they completed their mandatory military service, but now that BTS is back, the students have started coming back. The academy is undergoing renovation to get a fresh look in line with the group’s comeback. The studio will reopen in mid-April.
“It was such a long wait. I only waited for the comeback,” Lee said last week at her studio in western Seoul’s Hapjeong-dong, recalling the band’s March 21 reunion concert. “But they were exactly as they were before. And also the ARMY. We remained the same — we were passionate throughout the hiatus.”
People in their 20s to 50s, Koreans and foreigners, singles and working moms, all dance with the same devotion to their favorite group. This enables them to transcend language barriers.
“I don’t speak any English at all. In the beginning I would make sure to notify prospective students of this,” Lee said. “But it never bothered them. We move based on our heart for BTS.”
Prasittikul Nawaphat, 24, from Thailand, looked visibly excited after an hour of dancing to the song “2.0” from BTS’ latest album “ARIRANG.”
She joined the studio in 2023, after discovering BTS in 2017, and became inspired from their performances to take up dancing as a hobby.
“(The dance classes with the ARMY) give a good energy, positive energy to keep you going, keep swimming,” she said, beaming.
Nawaphat came to Korea as a student but now she is working in Seoul.
“Thanks to Dancing Bora, I feel like I belong somewhere in Korea,” she said.
Students dance to “2.0” from BTS’ latest album “ARIRANG” at Dancing Bora in Hapjeong-dong, Seoul, March 30. Korea Times photo by Kim Bo-eun
Son Hyo-ji, a Korean office worker in her 40s, is at Dancing Bora two to three times a week. She has been with the studio for seven years since it opened and has never missed a class.
“All the people at my company know that if there is a company dinner on a Thursday, I won’t be there,” she said.
At Dancing Bora, the members cheer for each other when they attempt to purchase concert tickets, are happy for each other when they succeed and attend concerts together.
“There is a part of deokjil (stanning), that not even my family members can understand,” Son said. “But this place is full of people who can understand this.”
At Dancing Bora, people can learn the moves to a song over the course of a month, or take a one-day class to learn a certain part of a song.