Here's How Figure Skating Gave ENHYPEN's Sunghoon An Edge As A K-Pop Idol, According To Sunghoon Himself

Before he was a K-Pop idol, ENHYPEN‘s Sunghoon was an award-winning figure skater. He had a podium finish in international competitions such as the Asian Figure Skating Trophy and the Lombardia Trophy, quickly gaining a legion of fans who admired his graceful performances on the ice.

ENHYPEN’s Sunghoon in 2015

When he made it into the lineup of ENHYPEN in 2020, he ended his decade-long career in figure skating and became a full time singer. The two jobs may be vastly different, but Sunghoon was able to take his learnings from one and use it for the other! He explained just how he did so in an interview with Weverse Magazine.

When the interviewer commented, “All your experience as a figure skater must have been a lot of help for your performances and facial expressions,” he readily agreed.

Skating allowed him to get used to expressing himself while moving along to the music.

I wasn’t really good at facial expressions when I figure skated, but I remember feeling the melody and I did a lot of sentimental acting, which I think helped.

— Sunghoon

He was also able to naturally gain a dance style that was clean and attractive. When it comes to dancing, one can rarely fault him in any way.

And because I figure skated for so long, I’ve become pretty athletic, so even though I haven’t learned much, say, acrobatics, I could do it right away. People say I have a clean dancing style and that I don’t have any bad habits, and that there’s a soft, pretty tone to my dancing.

— Sunghoon

Finally, figure skating helped Sunghoon put on a consistently great performance on stage. Practicing on the ice and not in a practice room was the tougher way of doing things, but it definitely paid off.

And people usually practice their dance moves in front of the mirror and get used to that, but when I was figure skating I never really did that. I think not having to rely on the mirror makes my performances on stage and on camera look just as good as when I practice.

— Sunghoon