CHOREOGRAPHY REVIEW - CORTIS (코르티스) 'TNT' Official MV + Performance Film + Dance Practice

Added: 2026-05-10

[00:00:00]Hi everybody. My name is Jessica Hollyfield, a number professional dance choreographer and dance educator based out of the southeast of the United States and we're here taking a look at Cordae's and they got a music video called TNT. I'm always looking forward to it because I have no idea what to expect, but I've liked more music than not. So, let's go ahead and check it out.

[00:00:22]>> [music] [music] [music] >> Run.

[00:00:38]Run.

[00:00:45]If parkour was a music video. Wow.

[00:00:55]The amount of running is really funny.

[00:00:57]Are they going to run the whole time?

[00:01:03]TNT >> [music] >> Different mouth.

[00:01:11]Aha.

[00:01:13]Different mouth.

[00:01:18]Smart. It's smart. Run, Forrest.

[00:01:24]You know, I think Luna would approve of this music video for the amount of running that is in it.

[00:01:35]>> [music] >> Woo, parkour.

[00:01:39]Pop that.

[00:02:01]>> [music] >> Wow.

[00:02:07]This is really fun.

[00:02:11]That's really stressful though, the amount of people running everywhere.

[00:02:16]Always got somewhere to be, but yet we're going nowhere. Isn't that interesting?

[00:02:23]We're not done. [music] Great, great, great, great.

[00:02:27]Were idiots involved? Yeah.

[00:02:30]That's a really weird thing to say.

[00:02:32]>> [music] >> Stunt coordinator, we love a good stunt coordinator. [music] Day one of runners and frolickers. Oh my god.

[00:02:55]Day two.

[00:02:58]We love it. Wow. That's kind of not charming. Three days to shoot that?

[00:03:05]Interesting. Four days to shoot this.

[00:03:11]Huh. I think I'm more fascinated at the fact that this music video took four days to film.

[00:03:20]Also, as a side note, can we talk about the fact that the Big Hit like intro doesn't show up at the beginning of KARD's videos?

[00:03:32]But I feel like they still do for the other groups under Big Hit. Hold on.

[00:03:39]Just kidding. I think that's just a new format that Big Hit's doing versus putting in the beginning, they're putting them at the end cuz I just like skimmed on one of TXT's music videos, didn't see it, but uh but once the end end, it did the same thing, so cool. Will there be a dance? I mean, I feel like Sure. I mean, why not? They have absolute free will to exercise here. I mean, they got plenty of exercise there, so there was no room for dancing cuz they were too busy running. Um I think it would be really funny if the dance was just them running to and fro on the concert stage. We'll find out, I guess.

[00:04:13]We have a performance film to look at.

[00:04:15]Here we go.

[00:04:20]>> [music] [music] >> That's more of an isolation than a gangsta walk.

[00:04:35]>> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> It's like you're you're pushing down on the explosives.

[00:05:18]>> [singing and music] [music] [music] >> Oh, that's cool. So, I see why it took 4 days cuz they probably filmed this within those 4 days.

[00:05:56]>> [music] [music] [music] >> Me and them are about to pop out. We about to explode.

[00:06:18]Cool. I mean, this song is short, right?

[00:06:22]You got two choruses and you got two verses. I don't mind it. I will say it's always fascinating seeing what they choose to do in choreography because for the kind of music they're making, the pocket that they're choosing to explore as movers, I say is very fitting. So, I'm I'm looking forward to dance practice cuz if we have a concept performance film, we will most likely have a DP DP for the TNT to enjoy. Dance practice is here.

[00:06:55]Is he going to keep those glasses on the whole time?

[00:06:59]>> [laughter] [music] [music and singing] [music] >> Ooh, there's a nice crispness to that.

[00:07:45]>> [music] [music] >> Nice.

[00:08:02]>> [music] [music] [music] >> Okay, so it looks like we're using some [singing] level feature moments. This happened a couple times to initiate the verses.

[00:08:30]Very windshield wiper kind of choice.

[00:08:37]Yeah.

[00:08:44]>> [music] >> She said ah such a It's an earworm.

[00:08:55]>> [music] >> Got some freedom.

[00:09:00]With an accent move to hit on TNT getting us all unified here.

[00:09:08]>> [music] [music] >> Nice. That is it's so short, but notice how exhausting it is.

[00:09:35]>> [laughter] >> You silly goose.

[00:09:47]>> [snorts] >> crazy crazy >> [laughter] >> Goodness. Goodness. Goodness. Okay, from the top.

