Yamada Lia, SDGF2 Champion and Dancer, Dies at 16 After Yearlong Illness

Yamada Lia, the Japanese dancer who captured Korean audiences with her electrifying run on Mnet's Street Dance Girls Fighter 2, passed away on September 18 following more than a year of treatment for an autoimmune disease. She was 16 years old.

Her family announced the news on September 24 through her social media accounts. "We are deeply saddened to share that Lia passed away on the 18th," the statement read. "Throughout more than a year of fighting her illness, she endured every single day with remarkable strength. Our family is deeply grateful to everyone who supported Lia and sent her love and encouragement."

A debut that stopped the show

Born in 2009, Lia entered Street Dance Girls Fighter 2 in 2023 as an individual Japanese participant, a relative unknown stepping onto one of Korean competitive dance television's biggest stages. Her first performance earned her a unanimous selection from every master judge, a rare sweep that immediately announced her as someone to watch. She went on to join team Jam Republic, which won the live finale on December 26 of that year, taking the season title.

That first performance is worth remembering on its own terms. There was a precision to how she moved, a quality that read as mature well beyond her age, and the unanimous master vote was less a surprise by the end of the set than a confirmation of what the audience had already felt watching her.

A year of fighting to return

In March of the following year, Lia shared publicly that she had been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and had stepped back from all activities to focus on treatment, which included chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. She told her followers at the time that she intended to come back to dancing once her treatment was complete.

She did not get that chance.

In their farewell message, her family emphasized how central dance had been to her identity until the very end. "Lia truly loved to dance," they wrote. "She treasured the bonds she formed through dance, with the friends she made, and with everyone who watched over her journey and cheered her on. Thank you to everyone who danced with her, shared moments of joy with her, and supported her. It would bring our family no greater happiness than to know that Lia's dancing and her smile live on in your hearts. From Lia's family."

The statement arrived quietly on her own social media page, written as if she herself might have posted it, which made the grief land harder for fans who had followed her recovery updates there.