DMM Featured Artists

Ian Eastwood & Brian Puspos: The Dancers Who Made Choreography Its Own Art Form

A ten-year-old from Chicago and a talent-show kid from Houston turned YouTube dance videos into a global classroom, then took that same vision to BTS, Justin Bieber, Hollywood and the biggest stages in the world. In 2012 they sat down with Dance Mogul Magazine and explained why dancers should be seen as artists in their own right. Fourteen years later, their careers prove it.

By Dance Mogul Magazine | Featured Artists | September 2026

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Dancers Are Artists: The 2012 Answer That Became Two Careers

In the fall of 2012, after a workshop at Tribe Body Dance Studio in Ramsey, New Jersey, Dance Mogul Magazine asked two young dancers a big question: why should artists like Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Rihanna invest in dancers? Ian Eastwood didn’t give the easy answer. He said dancers are not decoration for someone else’s song. “Dancers are artists,” he said. “We’re not dancing to just the music. We’re dancing to the message of the song.”

That idea sits at the center of one of the oldest problems in dance. Painting has famous painters and music has famous musicians, but, as Ian put it that day, very few dancers or choreographers were known “just for being themselves or just doing their own artwork.” Even the most in-demand choreographers were still mostly known as the people working behind someone else’s name. Ian and his best friend Brian Puspos wanted something different. They wanted to pick the music they loved and decide, in his words, “what’s the next thing we’re going to say as ourselves to the world.”

Fourteen years later, the record shows they pulled it off. The two went on to create movement for BTS, appear in Hollywood films, compete on network television and teach in dozens of countries. This piece follows both journeys from the beginning and shows what their combined experience means for dance. The path they took can be repeated, and most young dancers never get to see it laid out.

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Two Starting Points: A Chicago Classroom and a Houston Talent Show

Ian Anthony Eastwood was born in Chicago on April 16, 1993, and grew up in nearby Oak Park, Illinois, the son of Peter and Julia Eastwood. He started dancing at ten and trained in hip-hop, jazz and ballet. That mix gave him the control of a studio dancer and the groove of a street dancer. By sixteen, while he was still in high school, studios were already bringing him in to teach classes and workshops. After graduation he moved to Los Angeles to go after the work full time.

His parents are a big part of the story. In 2012 Dance Mogul Magazine interviewed Julia and Peter for a companion piece, Mama and Papa Lion: Parents of the Arts, about raising a young artist on discipline, determination, dedication and hard work. Ian has credited his mother with the advice that set his direction. As he told Dance Spirit in 2013, her message was: “Your goal should be to get paid for what you truly love to do.” He added: “Now I get to make her proud every day.”

Brian Puspos was born on May 2, 1986, and grew up in Houston in a Filipino American family that performed together. His parents were competitive ballroom dancers, and the whole family sang. He has described them as “kind of like a Filipino Jackson 5.” After the family settled in Houston, his father started a talent show for local Filipino families. That stage became Brian’s first classroom, where he performed to Michael Jackson, Usher and Britney Spears.

Here is the part young dancers should read twice. Nobody gave Brian a map. Relatives pushed him toward nursing, and as a child he pictured himself as a firefighter or in the military, “just something macho,” as he told Vogue Philippines. He built his skills in local shows, with a step team, choreographing for the University of Houston modern dance team and teaching at a neighborhood studio. He built his career one small stage at a time.

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America’s Best Dance Crew and the Power of the Upload

Brian’s national break came in 2008. He competed with Texas crew SoReal Cru on Season 2 of MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew, and the team finished as runners-up. Second place on a national show can feel like a near miss. Brian didn’t treat it that way. “It’s not really about your placement — first, second, third,” he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer years later. “It’s really just about making a lasting impression.”

The impression he left was online. Around the same time, a new kind of dancer was growing up on YouTube, and Ian was one of them. As he later told UC Riverside’s student paper, he started by uploading his dances to trade feedback with other dancers. No gatekeeper, no audition — just the work.

Brian’s 2011 choreography to Chris Brown’s “Wet the Bed” showed what that could do. In the 2012 DMM interview, Ian called Brian “the king in YouTube.” He pointed out that Brian’s channel had around 130,000 subscribers and that the “Wet the Bed” video alone had about five million views. “That’s hard for even vloggers to get,” Ian said, “or even just sometimes artists of their own music, to get five million views on a video. And it’s just a dance video.” The views kept coming. By 2024, Vogue Philippines reported that the video had passed ten million. The same video later came full circle. Brian has shared that his future wife first saw him when she posted that choreography on Facebook. Eleven years later, he performed it for her at their wedding.

