A Gold Coast-based dancer who has performed alongside Jennifer Lopez at the Super Bowl and appeared in one of YouTube's most-watched music videos says the greatest experience of her career came not from Hollywood — but from a South Korean dance-battle reality show. For a growing number of Queensland performers, Seoul is fast becoming the world's most exciting stage.

Kaea Pearce, who was born in New Zealand and is now based on the Gold Coast, starred in Justin Bieber's Sorry music video, which has accumulated more than 3.9 billion views on YouTube. Yet it was her involvement in World of Street Woman Fighter — a South Korean television competition pitting all-women dance crews from Australia, the US, South Korea, Japan and New Zealand against one another — that she counts as the pinnacle of her professional life.

"I think it's the new LA," Pearce said of South Korea.

From back-up dancer to K-pop idol

Pearce was given just one week to assemble a squad to represent Australia on the show. The resulting group, known as the AG Squad, went on to finish second in the competition, narrowly beaten by Japan's Osaka Ojo Gang.

For Pearce, the result was secondary to what the experience represented for dancers more broadly.

"We were able to be the stars and show the world we aren't just back-up dancers — we're artists," she said.

Brisbane-based dancer and choreographer Danica McKenzie, also a member of the AG Squad, described the reception from South Korean audiences as unlike anything she had experienced before. When the squad toured South Korea after the show aired, fans treated the group like celebrities.

"Usually [dancers] go to a concert backing up for an artist. No one is there for you," McKenzie said. "It was insane to know that in Korea as a dancer, you are an artist. You're an idol to them."

Why South Korea values dancers differently

The contrast between how dancers are treated in South Korea compared with Australia is stark, according to Dominique Falla, an associate professor at Griffith University and the author of The K-Pop Content Strategy.

Falla said Seoul had emerged as one of the world's most significant hubs for commercial choreography, with the South Korean pop industry placing dance at the very centre of musical performance.

"[In Australia] you're a back-up dancer, a body in a music video, and your name rarely appears anywhere," she said. "There's very little pathway from skilled dancer to recognised artist."

In South Korea, by contrast, dancers "are presented as artists and competitors in their own right." Falla said the Korean entertainment industry invests in dancers "in a way the West simply doesn't."

However, Falla cautioned that the industry is not without its pitfalls. Even in South Korea, dancers and choreographers can face insecure freelance arrangements, demanding schedules, limited bargaining power and difficulties receiving proper credit or ownership of their choreography.

Brisbane's dance scene: talent without opportunity

McKenzie, who teaches at Mad Dance House in the Brisbane CBD and The Home Base in Darra, is a passionate advocate for the local dance community. But she acknowledged the hard reality facing performers who stay in Queensland.

"There's minimal opportunities for performers in Brisbane, which I guess is why so many dancers are moving out," she said.

McKenzie believes Brisbane dancers may carry a quiet advantage, however — years of honing their craft away from the spotlight.

"Maybe we've spent more time nailing our craft because we know we're not being seen," she said.

She is planning to relocate to the United States before the end of the year to pursue work in Los Angeles and New York, though she says Queensland will always pull her back.

"I'm such a homebody. It will be a back-and-forth situation," she said — a sentiment shared by many Queensland performers who leave not to abandon home, but to bring something back to it.