🇰🇷 5 K-Pop Dance Challenges Taking Over Southeast Asia Right Now (2026)

Scroll through Instagram Reels or TikTok anywhere in Manila, Jakarta, Bangkok, or Ho Chi Minh City right now, and there's a good chance you'll land on someone — usually in their 20s or 30s, usually filming in a bedroom or a dance studio mirror — trying to nail a K-pop chorus move frame by frame. Southeast Asia has quietly become one of the biggest engines behind K-pop's dance challenge culture, and a handful of 2026 comebacks have absolutely taken over group chats and For You pages across the region. Here are the five that are actually worth learning.

🐯 1. BABYMONSTER — "CHOOM" (춤)

The title track literally means "dance" in Korean, so it's fitting that this became the challenge of the year. CHOOM is now sitting past 180 million views on YouTube alone, and the move everyone's replicating is the "Monster Claw" — a sharp, clawed hand gesture that snaps in right on the beat drop.

• Difficulty: Hard — the footwork changes direction fast, so most challenge videos only tackle the chorus.
• Why SEA loves it: BABYMONSTER's fanbase exploded across the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand almost as fast as it did in Korea, and group dance-cover videos from Manila and Jakarta dance crews have racked up millions of views on their own.

🛹 2. Stray Kids — "This & That"

Stray Kids don't really do "easy" choreography, and This & That is no exception — but that's exactly why the challenge caught on. The song's official MV has pulled in close to 90 million views, and the split-screen challenge format (dancing the same eight-count next to a friend, synced) turned it into one of those trends where the fun is doing it with someone else.

💡 Pro tip: Most beginner-friendly cover versions only take the shoulder-dip-into-two-step section from the second verse — that's the part you'll see repeated most in duo videos across TikTok and Reels.

🐆 3. KATSEYE — "Animal"

This one hits differently for Southeast Asian fans specifically: KATSEYE is the multinational girl group formed by HYBE and Geffen Records through a global reality competition, and member Sophia Laforteza is Filipino, with fellow member Megan Skiendiel being half-Singaporean. "Animal" has already crossed 88 million views, and the predator-stance choreography — a low, stalking crouch that snaps upright on the chorus — has become the group's signature challenge move.

• Difficulty: Medium — the crouch is the hard part, everything else is mostly attitude.
• 🎁 Fun fact: The official MV even features a cameo from actress Demi Moore, which only added more fuel to the video's spread outside the usual K-pop fan circles.

💜 4. BTS — "NORMAL"

For a huge chunk of Southeast Asia's ARMY fanbase — one of the most loyal in the world — this comeback needs zero introduction. NORMAL marks BTS returning together after their military service, and the challenge built around it is the seven-way synchronized formation from the chorus, where all seven members move through a cascading, chest-led wave one after another. It's already past 30 million views and climbing fast.

⚠ Note: This is genuinely one of the harder formation challenges to film solo — most creators either use seven quick cuts of themselves or team up with six friends to do it properly.

⚔️ 5. ATEEZ — "BAD"

ATEEZ's fandom (ATINY) is massive across the Philippines and Indonesia, and BAD turned into one of the biggest challenges of mid-2026 — currently past 70 million views — helped along by a viral crossover moment where TWICE's Momo posted her own version of the choreography, sending the trend even further outside ATEEZ's usual fanbase. The dark, sharp-edged concept choreography rewards precision over speed, which is why you'll see a lot of slowed-down "count it out" tutorial versions floating around.

Honestly, this is one of the more fun ways K-pop fandom shows up in daily life now — you don't need to understand a word of Korean to join in, you just need rhythm (or the confidence to fake it). Pick whichever one matches your energy level and give it a shot.

Enjoy~