Choreographer J-Black has revealed that he could barely walk when he created the viral choreography for A2O LITE’s debut single “NEON” — and that Lee Soo-man’s team waited a month for him to recover enough to take the job.
According to Maeil Business, J-Black shared the story in a video uploaded on November 5 to the YouTube channel “Dunworry Be Haetnim,” in conversation with singer Dawn.
J-Black said he had effectively given up on K-pop choreography work by then. After his collaboration with Dawn, he said, the requests simply stopped. “I thought my style just didn’t fit with K-pop,” he recalled.
Then came a call from Lee Soo-man’s side, asking him to help with the choreography for a group with Chinese and Japanese members. The problem was his health: J-Black was already living with spinal stenosis, and he had recently been badly hurt after slipping during a studio promotional video shoot.
“My back was in a really serious condition at the time,” he said. “I couldn’t walk at all.” He said electricity ran through his whole body, and he had to sit down after walking for just one minute.
He told Lee Soo-man’s team the job would be difficult, but asked whether they could give him about a month. To his surprise, they agreed to wait. After treatment, he was able to walk again within three weeks — though still not well enough to dance. He explained that he would have to work through his students rather than film demonstration videos himself. The reply, he said, was that it was fine as long as the work carried his style.
During production, his students demonstrated the moves while he directed the overall shape of the choreography. He performed the moves himself only once, at the very end of training.
The interview also revealed a secret behind one of the most talked-about moments in “NEON”: the kick move that became a signature of the performance was not set choreography at all, but a freestyle section. “Lee Soo-man picked it as the version for broadcast,” J-Black said. Seeing the finished result, he said it gave him goosebumps.
A2O LITE, Lee Soo-man’s nine-member girl group, debuted on October 12 with “NEON.” The single reached No. 1 on Melon TOP100 within 29 hours and sparked a viral meme craze — a hit dance built, J-Black’s account reveals, while its creator could hardly stand.
