Who are the South Korean cheerleaders enthralling TikTok?

It starts with bouncy drum beats, quickly interrupted by the sounds of sneakers squeaking on a gym floor. Then a thumbs-up comes into frame, swivelling up and down like a hammer.

The strangely enthralling routine, often referred to as the Pikki Pikki dance, is performed by cheerleaders for South Korean baseball team Kia Tigers, and has become a sensation on TikTok, racking up millions of views across numerous accounts.

The moves are simple, repetitive and unassuming, while the song is addictively catchy. It has become a perfect recipe for flooding the algorithms.

While the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders have turned Thunderstruck, a maximalist routine, into a symbol of football and cheerleading in the United States, the Tigers’ cheerleaders are more subdued, gently throwing their elbows and mostly dancing in place.

The lax approach is intentional, said founder and president Lee Si-young of Apex Communications, which represents the cheer squad. The dance is performed whenever a Tigers pitcher strikes out an opposing batter, as a cheeky way for the cheerleaders to applaud their team while gently poking fun at the other guys.

“We emphasise setting moves and outward expressions to match the tone and mood of the music while making it easy for the fans to follow,” Lee added in an e-mail through a translator. “We felt that it would fit more to have a more casual feel rather than something energetic or powerful.”

The moves, dancing with two thumbs-up, are decidedly uncomplicated. But performed deadpan by cheerleaders, in front of 16,000 fans, 10 to 15 times a game, the dance has an unexpected charm.

It is that low-key spirit that has attracted fans around the world and spurred confusion online.

The dance has been performed since 2022, so why the sudden influx? The surge of interest has come as the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) has seen record-breaking crowds, credited in part to a spike in ticket sales to young female fans. The rapid growth and changing demographics have meant more eyes are on the cheerleaders.

“KBO is more recognised outside of South Korea than it’s ever been,” said Dan Kurtz, who runs MyKBO, a fan site dedicated to covering South Korean baseball in English. “The Kia Tigers are like the New York Yankees of the KBO.”

Tickets cost the equivalent of US$5 (S$6.50) to US$10 during the regular season, he said, and fans can take along their own food and drinks, making a baseball game an affordable outing for younger spectators.

It is also common, he said, for the cheerleaders to have specific songs and dances for individual players and to lead the crowd through the motions.

“It’s like a rock concert compared to Major League Baseball games,” he said. “At a Korean baseball game, the score does not matter – the fans are up singing, cheering.”

The catchy tune in the routine – Lecon Studios by Olive Beat, sampled from My Lecon by South Korean boy band JTL – is called the “strikeout song” by the cheering staff, Lee said. But because of the squeaky sound effects, fans began calling it the Pikki Pikki, an onomatopoeia for the sound of something creaking.

The dance has spawned numerous imitators, who, smitten by the cutesy number and its accompanying earworm, mimic the cheerleaders’ blank stares and hip swivels.

Among the imitators is Melissa Minh, a model and influencer in Britain, who poked fun at the lack of enthusiasm but captioned the post: “They are so pretty though.”

“The trend is a bit hard to explain,” said Deborah Park, 32, a content creator from Oklahoma City who has made videos of the dance. She said her friends were slow to understand the appeal. “But once it clicks, they find it intriguing as well.”

Lee said: “This is the first time a KBO cheerleading routine has reached worldwide viral/TikTok challenge status, so the squad is feeling a lot of pride.”

If there is one breakout star, it is Lee Ju-eun, who shares the same name as a K-pop star, causing a few mix-ups in TikTok tags, and whose bouncy hair and barrettes are featured in several of the most-viewed videos.

“She is somewhat dazed by all this happening,” Lee Si-young said of the cheerleader’s sudden fame. “But at the same time, she is taking it as a fun, unique and positive experience overall.”

In several videos, Lee Ju-eun refreshes her make-up or puts down an electric fan before getting up to dance, prompting curious viewers online to wonder if the distracted look is intentional.

In actuality, the Pikki Pikki dance happens only when the Tigers are on the field, and the cheerleaders are resting between strikeouts.

Before the song begins, the cheerleaders powder their faces and cool themselves in front of fans. They are preoccupied, they can not be bothered – until the squeaks start up and it is time to dance. Then they stand with a nonchalance that brushes aside any great sense of urgency. Finally, they start to smirk. NYTIMES