Hyoyeon has made her name shine, now known not only as “Girls’ Generation’s Hyoyeon”, but also as simply “Hyoyeon”. To prepare for her final performance on MBC’s ”Dancing With the Stars II” on July 20th, Hyoyeon was busy practicing with her partner, Kim Hyungsuk; her hair was tied tightly, beads of sweat dripping down. With her constantly rigorous schedule, her health was a concern, but she continued to smile and use all of her remaining strength to prepare for the finals.
“Because it’s the last time, I got a little greedy. I purposely requested lifts and other difficult skills that we haven’t done often. Because we don’t have a lot of time, I at least want to match the music well. As always, I get nervous 2-3 days before the competition.”
Since her trainee days, right behind SM Entertainment’s female singer BoA, Hyoyeon was a good dancer and was known as a “dancing queen”. As she is able to handle all kinds of dance genres, it was expected that she would be able to learn sports dance just as well. However, it wasn’t that easy. The movements are completely different from dances performed by singers, thus providing a challenge for Hyoyeon.
“Because this was my first time taking on sports dance, I learned the basics first. Simply bending and extending your knee was completely different from what I was used to. Because it is not a field that I specialize in, feelings of not wanting to fail are strong. And so I’ve been practicing a lot more compared to the beginning [of the show]. I was in the practice room until 5 AM the day of the semi-finals.”
After always going around as a group of nine members, Hyoyeon has spent the past three months alone. She stated, “At first, the members’ absence felt large. I had confidence in teamwork, but didn’t know about partnerships well, so I had a little trouble. I was also shy of the skinship with Hyungsuk. Because I was like that, Hyungsuk was even more shy. So I thought of it as acting and watched a lot of videos. After that, the touching felt comfortable.” She added, “It’s a relief it didn’t overlap with group promotions. If it did… whew! Overseas schedules were the most difficult. When we go out [of the country] once, I’m absent for a long time.” She said that the hardest thing was that the flow of their partnership was cut when she went overseas.
Hyoyeon also discussed difficulties pertaining to her career as an entertainer. Since there are a lot of members in Girls’ Generation, there are times when Hyoyeon gets less attention compared to others. However, Hyoyeon has received her spotlight through “Dancing With The Stars II”. She has succeeded in capturing the attention of not only young fans, but also housewives who view the show at the late hour it broadcasts. Hyoyeon agreed with these observations about her now broader fan-base.
“I don’t feel down about not shining as much, being overshadowed by my other members. While I do appear on ‘Invincible Youth 2′ and other variety shows, since this program isn’t just to deliver laughter, but instead requires you to win based on skills, my posture changed. If I do win, I think I’d be deeply touched.” Her eyes got watery while saying, “Of course I was happy receiving awards as a Girls’ Generation member, but if I was to reach the greatest spot with my name, ‘Hyoyeon’…”
After her last match with Choi Yeojin, the winner will finally be chosen.
“I don’t feel any greed towards winning. I don’t know if it’s because Yeojin-unnie has danced before, but her [body] line is really pretty when she dances. Still, if I don’t win, I guess I would feel disappointed, down, and sad? And, so I don’t feel sad, I really worked hard.”
“I’ve honestly been hearing a lot of compliments while appearing on ‘Dancing With The Stars II’. Because I’m receiving compliments, I’ve been wanting to do sports dance even more. I even thought, ‘Should I enter a competition?’ Haha! I’m really enjoying this moment.”
Source: dongA.com
Translated by: ch0sshi@soshified
