▲ Images captured from the documentary series "Hope on the Street," featuring J-Hope of K-pop superband BTS, released by BigHit Music on March 28, 2024. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

 

 

SEOUL, March 28 (Yonhap) -- "It's a moment to look back on before enlisting... What led me to this point? The answer was dance."

 

For 30-year-old J-Hope of K-pop superband BTS, whose real name is ‘Jung Ho-seok,’ dance was life and the beginning of everything. The roots that made 'Gwangju's Hoseok' into the J-Hope of today lie in dance.

 

The first episode of the documentary series "Hope on the Street," released on the 28th, begins with a scene where J-Hope recalls the meaning of 'dance,' which he had momentarily forgotten.

 

"It started with Gwangju's Hoseok. It seems like I was a friend who only knew dance.… If it weren't for dance, I wouldn't be who I am today." That's why he chose 'dance' as the theme of the documentary.

 

The documentary series follows J-Hope's dance exploration through genres such as Popping, Locking, House, and Hip-hop. J-Hope interacts with street dancers as he travels to places like Osaka, Seoul, Paris, and New York.

 

▲ An image captured from the documentary series "Hope on the Street," featuring J-Hope of K-pop superband BTS, released by BigHit Music on March 28, 2024. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

The first episode, which runs for 24 minutes, is a video summarizing the stories to unfold. Through interviews, J-Hope reflects on the unfamiliar emotions he encountered while seeking learning around the world.

 

The dilemma of 'how should I dance?', the psychological burden of 'I must be able to do it'… Especially in the Hip-hop segment filmed in New York, he tastes the frustration of feeling for the first time, "I can't follow this dance." "It's an episode where you can vividly feel how my mentality collapses."

 

Yet, J-Hope smiles happily as he reminisces about the moments his heart raced because of dance. For him, House was "a rhythm that was subtly and quietly within the body," and Hip-hop was "the genre most ingrained in the body."

 

Through dance, J-Hope also learns about life. "In a way, my life is similar to Locking... there are moments when you have to lock (hold back), and moments when you have to release and be relaxed."

 

▲ An image captured from the documentary series "Hope on the Street," featuring J-Hope of K-pop superband BTS, released by BigHit Music on March 28, 2024. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

In the middle of the interview, scenes of J-Hope recruiting dancers to appear in the documentary and him freely dancing on the street are briefly inserted. These scenes arouse anticipation for the upcoming episodes.

 

The first episode concludes with a glimpse of the Gwangju Neuron (NEURON) segment, which will decorate the finale of the documentary. Neuron was the name of the Gwangju dance crew J-Hope belonged to before debut. It is also the title track of J-Hope's special album "Hope on the Street VOL.1," to be released on the 29th.

 

In the video, J-Hope reunites with the 'hyungs' (older brothers) he was associated with in Neuron and returns to being the 'Hoseok' for whom dance was everything. "We live to move, and we won't forget these roots. Because we are Neuron."

 

The entire documentary, consisting of 6 episodes, shares context with the new album "Hope on the Street VOL.1." Each episode includes J-Hope's freestyle dance using tracks from the album, with descriptions of the background behind the tracks interspersed throughout.

 

The documentary releases new episodes every Thursday and Friday and can be watched on domestic online video services (OTT) like TVING and global OTT Prime Video.

 

▲ An image captured from the documentary series "Hope on the Street," featuring J-Hope of K-pop superband BTS, released by BigHit Music on March 28, 2024. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]