Rosin
Hi, I’m Rosin (she / her)
I have been dancing since kindergarten (ballet, Estonian folk dance, freestyle), but I’ve been learning K-POP choreos since 2026. I danced in another K-POP dance group for 3 years, 1.5 of which I was a teacher. I've taught basically everything – boy groups, girl groups and solo artists. I love dancing and I love HANA!
My favorite choreography is and always will be Irene & Seulgi's "Naughty."
Isabel
Hi! I am Isabel.
I began taking dance classes at the age of 11-12 at JJ-Street dance school, where I primarily focused on house and vogue dance styles. Through various dance camps, I've also been introduced to other street dance styles such as hip-hop, popping, and locking. This was the period in my life that sparked my passion for street dance! From 2020 to 2022, I continued training at Tähtvere and Bertram dance schools, where I also joined street dance competition teams and had the opportunity to create choreography by myself.
I've learned K-pop dances independently since 2016. With the invitation of my friend I was luckily able to join a dance group in 2017, where I taught boy group choreographies regularly for two years and instructed the group for performances aswell. I became a student at HANA Dance Studio in 2022, and since last year, I’ve also been a part of the performance groups. This year, I was given the opportunity to start as a coach at Hana, and I’m really excited for it!
In 2024, I graduated Tartu Applied Health Sciences University with a Bachelor in physiotherapy. One of my primary interests is dance physiotherapy. For this reason I implement various sports into my training routine. I regularly work out at the gym and enjoy running when possible.
My favorite K-pop dance is B.I’s "Loved" choreography!
Merlin
¡Hola! I am Merlin (she / her), the founder and leader of HANA.
I have been involved in sports and dance all my life, and I have mostly been my own teacher because I’ve always preferred figuring things out on my own to following instructions. I started figure skating at the age of 2 and did it for 7 years. After that, I bounced between different dance studios but never stayed in one group for long.
The first studio where I felt great was SOTO in Tallinn and their K-POP classes. They were definitely a big inspiration when creating HANA.
The dances I like the most are the ones that require both muscle strength and flexibility training. I’m also a big fan of martial arts, and choreographies inspired by various competitive arts always win my heart the fastest.
My K-POP journey began around 2012-2013 when I discovered BEAST, 2NE1, and BigBang. However, I have never considered myself a huge K-POP fan. For me, K-POP was simply a music genre that I really liked, and it became more meaningful when I discovered dance classes based on K-POP choreography. Although I think my knowledge of K-POP is rather limited, fortunately, I have my dear HANA team and students who keep me updated!
As a dance teacher, I primarily want to focus on experimentation with different elements, overall physical development, and an individual approach. What makes dancing and teaching dance exciting for me is that every dancer is different in their physicality, and to achieve one effect, there can be endless approaches depending on a person’s natural movement.
I have many favorite choreographies, but the one that has been the most consistent favorite is probably 4Minute – Hate.
Ari
Hi there! I’m Ari.
I started dancing in second grade, joining a local dance school in my hometown of Rakvere. The first genre of dance I ever learned was showdance, which remains one of my great inspirations today. In more recent years, I’ve danced at Tähtvere Dance Center in Tartu and taken part in creating the choreography for the Estonian production of “Heathers: The Musical”. K-pop made its way to me in 2016 with the help of BTS and has since become an invaluably dear hobby and passion of mine. I believe that in the wide landscape of K-pop, there is a style, direction and challenge for every dancer!
I made it to HANA in Autumn 2022, having just moved to Tartu. The warm welcome I received here provided great support to me – support that has enabled me to, over the past two years, improve immensely as both a dancer and a friend. Today, I’m motivated to make sure every person who comes to HANA can have an experience as fantastic as mine!
I see the art of dance as a language – simply one that requires some physical input to read or write in. A great dancer is one who can understand the foundations of a choreography (emotion, tension, dynamic exchange), with that understanding, find the thoughts and feelings present in every movement, and use their body to pass on a cohesive message. In order to learn and teach this practice, I value a deeply focused atmosphere in class, an individual approach and thorough preparation.
The styles I personally prefer when it comes to K-pop are street and show, usually with some locking, disco or even techno styles mixed in. If I had to name a single favorite choreography, it would be between Astro’s Blue Flame and 9MUSES’ Wild.
See you in class!
Ester
Hi! My name is Ester (she / her)
I started dancing when I entered first grade and attended practices for 9 years. I’ve experience with many very different styles, like jazz, house, hiphop, street, but my personal favourite has always been jazz-funk-hiphop.
I was also an exchange student in South Korea where I had the extraordinary opportunity to learn jazz-funk-hiphop at a dance academy in Daegu.
If I had to choose my favorite K-POP choreography, then it would be NCT 127's Simon Says. This is the first K-POP choreo, which I decided to learn by myself.