Choreographer Accuses HYBE Group Of Plagiarism

Choreographer Kelly Sweeney is calling out HYBE for allegedly plagiarizing her choreography.

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Kelly Sweeney was sent a video of a K-Pop girl group dancing, pointing out similarities to her original choreography. The group in question is I’LL-IT.

Sweeney posted back-to-back posts via Instagram Stories, tagging the group and calling them out for allegedly plagiarising her. Her choreography for another song previously went viral after influencers danced to it, and netizens started crediting them instead.

Sweeney posted a video to TikTok and Instagram, which went viral with 2M and 177K views, respectively. It’s a side-by-side comparison of a clip from her choreography video and girl group I’LL-IT dancing.

As an artist and choreographer, someone who devotes their life to creating original moves and does this as a living, it’s very frustrating to see people take your steps without any credit. As flattered as I am that their choreographer liked it so much as to learn it, change the song (😂), and do it for their video, it’s NEVER okay to plagiarize and not give credit. Especially when you’re a group of artists. Please do better @illit_official@hybe.labels.audition @beliftlab .

— Kelly Sweeney

 

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Fans were initially concerned that the group was NewJeans as it was also a five-member girl group under HYBE. However, it’s I’LL IT who are under HYBE subsidiary BE:LIFT Lab, as the group was formed from HYBE and JTBC survival show. R U Next?.

Watching Sweeney’s side-by-side comparison of the two dances, it looks identical. So, netizens expressed their outrage that she wasn’t credited.

Sweeney’s choreography, she said HYBE plagiarised, is taken from her choreography video for Bad Bunny‘s “Tití Me Preguntó” at Millennium Dance Complex.

I’LL IT has yet actually to make their official debut. They are scheduled to debut in the first quarter of 2024. The clip accused of plagiarism is taken from Episode 3 of the group’s online reality show I’LL-IT Ready!, which focuses on their preparation for their debut. This new episode was released just yesterday.

The episode began with a brief clip of the members’ dance practice, which is the exact clip that is now being used as evidence of “plagiarism.” HYBE nor I’LL IT never claimed the choreography as their own, and it’s not being used in their debut as the dance for their own songs. It was just used during dance practice, which was documented for online content to show fans the members’ progress. The audio was changed to Ty Frankel‘s “Original,” likely to avoid copyright issues with Bad Bunny’s song.

K-Pop idols often tell stories of their trainee days when they frequently practiced dance. As they have yet to debut, idols do not have their own songs or choreography to learn. Still, they need to develop their skills to debut. So, trainees must learn choreography for other artists’ songs; some do so by watching professional dancers’ and choreographers’ videos.

For example, choreographer and dancer Brian Puspos choreographed a video for Drake‘s “Own It.” The video went viral in the dance community.

BTS‘s Jimin and Jungkook released a dance cover of Brian Puspose’s choreography using the same music, posting it on BANGTANTV. Since the video was not part of a larger piece of content, such as a reality show, the members posted it, identifying it as a “Dance Practice by Jung Kook and Jimin” and “Original Choreography by Brian puspose.”

Both Jimin and Jungkook have gone on to work with Brian Puspose. Puspose choreographed Jimin’s “Serendipity,” and you can often spot Puspose in Jungkook’s solo projects as he also served as a backup dancer.

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After Sweeney’s post, netizens are calling out HYBE, BE:LIFT Lab, and I’LL IT to credit her. Netizens are tagging the companies on Sweeney’s posts as well as commenting on I’LL IT’s YouTube video.