In 2012 the two friends joined forces on television. They returned to America’s Best Dance Crew for Season 7, the “Return of the Superstars” season, as members of Mos Wanted Crew, and the group finished third. The same year, Brian was named World of Dance Male Choreographer of the Year. Ian was building his own honors too, including World of Dance Youth Choreographer of the Year.

Brian Puspos — Chris Brown “Wet The Bed” choreography. Video via YouTube (khoadratic).

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Ramsey, New Jersey, 2012: The Interview Dance Mogul Magazine Kept

The two built their careers side by side. They trained, traveled and taught together, and reporting on their later work still calls them best friends. When Dance Mogul Magazine caught up with them after the Tribe Body workshop in October 2012, the friendship was obvious. So was the vision.

We asked a direct question. Madonna has always understood what dancers bring to a performance. But for artists who aren’t connected to the dance world, why should they invest in dancers? Ian answered with numbers: Brian’s YouTube reach, his own growing channel, and close to 100,000 Instagram followers each. Then he talked about travel. By then Ian had taught in 15 countries, and Brian had taught in 32. “All over the world,” Ian said, “people really, really care about dance.”

Then he credited the source: “It’s all because of the artists.” The musicians give dancers the songs, and dancers carry the message further than the song can go alone. “We’re just spreading your message virally through our movement,” he said. “I think we go pretty hand in hand.” That was a pitch for partnership, not a complaint.

DMM Exclusive, 2012 — Why artists should invest in dancers. Dance Mogul Magazine.

The most forward-looking part of the answer came at the end. Ian described how he and Brian approached their own videos: “We take music that we really are heartfelt about, and we decide what’s the next thing we’re going to say as ourselves to the world with our choreography, as our own artists.” To them, dance was never “just teaching class or just grooving in a club.” “It’s a lot more deep than that to us,” he said.

The relationship continued after that day. In March 2013, Dance Mogul Magazine returned to cover Ian’s solo session in Ian Eastwood Workshop: A Tribe Body Experience. Readers can find the original 2012 post, Brian Puspos & Ian Eastwood: Message to Jay-Z, in the archive, next to our July 2012 feature, Brian Puspos at Hip Hop International.

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From BTS to Childish Gambino: What the Work Actually Does

The client lists that followed are long. Brian has choreographed for BTS, with credits including “Serendipity,” “Butterfly” and “My Time.” He has also worked with Justin Bieber, Chris Brown, NCT 127 and Henry Lau. In 2023 he helped choreograph Jung Kook’s global hit “Seven” and performed it next to him on stage. Months later he returned as a dancer in “Standing Next to You,” choreographed principally by Keone Madrid with sequences by Shay Latukolan. Ian’s credits include choreography for Chance the Rapper and The Social Experiment’s “Sunday Candy,” Childish Gambino’s “Sober,” Zendaya’s “Replay” and SHINee member Taemin’s “Danger.” He was lead choreographer on VIXX’s album Chained Up, and he has worked with Hayley Kiyoko, Tori Kelly and PrettyMuch. He also appeared in Justin Bieber’s “Beauty and a Beat” video and Vic Mensa’s “Feel That,” and was a featured dancer in the “Standing Next to You” video.

A list of names doesn’t explain the impact, so here is what choreographers at this level actually bring to a project.

They turn a song into something people can see. Before audiences hear a pop record fifty times, they watch it. The movement makes the rhythm visible, gives the hook a shape and gives fans something to learn and copy. When Industry Dance Awards named Ian its 2015 New Media Influencer, it noted that Zendaya’s “Replay” had passed 100 million YouTube views and that his work on Childish Gambino’s “Sober” won an MTV Woodie Award.

They make artists look their best. In the 2012 interview, Ian described dancers as spreading the artist’s message. That job requires tailoring. Brian’s smooth, R&B-rooted style, shaped by The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Martin, Usher and Chris Brown, fits singers who need attitude and presence more than acrobatics. That’s a big part of why his work with BTS connected with so many fans.

They earn trust that lasts for years. When Jung Kook walked into rehearsal for “Standing Next to You,” he told the team: “When I saw him I was like, ‘Ah! Brian Puspos is here!’ I liked him so much when I was younger.” The YouTube years paid off.

Jung Kook “Standing Next to You” dance practice breakdown ft. Brian Puspos. Video via YouTube (STEEZY).

