When it comes to the dances behind K-pop, there’s one name that instantly catches a beat.
In steps Bada Lee with a bang. With her 5-foot-9-inch stature, the South Korean dancer and choreographer can effortlessly capture anyone’s attention — sometimes on-purpose, and other times, by accident.
For one, there are the fancams of her as a backup dancer for K-pop idols like EXO’s Kai and SHINee’s Taemin that have gone viral. There are also the dozens of iconic K-pop dances the 28-year-old dancer has helped choreograph that have taken the K-pop fandom by storm. Of course, no one can forget about the numerous friendships she has formed with the industry’s most well-known stars.
But then there’s also the time where she led a team to win one of South Korea’s most popular survival shows. When that chill in the fall weather hits again, promises of holidays arise alongside Street Woman Fighter season, which sees South Korea’s top female dance crews competing in a series of missions to showcase their skills and snag the top prize.
Nearly a year after the legendary win in Street Woman Fighter 2, Lee can’t help but reminisce about the era where she led Team BEBE straight to the trophy and all that’s happened since in her meteoric rise.
“I felt like I was in a trance when it happened,” Lee tells PEOPLE at the end of a late night in South Korea. While speaking after a jam-packed day, she’s still reeling in many ways from the unprecedented win.
Team BEBE, consisting of herself as the leader and six other members — Lusher, Kyma, Tatter, Minah, Cheche, and Sowon — seemed like the underdog of the competition from the get-go. Besides Lee, all of the members she chose were born after the 2000s. In contrast to the other seven competing crews, that made BEBE one of the youngest overall teams.
But according to Lee, the youth of the members was part of the point.
“When I was bringing the team together, rather than our goal being to win first place, it was more important to me that we pushed through together,” she says. “Amongst very strong teams and a very competitive setting, what centered us was doing it with people that we could grow and move forward with.”
Being a leader on a show also proved to be a unique challenge for Lee. At a point in her career where she was used to performing as a solo endeavor or choreographing for other K-pop groups, directing Team BEBE was a push into new territory.
However, it wasn’t long before Lee would inadvertently make her own viral mark on the show. During one mission, she was given the rap song “Smoke (Prod. Dynamic Duo, Padi)” and had to represent her team to choreograph and perform a part of it. What resulted from the pressure was a short, 30-second sequence of complex choreo, complete with large yet precise moves. In no time, Lee’s “Smoke” Challenge became a viral hit in all corners of the industry. Even idols like BTS’s V, Jungkook and members from NCT and ITZY joined in.
“Honestly, when the challenge first came out, there were a lot of people saying it was difficult, saying ‘This is the epitome of a challenge,'” Lee says. “Despite that, there were still a lot of people who thought the choreography was cool and took on the challenge, as well as many artists and fans all over the world who loved it, so I am still very thankful for that.”
The challenge thrusted Lee’s distinctive style into the limelight — one dripping with swag and a feel of masculine sensuality, along with her signature fashionable streetwear. From there, more and more K-pop fans began to recognize her as a friend and go-to choreographer for many of the industry’s biggest idols.
Even while filming Street Woman Fighter 2, Lee didn’t stop creating for other groups. In pockets of time between missions, she helped contribute choreography for aespa’s “Drama” and Taemin’s “Guilty.”
“There’s a Korean saying, ‘to catch two rabbits,’” she explains to PEOPLE. “I think I wanted to be great at both — being choreographer Bada Lee and dancer Bada Lee who is on Street Woman Fighter 2. I didn’t want to lose either.”
She not only held on to both, but also added numerous names to her roster of high-profile friends. NCT 127’s Taeyong is one of them, as well as Kai. The latter is whom Lee tells PEOPLE she’s had the longest working relationship with, harking back to the EXO singer’s first solo release.
“Kai and I have dance styles that match well,” she says. “I know quite well what kind of dance he likes to perform, as I studied a lot of his dancing and worked to find out what his strengths are.”
Lee also formed a family-like group called “95z” with BTS’s V and a freestyle friend of hers named GOF. They came together not only because they were all born in 1995, but also wanted to “enjoy dance, to be happy and at peace while dancing,” Lee explains.
“We practiced a lot together and then did things like the ‘Smoke’ Challenge together,” she says of their friendship. “We also talk a lot about dance and continue to get along very well.”
The pressure so far has no doubt risen alongside her popularity. On the other hand, so has the love, which is what she says has helped her power through hardships. She’s also thankfully never been much of a pessimist.
“I have never had a moment where I thought I didn’t want to be a dancer,” she says resolutely. “My personality is of the type to lean toward self-belief, to have confidence and trust myself well, so I was able to keep working hard and pushing without stopping.”
“I also carry the mindset of wanting everyone who watches my stages and performances to fall for me, for everyone to be immersed in my dancing from the moment they see it as if they are dancing with me,” she says with a laugh. “I hope to be a dancer that carries that feeling. Every time a stage ends and when they walk out that door, I hope the audience can think of nothing but me.”
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