'Gentleman' co-workers share Psy's spotlight
Psy performs the “sigeonbang choom” with his dancers at his concert “Happening” held at World Cup Stadium in Seoul, April 13.
Lee Joo-sun, the choreographer who created the “sigeonbang choom” for Psy’s newest hit “Gentleman” and the horse-riding dance for his previous hit “Gangnam Style”.
By Yun Suh-young
As Psy’s newest hit single
is receiving explosive attention overseas, those who participated in the making of the song are also coming under the spotlight.
The weird, funky song, which is just as cheap and addictive as “Gangnam Style,” Psy’s previous global hit, went viral following its release online on April 12 and first introduced on stage at his concert in Seoul the following day.
Much of the global attention was attributed to the dance dubbed the “sigeonbang choom” in Korean or otherwise known as the “arrogant dance,” a reinterpretation of a dance already introduced by a K-pop girl group a few years back.
It was more of the dance than the catchy tunes that made the song immediately garner explosive reactions from the global audience.
To foreign viewers, the dance was just as fresh as the horse-riding dance in Gangnam Style though it was met with less enthusiasm from Koreans as it was already familiar to them.
The concept of the dance is to be as arrogant and “ungentle” as possible, unlike the title of the song.
While tracing the origin of the moves, foreign media spotlighted Ga-in, Psy’s female co-star in the music video, as it was the girl group that she’s part of that initially unveiled the dance moves.
It was back in 2009 that the dance was first introduced by a four-member girl group, Brown Eyed Girls, and the entire nation reveled with enthusiasm as ordinary citizens mimicked the easy-to-follow pelvis-swinging moves at public occasions and “noraebang” (karaoke bar) outings.
Ga-in, left, dances the “sigeonbang choom” with Psy, right, in his music video. / Yonhap
In an in-depth column, “Meet Ga In: PSY's 'Gentleman' Music Video Co-Star,” published last Wednesday, Billboard highlighted Ga-in’s role in the music video and the dance move her group contributed to Psy’s stardom.
“Choosing her as his co-star is appropriate for the clip as its choreography is based around the famous hip-swinging dance moves from her group's 2009 hit Abracadabra,” it said.
It went on to introduce Brown Eyed Girls, the quartet that Ga-in is a member of, and how she joined the group. It also had several of Ga-in’s music videos attached to the article introducing her career as an artist with past songs and performances.
Another artist gaining popular attention due to the new song is choreographer Lee Joo-sun who created the dance moves.
Working with Psy since 2004, Lee was the hidden card behind the success of Gangnam Style which ranked No. 2 on the Billboard chart last year for seven consecutive weeks since it was released in July.
Media outlets are one by one illuminating Lee’s role as he hit a home run again with the new global hit he choreographed for Psy.
“We didn’t sleep for the past two months trying to come up with the dance for ‘Gentleman’ but we’re satisfied that it turned out as striking as the first one,” he said in an interview with a Korean newspaper.
“We came up with about 50 dance moves but they kept changing as the song kept changing. We ended up reinterpreting the sigeonbang dance.”
His efforts that came with the pressure to come up with something as good as the horse-riding dance, paid off.
“I expected the dance to be well received overseas. I thought it’d be popular again in Korean clubs but this much attention wasn’t expected,” he said.
“The popularity is probably due to the easy moves that make people want to follow the steps.”