150 auditioned to dance alongside Psy

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By Noor Ashikin Abdul Rahman
The New Paper
Saturday, Dec 01, 2012

SINGAPORE - He was curious to see what all the hype surrounding Gangnam Style was about.

So the 54-year-old man took a few hours off from work on Wednesday to take part in a dance audition that was open to the public.

At stake was the chance to take the stage with K-pop superstar Psy during his hour-long showcase here.

Mr Tan Wee Khoon, a stockbroker, arrived at the dance centre at *Scape at 4pm.

Sporting a simple black polo T-shirt and grey jeans, he did the horse-riding dance alongside teens and even kids, "whooping" and galloping away.

His enthusiasm was infectious and the young crowd cheered him on with claps and shouts of "go, uncle!"

To his surprise, he made it to the second round, but failed to make the final cut.

"I feel quite honoured actually that they recognised me as an 'uncle' trying to dance the same routine as them," he said with a laugh.

Two audition rounds - at 4pm and 9pm - were held to select around 20 dancers to join the 20 O School dance instructors and students.

Mr Tan was the oldest person at the first audition, which saw about 50 people busting a move for the chance to perform with Psy at Marina Bay Sands' Event Plaza on Saturday night.

The second audition saw a bigger, livelier crowd of over a hundred eager hopefuls.

This group, seemingly made up of more experienced dancers than the afternoon audition, cheered each other on as they took turns to show off their moves.

Ten-year-old Lee Hyeon Ju, who is Korean, was among those who turned up at the audition.

She was with her friends, Cho Jae Eun and Kim Si A, both 9. They were accompanied by their dance teacher and another friend, both of whom also auditioned.

All of them made it to the second round, but none made the cut for the final selection.

A disappointed Hyeon Ju, who is a big fan of Psy, said: "I felt that we did very well, but weren't chosen. I would have loved to see a Korean go through as Psy is Korean himself.

"It would have been great to meet him."

Those who turned up were split into groups and tasked to execute the famous dance in front of the judges, O School creative director Ryan Tan and choreographer Gin Lam.

Those who qualified for the second round then had to add their own freestyle moves to the dance.

After the two auditions, 26 lucky dancers were shortlisted to be part of the show.

One of them is freelance dance instructor Muhammad Raazmy Abdul Wahid, 24.

He was excited to ride on the hype and dance on the same stage with someone as famous as Psy.

"Everyone knows him, even my grandfather knows of his song," he said.

"I had to be part of this. It is every dancer's dream to perform on stage with a well-known person."

Come Saturday, these dancers will hype up the 4,000 audience members and encourage them to dance along to the global hit.

Superstar

They will be joined by the Korean star, who gained international attention when his song Gangnam Style, which was uploaded in July on YouTube, went viral.

Since then, he has achieved worldwide success and even has celebrities riding the wave, trying their hands at his dance.

Recently, Gangnam Style became YouTube's most-watched video with over 830 million views, beating Justin Bieber's Baby at over 806 million hits.

O School's Mr Tan said that this is a golden opportunity for the dance centre to perform on the same stage as the chubby 34-year-old star.

He said: "We felt very honoured because we're just a small school, and Psy is so huge. It gives everyone here a different kind of experience."

The 39-year-old said that he had looked out for enthusiasm and high energy levels in those who were auditioning, choosing dancers who were comfortable in dancing freestyle.

The dancers will only rehearse on the day of the performance itself before they hit the stage with Psy.

The creative director was full of praise for the Korean singer.

He said: "He is serious about being funny yet he doesn't try too hard. He shows a certain level of professionalism.

"It's not about what he's doing but how he does it, and that is something that we as dancers can learn from."

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