-Mingyu Hwang, Flexing Dancer

Its unique movement makes people stunned. His joints and bones seem to move against general ways of common human body movements. His arms and legs are twisted and turned continuously. At the same time, his dance tries to tell something all the way through. His dance is so unique.

I met Mingyu Hwang, Flexing Dancer with over an 8 year career of a Flexing dancer as of 2020. I had a rare opportunity to take his pictures. In fact there are not many flexing dancers in Korea and Mingyu Hwang is the only Flexing dancer in Busan, South Korea.

Mingyu told me that Flexing dance came from Brooklyn, New York. It is mixed with Jamaican style dance. In 1990s and the early 2000s, it started among African-American dancers. Mingyu said that Flexing dance was introduced in South Korea around 2010.

“Flexing Dance is concerned with our emotion and the flow. It gives shape to animation with our movement and puts stress on communication with people. Flexing dance has a variety of styles.”

In the past, Mingyu Hwang went to New York and got together with other Flexing Dancers. His flexing dance received favorable evaluations from dancers in New York. He also won the first place in Flexing dance competition there. He’s still one of the members of a New York team. 

“In the early days of Flexing dance in Korea, it was not that popular. However, I think that Flexing Dance is so attractive because it’s a new dance genre. It focuses on creativity, concepts, communication, and the quality of our bodies.”