Rikimaru Chikada

Rikimaru Chikada(近田力丸, Chikada Rikimaru; born November 2, 1993) is a Japanese singer, dancer, and choreographer, currently based in China. He was a member of the international boy group Into1 after finishing third place in the Chinese survival competition show Produce Camp 2021. He is also the leader of Japanese-Chinese boy group WARPS UP.

Early life and family

Rikimaru Chikada was born on 2 November 1993 in Hyōgo, Japan. His mother was a jazz dancer and used to run a dance studio. His father is a professional baseball player and coach. His younger sister, Yumeri Chikada, is also a dancer and choreographer. He attended high school at Itami Kita High School and graduated from Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, majoring in Portuguese (Department of Brazilian and Portuguese Studies).

Rikimaru started dancing at the age of 4, started teaching dance at the age of 13, and became a choreographer at the age of 19. Rikimaru's commercial choreography debut is BoA's LookBook Dance Break in 2015.

Career

1997–2015: Career beginnings

Rikimaru started learning dance at age 4. At age 9, he and his mother appeared and danced in the Japanese variety show named "Gakkō e Ikō". In 2007, Rikimaru and his sister Yumeri formed the dance group named Respect. From 2007 to 2008, Respect participated in many dance competitions in Japan and won awards such as 4th Dance Olympics Champion, MOVE MIX BEST G Class Champion, 9th COMBOX Champion, National Super Kids Dance Contest Kyushu Tournament Champion, 2nd K-palette cup Runner-up, Dance Attack Tokyo Tournament Runner-up, Shikoku Tournament Special prize, Kobe Rokko Island 1st Dance Championship Special prize, etc...

In addition, Rikimaru also won some individual awards including KIDS MIX 2007 Best Dancer Award and ALL KANKUU Dance Contest Excellent Performance Award 2007.

From 2012 to 2015, Rikimaru went to Los Angeles (USA) to learn choreography, choreographing skills and interact with many dancers. During his time in LA, he auditioned and joined ImmaBEAST, an America's champion teen dance group, one of the top hip-hop dance groups in the USA.

2015–2020: Debut as a choreographer and WARPs UP

He began choreographing at 19, working on the team of renowned choreographer Rino Nakasone before earning his first credit on a project with BoA's "Look Book". He has choreographed for many artists such as BoA, SHINee, Taemin, Red Velvet, NCT127, etc.

In 2016, Rikimaru was invited to be a judge of the Dance Vision contest in China. In 2018, Rikimaru and his sister Yumeri led the team and won Dance Vision Vol. 6. In the same year, his choreography won the runner-up award of the World Of Dance Junior (Osaka Station). From 2016 to 2018, Rikimaru was a dance choreographer and special guest coach at dance studio "1M Studio Dance" in South Korea.

In 2019, he made his debut as the leader of Japanese-Chinese boy group WARPs Up, under the Avex Trax record label. He also choreographed the group's dances.

2021–April 2023: Produce Camp 2021 and INTO1

In 2021, Rikimaru, as an Avex Trax trainee, participated in Produce Camp 2021, a reality competition show to create an international boy band formation produced by Tencent Video. Rikimaru was in Class A throughout the show. His rankings in the show as the show progressed was: 8 – 8 – 4 – 3 – 3 – 3 – 4 – 4 – 3. On 24 April 2021, Rikimaru ranked third during the final episode with 16,591,943 votes, securing him a spot as an official member of the project boy group INTO1.

In August 2021, Rikimaru was hospitalized due to a long-running back injury and took a hiatus from promotional activities while he recovers. In May 2022, Rikimaru returned to his activities in INTO1. The group officially disbanded on April 24, 2023.

April 2023–Present: Solo Artist

On April 25, 2023, his personal studio was officially launched, thus kickstarting his career as a solo artist. On July 27, 2023, his first single as a solo artist, "TALKIN'BOUT" was released. Rikimaru followed up with a release of his first full-length studio album CLOWN OR CROWN in September 2023. He subsequently went on an eponymous tour in November–December 2023. In November 2023, the Youku-produced music variety show "Rising Land" which he starred as a regular cast started airing. On January 18, 2024, Rikimaru was announced as HUGO Brand Ambassador. He also starred in the brand's Spring/Summer 2024 campaign. In April 2024, he served as judge for World of Dance China for both the junior and adult divisions.

In April 2024, Rikimaru announced through a livestream that he was no longer with Avex. On July 2, 2024, Rikimaru released a new single "CAN'T GET ENOUGH". He performed at the 2024 Tencent Music Entertainment Award(TMEA) held in Macau, China on July 19 and 21, 2024. Rikimaru also served as the dance director for the last day on the event. On November 1, 2024, Rikimaru released a new single "Your Ghost".

Endorsements

Alongside Rikimaru's activities with Into1, he has become a brand ambassador and spokesperson for some brands.

Discography

Singles

Studio Album

Production credits

Notable choreography

Personal works

Collaborative choreographies

Filmography

Television series

Music video appearances

External links

• on Instagram