Performer · Choreographer
Lia Kim
Dancer
Why They Matter
Lia Kim represents a generation of choreographers who shaped K-pop's visual language while building inclusive teaching spaces. Her work demonstrates how popping, locking, and street funk vocabularies—rooted in African American and freestyle dance cultures—became central to Korean popular music.…
Known For
Biography
Lia Kim is a South Korean dancer, choreographer, and cofounder of 1MILLION Dance Studio known for her work in K-pop choreography and urban hip-hop. She developed as a freestyle popper and locker before expanding her vocabulary across isolations, tutting, street funk, and stilettos. Beginning her professional dance career at age twelve, Kim has choreographed performance routines for major Korean artists including BoA, Girls' Generation, and SUNMI. Her teaching approach strengthens the core and limbs while inviting dancers to make individual choices within her choreography. At 1MILLION, Kim and her collaborators have centered hip-hop as a core identity while positioning dance as a space of community access rather than gatekeeping. She continues to teach and perform as an artist and crew member at the studio.
Legacy & Impact
Lia Kim represents a generation of choreographers who shaped K-pop's visual language while building inclusive teaching spaces. Her work demonstrates how popping, locking, and street funk vocabularies—rooted in African American and freestyle dance cultures—became central to Korean popular music. Through 1MILLION, she has modeled a teaching philosophy that combines technical rigor with creative autonomy, influencing how hip-hop is transmitted to new generations of dancers across Asia and internationally.
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