Top 5 Dance Performances
Hello and welcome to this month’s edition of “The Best of the Best”, a monthly countdown of the very best of anything to do with Girls’ Generation. As decided by your votes, this month’s “The Best of the Best” will focus on my five favorite Girls’ Generation’s dance performances in nearly five years as a group. With each performance listed, I included both my reasons for selecting it as a favorite performance and a video of the dance to help you decide whether or not you agree. Don’t forget to let me know in the comments what would have been in your own top five! Also, as with every month, I’ve created a poll for you to decide what you would like to see on next month’s “The Best of the Best”. This column is all about what you want to see, so be sure to vote! Lastly, can you guess which member of Girls’ Generation will be appearing the most in this month’s edition? Read through my list and see if you were right!
5. Sunny, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, and Seohyun - “Sorry Sorry” and “Smooth Criminal”
In 2009, Girls’ Generation took on Super Junior in the popular “Star Dance Battle” program on MBC, in which members from the two groups traded their title songs for a fun dance competition. Super Junior’s Leeteuk, Sungmin, Shindong, and Eunhyuk danced to Girls’ Generation’s “Genie” and a medley of other songs, while Sunny, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, and Seohyun performed Super Junior’s “Sorry, Sorry” and Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal”. Dressed in black suits, the five members delivered a flawless version of Super Junior’s infamous “hand-rubbing” dance, complete with the choregraphy’s kicks and complex hand movements. After donning black hats, they moved onto Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal”, and even included the moon walk before finishing with King of Pop’s signature pose. These two dance covers together combined for an amazing performance and begins my list of the very best dance performances by Girls’ Generation.
4. Girls’ Generation - “I Kissed a Girl” and “Circus”
Another performance on “Star Dance Battle”, this time by all nine members, wins fourth place on my countdown and featured Girls’ Generation dancing to Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” and Britney Spears’s “Circus”. The performance began with Hyoyeon, Yuri, and Yoona, who eventually left the stage as the other six members of Girls’ Generation danced to "I Kissed a Girl”. Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona, and Seohyun then danced to the introduction of “Circus”, and soon were joined by all the members of the group. My favorite part of this performance then came as Hyoyeon, true to her title of the “Dancing Queen”, flew to the center of the stage in the middle of the song just as the lyrics went “I’m like the ringleader. I call the shots.” This enjoyable routine finished with all nine members on stage and, more than three years later, is still one of Girls’ Generation’s most memorable dance performances ever.
3. Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, and Yoona - SMTOWN Dance Break
The dance break featured in the second SMTOWN World Tour saw members from the many groups under SM Entertainment combine for one special stage. Girls’ Generation was represented by Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, and Yoona, who teamed up with f(x)’s Luna for a powerful performance that wowed fans in Seoul, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Tokyo, Paris, and New York. The video shown below was recorded in 2010, during SMTOWN in Los Angeles. Girls’ Generation’s part in the routine began with Hyoyeon, who first showed off her popping with Luna. The two were joined by Eunhyuk from Super Junior and Taemin from SHINee, the lead dancers of their respective groups, and Yuri, Sooyoung, and Yoona later appeared for a sexy hip-hop routine with Hyoyeon and Luna set to Pitbull’s “Go Girl”. Lastly, Eunhyuk, Taemin, Super Junior’s Donghae and Shindong, SHINee’s Minho, and f(x)’s Victoria came on stage for a grand finale with Michael Jackson’s “Jam”. This exciting performance thrilled hundreds of thousands of fans all over the world and also wins the third spot on my countdown.
2. Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona, and Seohyun - “Rhythm Nation”
As a singing group, Girls’ Generation’s dance skills are often overlooked and its dancers seldom get the chance to demonstrate their talents. One of the rare opportunities to do so came during 2009’s KBS Gayo Daejun, when Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona, and Seohyun danced to Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation”, a fast paced tracked matched by the quick, crispy movements of the choreography. Though only a little more than a minute long, the performance was filled with powerful, complex movements not normally seen in Girls’ Generation’s choreographies and was capped off by a brief but difficult solo from Hyoyeon. However, the four youngest members have no trouble keeping up with Hyoyeon for the rest of the performance and are in-sync throughout. This fun and exciting performance took the second spot on my list of the best dance performances ever by Girls’ Generation.
1. Hyoyeon - “Genie Remix” and “So Sick”
Though all of Hyoyeon’s many dance performances have been breathtaking and well-choreographed, none have showed off her penchant for dance like her routine for Ne-Yo’s “So Sick”, which unfortunately was performed only once during the Shanghai stop of Girls’ Generation’s 1st Asia Tour and was never broadcasted or released on DVD. Luckily, several fancams were taken during the concert, allowing fans all over the world to see what was one of Hyoyeon’s most amazing performances ever, filled with powerful moves perfectly in sync with her dance partner. Unlike her dances in “Dancing with the Stars II”, this performance allowed Hyoyeon to demonstrate styles of dancing in which she is comfortable and well-trained in, from the robot-like movements set to a remix of “Genie” to the smooth and flowing movements set to “So Sick”. As she breezed through the choreography and made it look easy, Hyoyeon proved to everyone why she has earned the title of “Dancing Queen” and won the top spot on my list of Girls’ Generation’s best dance performances.