Park Bongyoung is a dancer and choreographer in South Korea at Seoul 1Million Dance Studio. He is currently doing a World Tour within which he had a stop in Paris on July 26th for a workshop. This tour has been organized for beginner and intermediate level dancers but especially to meet his fans.
It is at the LAX studio of Paris that Park Bongyoung gave his two workshops with his GoPro stuck to his hand. For the first workshop, it was a small group of mainly beginners. He chose a choreo easy to learn, took the time to teach his students step by step and gave them advices to grasp the choreo and dance in general. He was very attentive to his students. At the end of the class, he took the time to talk with them and take selfies.
For the second workshop, there were more people, more than thirty. For this session, and in memory of his visit in France three years ago, he decided to challenge his students, also beginners, over a choreo more sexy and demanding (Chris Brown – Take you down). He pushed them a bit but they were very happy to learn this choreo and weren’t discouraged. Park Bongyoung seemed to be pleasantly surprised when his students executed small sexy movements of the choreo. At the end, we had the chance to watch his whole performance, with a tiny shirt-lift which of course delighted his audience. Here again, he took the time to talk and take tons of selfies with his fans. Then he got changed for the long-awaited event of his tour: the fanmeeting.
He got back with a white shirt to recall that he is in Paris “The city of love”. Fans came with presents and questions. He answered with great sincerity and enthusiasm. He also sang and learned about a French hit Chocolat of Lartiste.
This workshop day was very fun. He and his fans shared a great moment and will keep a good memory of it. It is a success for him who was in this studio as a student just three years ago. What did he remember of French language? “Bonjour, je m’appelle Park Bongyoung. Je suis coréen. Merci !” (“Hello, my name is Park Bongyoung, I’m Korean. Thank you!”), but he was very happy to be back in Paris. For him, it didn’t change much and he’s very happy to see again the Parisian architecture, to find again this pleasant feeling of walking around in the streets and to hear French, which he considers sexy.
The day after the workshop, Bonjour Corée was able to spend a moment in his company to learn more about him. Small biography of Park Bongyoung: a lovely and determined artist.
Originally Park Bongyoung was an actor who studied musical during which he took ballet, jazz, and tap-dancing classes. He loves to travel, to do sport, music and art. One day, he found videos about the American choreographer Keone Madrid and was touched by his way of using dance to express himself. He loves the fact that just with music, a choreography and few dancers, he can create art and emotional contents. That is where everything started, he found exactly what he wanted to do and started training to be a professional dancer.
The artist who inspires him the most is Usher. He loves his style and especially is impressed by the fact that even at his age, he still do amazing performances. He wish to be able to pursue a long career in dance and music. He doesn’t hide he would like to dance and learn with him.
Determined, he took his chance in the U.S but for administratives reasons, he was forced to go back to South Korea. And then, he tried to get another chance in France and came to take an intensive dance training for two months. He took classes with the French choreographer Yanis Marshall who is famous for his high heels choreographies. Then, he went back to Korea where he went out of his way to find a job as a dancer. He took lots of auditions and had the chance to participate as a dancer to Park Jung Min (SS501)’s tour in South America, which will stay one of his memorable moments of his career. For the story, he remembers that during a concert in Bolivia, the conditions were physically harsh for them as they were at 2500 meters of altitude so with few oxygen. During the concert, the artists had oxygen masks backstage and they needed to use them at every break. Despite this, he really enjoyed this experience as he could feel this sensation of having an audience that cheers for them and makes him want to do his best on stage in return.
Back in Korea, he kept looking for opportunities and started giving classes in different dance studios in Seoul, to the date when he offers to give high heels dancing classes at 1Million Dance Studio and help them to rise their popularity. They accepted the offer and he gave high heels dance classes – which was very new in South Korea – and with other members, they started increasing the popularity of the studio, which nowaday counts twenty teachers. Aside, 1Million Dance Studio was created to allow dancers to teach and share about dance. With its popularity, the studio hopes to give more opportunities to newbies by giving quality classes.
Today, he offers hip-hop classes to reach more people and to meet more dancers. By the way, his classes encounter more foreign dancers which forces him to teach in English. He still gives high heels dance classes but more in private, often for girl idols. He likes it as he feels more powerful and sexy. At the same time, he’s progressively leaving his place for new teachers to give himself into other projects. Now here he is, doing his world tour to meet his fans. His tour includes the United States (Washington D.C, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles), Europe (Berlin, Frankfurt, London, Paris, Istanbul, Madrid and Moscow) and China. This tour is a huge challenge for him as he organized it all on his own.
Back from his tour, he will concentrate on a new project of his album! Obviously there will be much of EDM sounds (electro music) as he loves this style: he loves when it makes you move. His goal is to dance on his own music and his bigger dream will be to be on stage and perform in front of his public. Let’s not forget it, he is an artist who loves to create and share his art. He claims he doesn’t love only one style, he likes to learn many of them and create a fusion, create his own style but he also loves couple dances which can deliver strong emotions…
Message from Park Bongyoung to those who want to be dancer and choreographer
“If you want to be a professional (dancer), you must exercise, get muscles, take many dance classes and find a great teacher. You must learn from your friends dancers and teachers. You must dance tirelessly, all time, as much as you can. So first, find regular class(es) which fits you, train everyday, take auditions. You need to progress, be better day by day. You need to learn constantly.
Try, train, don’t be afraid!
Do not hesitate to take a part-time job in order to fund your dance classes!
Really, you have to find your regular dance class and work hard! “
Message from Park Bongyoung to his fans
“Thanks for supporting me! All your messages and supports help me to keep going! It’s very important to me! If I hadn’t had you, I would never made it. I wouldn’t be able to show my art. You watch my shows, my creations, and you love them. It helps me going on. I am very grateful for this. I LOVE YOU!“
This adventurer who isn’t faint-hearted, very resourceful and smart, loves to meet new people. He is an artist with full of future promises, a good example of a youngster who fights for success. He wants to make his dream come true, his “dream job” and he is off to a good start.
Bonjour Corée wishes him a great continuation and a huge success in his projects.
Watch our video of his passing in Paris
Many thanks to Park Bongyoung, Maya Zorlu, The HouseCon