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High Strung, World of Dance and a “Beat It” Moment

Ian’s work moved to the big screen in 2016. In High Strung, directed by Michael Damian and released April 8, 2016, he played Rik. The film follows a ballet dancer and a street violinist who team up for a competition that blends classical ballet with hip-hop. Dance Mogul Magazine gave the film an exclusive full feature, which readers can still flip through in our High Strung digital edition.

In 2017 Ian took the Young Lions to NBC’s first season of World of Dance. In the Duels round they faced the Jabbawockeez, the crew that won the first season of America’s Best Dance Crew. Ian’s team scored 85.7 to the Jabbawockeez’s 84.7 and advanced. The Young Lions went out in the next round, The Cut, on July 25, 2017. Beating the Jabbawockeez on network television showed how far they had come.

This year brought another milestone. IMDb credits Ian as a “Beat It” dancer in Michael, Antoine Fuqua’s biopic of Michael Jackson, which opened in U.S. theaters on April 24, 2026. The film went on to earn more than $1 billion worldwide. Brian first performed Michael Jackson songs at a Houston talent show; now his best friend dances in the film.

Television has also played a big role in Brian’s career. After two seasons of America’s Best Dance Crew, he joined Top Class: The Rise to P-Pop Stardom in 2022 as the dance mentor, alongside vocal mentor KZ Tandingan and rap mentor Shanti Dope. He told the Inquirer what he was looking for in the young performers: “People embracing themselves and having the discipline to work hard.”

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The Overseas Question: Why the World Lives Dance

In the second part of our 2012 conversation, Dance Mogul Magazine asked about something both dancers had seen firsthand while teaching abroad. Overseas, street dance is treated as a full culture. Events like Juste Debout in Paris draw huge crowds, and Japan has its own dance media and major contests like Dance Delight. So why not here, in the country where so much of the culture started?

Their answer was thoughtful. First, they described themselves as fans. “We’ll spend literally hours at our apartment together watching battles online,” they told us. “It really is like a lifestyle overseas — with the magazines and the competitions. They actually live it.” Then they imagined something that didn’t exist yet: walking into an airport newsstand and finding a dance magazine on the shelf. “The only dance magazine I really know is you guys,” one of them said. “I hope they’ll get to that point one day.”

DMM Exclusive, 2012 — Dance culture overseas vs. the States. Dance Mogul Magazine.

Their explanation for the gap is useful for anyone building a career. “People take it for granted in the States just because it’s here,” they said. “It’s easy, it’s accessible. Everyone’s from here that goes to teach over there.” They also saw the landscape changing. Dancers were rising in Europe and landing teaching jobs that used to go to American choreographers. They named friends like Quick Crew and Kenzo. They didn’t see that as a threat. They saw it as motivation. “It keeps us on our toes, but in a positive way,” they said. “We see them progressing, and it just makes us want to progress.”

That’s the attitude this publication was built to document. When competition comes, don’t protect your spot. Raise your level.

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Young Lions and Cherry Mansion: Building Something of Their Own

Both men took their 2012 idea, that dancers are artists in their own right, and built ventures around it.

For Ian, that venture is Young Lions. It started as a crew and a clothing line that Dance Mogul Magazine noted as early as 2013, and it grew into what STEEZY describes as his own dance company, one that trains up-and-coming dancers from around the world. The Young Lions name is the one he brought to NBC in 2017. Ian also moved behind the camera. His Broadway Theatre Project bio notes that he independently produced viral dance films and now directs music videos for major artists and brands. The kid who uploaded videos for feedback now runs the shoot.

The clearest proof of the idea Ian described in 2012 came in December 2015. He released AdultLessons, a set of choreography videos packaged like a rapper’s mixtape, with his own movement as the headline act. “People don’t really always see dance as its own artform,” he told These Days magazine in 2016. “That’s what I’m a part of. This is my way of relating to my generation.” He described his drive to Complex just as plainly: “I always pursued dance not because I wanted to be cool or travel the world, but because I needed it.”

That work has only grown more personal. In 2024 Ian directed and performed Path, a three-minute dance film set to music by Mansur Brown and shot in a garage turned studio. The San Francisco Dance Film Festival screened it in fall 2025 and described it as “dance stripped down to its core – vulnerable, grounded, and intensely human.”

Ian Eastwood Presents: “Return of the Dance Video”. Video via YouTube (Ian Eastwood).