[00:10:11]All right. We did a pretty decent job tone setting, meaning that we're getting set up in the right head space to project and present what we would like.

[00:10:24]>> [sighs] >> Okay. So, you notice in the beginning how we have a level difference between your first feature and everybody else.

[00:10:32]You don't have seeing that reintroducing the second verse. Of course, we know we're going to pick that up in the space cuz we literally have documentation on camera. Now, what's interesting about this choice is everyone has an individual perspective of the switch in the torso.

[00:10:50]But, notice that it looks so similar to a king still walk, which is this isolation. You've seen Billie Eilish do it. Um you've seen quite a few people do it.

[00:11:00]And um oh my gosh, who did it? Was it Future Kings?

[00:11:04]Yeah, Future Kings. Zaya created the king still walk. So, that's a fun little tip if you're curious. So, this looks really similar to that, but I would say it's just head nods in comparison to an actual head iso and they're not descending on their level. So, I actually don't mind it and it really helps us be able to clock that part of our music. I like that your features are literally exercising free will. It's probably a charm that Cordis has kind of unlocked on the marketing and the branding of their group. is I know personally for myself as I've gotten older or maybe it could just be the society that we're living in and what we're exposed to in the media side, the more I feel tempted to just exercise my free will to do what I would like to do without having to like submit to these cultural standards that don't really make sense, right?

[00:11:55]Right. So, I'm not saying that I'm I'm I'm projecting that on, but they do scratch that part of my brain personally where you see them exercise the free will of we could cut this but we don't want to cuz we don't care and it gives us an opportunity to kind of showcase that we're human because they still are, right?

[00:12:19]There's There's They're very much human.

[00:12:21]I like the tension on that with the toss, great speed change, the shoot to get us conditioned the formation. That was a crispy on the heel toe. We've called that a James Brown. We don't really have that much of a groove. We Actually, there's a charm to the absence of groove that we see in their respective movement and I think that caters to the genre or the sub genre of the types of tracks that they've produced based on what they're inspired by, right? It's like the little head bobble there. They drop it down Drop it Sorry, drop it out, separate the formation a little bit more. I like the scuff going in there. We drop subtlety in the shoulders, we lift it up, drop it low, tension, toss it. Here we go. I like the running on that with the hops shoot it and we have the arms. We're creating individuality with our arms, extremities, but we are calibrating or we're cohesive as a unit with the dynamic in the rigidity of how we are to execute that. So, I I am a fan of this.

[00:13:24]I I their movement absolutely makes the music more more enjoyable. Now, this moment right here, I've seen it you've seen it in an Outlaw, you've also seen it in a schmony. It has more of a it's a trending kind of transition or a move that you've seen. I like that we're using it to transition. We scoop it and or we scuff it, sorry, and then we hinge it around and like the arms are really rigid. TNT and then we party hearty on this making more towards the front. They have that TNT party party.

[00:13:59]TNT rigid and they're letting that leg really help making it look like a full body experience even when it's not. I think it's nice. So, we toss it send it back. What you need.

[00:14:11]We do a nice little hidey hole moment. I think it's really fun. That does have a cartoon-esque side to it cuz you know when people sorry, when cartoons like Road Runner I just what I'm thinking of where they push the the T into this thing where whenever you hit it and it travels the fire or the spark and it to this big old explosion. I don't know how it logistically realistically works, but that's what that reminded me of was that kind of media exposure, but it could also very easily have not been that, too.

[00:14:48]So, we have a heel toe to help create a subtle transition as it swings across to the other side. This is like what I had mentioned the first go around where you do have your next feature. He is up and at an elevated angle. Everybody else is hunched over, he's leaned back.

[00:15:06]And then we send it back.

[00:15:08]And then you notice that da da da da da da da da, right? And how we are very intentional with our placement of our weight and we're not, you know, as playful with that unless we're being individuals within it.

[00:15:22]Right? We send it back. The dynamics as much as it shows how freeing it is, and there's a lot of structure if you look at the lower body. That really gives us a lot of information because even to the degree where they're having a mini mosh pit party of one over in the on their respective sides before the TNT part, there's structure in the spacing, which is what makes it work, and it makes it balanced, but also it makes it look like we're exercising free will. Do you see what I mean?

[00:15:51]Right, we drop it low. They look it up.

[00:15:53]Come on.

[00:15:54]Was that a full-on dab? Let's see.

[00:15:57]And am I going to catch it? It looks like some of us were able to dab it up.

[00:16:04]>> [laughter] >> And then I like the airtime where we're going onto the ball of the foot to create that nice transition, that airtime speed change moment.