For Brian, it’s the music. He released his debut EP, Slow Love and Bangin’, on 88rising in January 2017, then followed it with the independent EP Sweet 290, which debuted at No. 1 overall on Apple Music in the Philippines. In January 2024 he released the single “Do You,” co-written with producer August Rigo, whose credits include BTS, Chris Brown and Justin Bieber. “My musical journey as an artist has seen ups and downs,” Brian said at the time, “but I’ve never felt more confident than now.” His debut album, Cherry Mansion, came out on May 3, 2024, after about six years of work that the pandemic slowed down. Afterward, he wrote honestly that the release was “very humbling,” with ups and “way more downs.” Then he added: “We learn and move on though. We still celebrate over here!” He kept releasing, including the 2025 single “Truth No Lie,” and his UnitedMasters biography counts more than 15 million streams across Apple Music and Spotify.

Neither of them waited for the industry to hand over a platform. Each built something that doesn’t depend on anyone else’s tour schedule.

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Classrooms in Dozens of Countries

Teaching runs through both careers. When we met them in 2012, Ian had taught in 15 countries and Brian in 32. By 2015, Industry Dance Awards reported Ian had taught in 27 countries. Brian’s UnitedMasters biography now counts 45 countries where he has taught or performed.

That teaching has always been about community. In 2018 Ian told UC Riverside students that he had started “throwing more jams and more opportunities to bring the dance community together and just have a lot of positivity for anyone who wants to dance.” His advice to beginners was simple and kind: “Start with types of dance that you’re most excited about, and this way you’ll feel that you are growing faster.” In June 2024, Broadway Theatre Project named Ian to its guest faculty to teach and choreograph for its apprentices. The same announcement called him the newest member of Rock Steady Crew, the hip-hop institution founded in 1979.

Brian’s teaching has turned into mentorship on a larger scale, from the Top Class competition to his work with P-pop group BGYO. He has also talked about why he treasures this time. “One day, my dancing legs won’t be there,” he told Vogue Philippines. “I just want to cherish these times while I still can.”

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The Awards — and the Ones That Don’t Exist Yet

2012 & 2014 — World of Dance Male Choreographer of the Year (Brian). Two wins in three years.

Early career — World of Dance Youth Choreographer of the Year (Ian). Reported by Dance Mogul Magazine and Dance Spirit in 2013. His bios also list World of Dance Entertainer of the Year.

2015 — Industry Dance Awards New Media Influencer (Ian). This honored his reach at a time when he had more than 500,000 YouTube subscribers and 50 million views.

Shorty Awards nominee, Dance (Brian). This recognized the social media audience he built, especially within the K-pop dance community.

Here is the honest part, and Dance Mogul Magazine would rather print it than pad a page: there is no comprehensive, publicly maintained record of either artist’s full awards history. That isn’t because the work wasn’t honored. It’s because the industry has never built the infrastructure to track choreography credit properly.

That gap isn’t a footnote to their story. It’s the point. When a discipline goes undercredited, publications have to document its artists on purpose. Otherwise, work that shaped how millions of fans experienced a song can disappear from the record.

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Where Ian Eastwood and Brian Puspos Are Now

Ian’s most recent verified screen credit is Michael (2026), where IMDb lists him as a “Beat It” dancer. It adds to his work as a choreographer, a director of music videos and dance films, the maker of the festival-screened dance film Path, the leader of Young Lions, a Broadway Theatre Project guest faculty member since 2024 and a member of Rock Steady Crew. His YouTube channel, where it all started, had more than 700,000 subscribers and 88 million views as of 2024.

Brian, now based in Los Angeles, continues to choreograph, teach and record. His most recent verified album is Cherry Mansion (2024), and his most recent verified single is “Truth No Lie” (2025).

Beyond that, we are not going to invent a schedule for them. Public reporting on the rest of their 2026 plans is limited, which is normal for artists whose projects are kept private until release. When there is verified news, this publication will report it.

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Five Lessons From Ian Eastwood and Brian Puspos

For a long time, the usual path for a commercial dancer was to audition, get booked, dance behind someone else and hope. Ian and Brian added a new path. They made their own work, built their own audiences and let the industry come to them.

Looked at as a path rather than a résumé, their careers break into five clear stages. Any serious dancer can find themselves on this ladder, and that’s the reason we’re laying it out.

1. Build a foundation wide enough to hold you. Ian trained in hip-hop, jazz and ballet from age ten. Brian learned from ballroom parents, community stages and a college step team. Neither of them limited themselves to one style early on. That range is what later let them work with K-pop groups, R&B singers and film directors.