[00:16:12]And they're switching up the feet. You have the pop-out. Friend shows up. I like that they do it to the other side, but notice we regressed in the intensity in that the redirection of the upper body, but notice look, we're very intentional with the placement of our weight here. We're also keeping our spacing. I'll call this a trapezoid formation.

[00:16:30]Cuz this is a trapezoid, right? Then you have some subtlety, great dynamic changes, but with speed changes like that to help break it up. The runs are nice, but look, we're in an inverted V even though the upper body looks like we're having this this huge torso freedom, but notice in the very beginning we had that, too, but it was very isolated in our choice in how we chose to present it. It's just really fun. Like there's a lot of repeated information if you really look at it, but how they're framing it and how they're presenting it, it's some of the best repackaging that you could find in a choreography with this type of movement structure personally, which is what makes it charming, and it has the like the earworm kind of movement in it through the physical moment within it.

[00:17:22]Like it feels good to do. Like that feels good to do through that synthy autotune tone, right? We are da da da TNT's hinged back. Some are choosing hinge forward. See, look. We're structured. We can see everybody.

[00:17:36]But I'm sure if they did this in a concert setting, they would not really be mindful of spacing as much. TNT they're never going to do that. Now from there, the reason why I would assume my hypothesis as to why the spacing really matters in those individual spaced out moments is because of the context before and after those moments like this.

[00:17:58]Because we're getting us all condensed together with the transition that's rigid over to the side. You don't want to make your life hard being in the wrong place when you could just be in the right place but have more freedom, right?

[00:18:11]Love that with the cake there.

[00:18:13]And then we TNT. And then they go some subtle placement of the arms.

[00:18:18]And then we just walk away.

[00:18:21]Yeah.

[00:18:23]So I am picking up after we've seen quite a few of Kourtis' choreographies.

[00:18:29]Jong and they're like, "I'm going to take you out. Are you?" They do give the impression, you know, of I I can picture like teenage boys cuz they are teenagers.

[00:18:42]Oh, sorry. There we go. This is a little bit better. Yeah. Um I could see them like maybe this is old fashioned, come and TP my house and they would find that to be really fun. I wouldn't but also in this economy, right?

[00:18:57]They give that kind of um energy where they would be a little bit rambunctious, right? But they're you know, now they're in a they're they're businessmen if you think about it. The business boys. Guys, they are under contract with an agency. So I do find it so fascinating that we have a group like this. We're going to let it play cuz they're going to, you know, exist in the space. I like the charm of seeing them exist before and after. Do I think though, I'm I'm curious about what they kind of plan to do after these cuz this feels a little bit more planned out, this particular dance practice, compared to the very first one that we saw, if that makes sense. But, could it be we're just conditioned to them?

[00:19:40]Maybe. I'll chalk it up to that. Uh but, just the fact that we've been able to establish a brand like this where there's a a high degree of realism to it, but also there's enough structure where they're I'm going to tell you, they're they're most likely they there's a lot of things that are controlled about what they put out, even though it says that we color outside of the lines. Everything's going to have to get cleared by the higher-ups because at the end of the day, there's a secondary agenda that's being shown. But, I'm really digging the direction that we have here. I think it's nice. I like seeing different avenues explored within certain music industries, especially, you know, as long as we're being intentional and not saying we're doing something unique that is we're the only people who've ever done it. They've never said that and I don't think that's what they mean either. They we know what they're inspired by cuz they've said it themselves and that's what I think really matters at the end of the day is that we're not ignorant to inspiration.

[00:20:44]Everybody is inspired by everything.

[00:20:46]Even how I do the format of my videos, as a side note, I've been vocal of who I've been inspired by to do the kind of format or the in-depthness that I do, right? Now, I may have a unique presentation because of my own lived experience, but that doesn't take away the fact that I'm inspired by many things around me. So, that's what I'm kind of extending to KARDIS is that I really like their impression that they've made in the space that they're in because hopefully it'll open up more avenues for us to see more artists not really like them, but navigating new paths within the industry specifically of the K-pop realm, right? So, anyway, I enjoyed this. I'm I'm looking forward to y'alls thoughts. I'll probably put a poll out where I'll ask do you guys want me to cover Red Red or TNT. I do know one of them is significantly simpler than the other, but I tend to struggle more with simpler ones because I try to look exactly like the people. So, I'll leave it up to you guys on which one to cover, but it's it's nice. I don't mind it.

[00:21:47]Whenever KARDIS shows up on my feed, I am very intrigued on what they're going to do and I think that's a step in the right direction if you ask me for for a group like this.