2. Publish your point of view. They didn’t wait to be discovered. They uploaded, collected feedback and got better in public. A video to a song you love, made with real intention, is a portfolio piece anyone in the world can see.

3. Treat the big stage as a launch, not a destination. Second place on ABDC and third place with Mos Wanted didn’t end anything. Each one led to more classes, more countries and more calls. As Brian said, it’s about “making a lasting impression,” not about where you place.

4. Own something. Young Lions. A directing career. Two EPs and an album. Each of them built an asset that belongs to them, so their creative lives don’t depend on the next booking.

5. Turn access into a door for other people. The final stage is the one most careers never reach: using your position to teach, mentor, host and open doors. Ian throws jams and trains the next generation through Young Lions and Broadway Theatre Project. Brian mentors young P-pop performers and has taught or performed in 45 countries. That’s what a career looks like when it stops being only about you.

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Why Ian Eastwood and Brian Puspos Matter to Dance Mogul Magazine

Dance Mogul Magazine has published for more than fifteen years on one belief: dance is the foundation, not the ceiling. Every story we publish has to answer one question: how does this help someone become a better version of themselves? Ian and Brian answer it clearly. Two young men raised on discipline and community turned their love of movement into careers built on their own art and on teaching others.

Their story also connects to our own. In 2012, one of them told us the only dance magazine he really knew was ours, and together they described a future where dance media would sit on the shelf next to everything else. That’s the future this father-and-son Black-owned dance publication has worked toward since 2010. Documenting the artists who build the culture, and making sure their credit follows them, isn’t a side project for us. It is the work. It’s why we’re revisiting these interviews for The Legacy Series, to tell the story after the battle and beyond the stage.

If their story inspires you, keep going. Explore the full range of forms in our Dance Styles Hub, learn the roots of this movement through our street dance and hip-hop coverage, and read more conversations with working professionals in our Exclusive Interviews. Study the pioneers who made these careers possible in The Legacy. If you’re building the discipline behind a plan like the one above, our workbooks were made for exactly that.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Ian Eastwood?
Ian Eastwood is a dancer, choreographer and director from Chicago, born April 16, 1993. He has choreographed for Childish Gambino, Zendaya and Taemin, played Rik in the 2016 film High Strung, led the Young Lions on NBC’s World of Dance and has more than 700,000 YouTube subscribers.

Who is Brian Puspos?
Brian Puspos is a Filipino American choreographer, dancer and recording artist from Houston, born May 2, 1986. He has choreographed for BTS and Jung Kook, was named World of Dance Male Choreographer of the Year in 2012 and 2014, and released his debut album Cherry Mansion in 2024.

Are Ian Eastwood and Brian Puspos friends?
Yes. They are longtime best friends who competed together with Mos Wanted Crew on America’s Best Dance Crew in 2012.

What role did Ian Eastwood play in High Strung?
Ian Eastwood played Rik in High Strung, the 2016 dance film directed by Michael Damian that blends classical ballet and hip-hop.

Did Brian Puspos choreograph Jung Kook’s “Seven”?
Yes. Brian Puspos was part of the choreography team for Jung Kook’s 2023 single “Seven” and also performed it next to him.

What did Ian and Brian tell Dance Mogul Magazine in 2012?
In an October 2012 exclusive recorded in Ramsey, New Jersey, they explained why artists should invest in dancers. They said dancers are artists who spread a song’s message to millions, and they talked about how dance culture overseas is lived as a full lifestyle.

What are Ian Eastwood and Brian Puspos doing now?
Ian directs, choreographs, leads Young Lions, teaches as Broadway Theatre Project guest faculty and made the dance film Path and is credited as a “Beat It” dancer in Michael (2026). Brian choreographs, teaches, mentors and records music, following his 2024 album Cherry Mansion and 2025 single “Truth No Lie.”

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Follow the Work

• Ian Eastwood on YouTube

• Ian Eastwood on Instagram

• Brian Puspos on YouTube

• Cherry Mansion by Brian Puspos on Apple Music

Continue Your Journey

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Explore more in the Featured Artist series, dig into the Archive, build your foundation in the Dance Knowledge Hub, and browse the Article Library.

• Brian Puspos & Ian Eastwood: Message to Jay-Z (2012)

• Brian Puspos at Hip Hop International

• Ian Eastwood Workshop: A Tribe Body Experience

• Mama and Papa Lion: Parents of the Arts

• Celebrating Black Creative Directors & Choreographers

• DMM Workbooks

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