Asia Gangnam Style

While in Penang last weekend, Megan and I came across a street festival in Georgetown.  The festival was similar to those in the US with local business vendor booths, interesting county fair style foods (gotta love fried foods and meat on a stick), and musical entertainment.  Except that the musical entertainment wasn't a live band but a dance off.  And the dance off wasn't teams dancing to different songs but instead they were dancing to the same exact song in its entirety.  And that song was none other than the viral sensation Gangnam Style. 

If you are new to Gangnam Style, the quick debrief is that its a Korean pop song that satires the conspicuous consumption lifestyles in the rich Gangnam district of Seoul.  Most Korean pop is sappy garbage (think Michael Bubble and Hannah Montana), so the critique elements of this song are quick unique.  The song itself is very catchy and the dance moves are outrageous.  Which makes it a good candidate for a dance-off competition.  Let's meet our competitors:

Competitor 1: Old Guy who sucked

I'm not sure if this guy lost a bet or was delusional about his own abilities.  He had a relatively serious face with thoroughly mediocre "moves" I don't think his knees bent to an angle less than 165 degrees.  His jazz hands were ok but none of his moves corresponded to the music video or song.  Overall grade: C-

 

Competitors #2: The well rehearsed teenagers

The lead contenders had to be teenagers who were on top of this song months ago and had been rehearsing day and night since then.  These folks were legitimately very good.  They brought energy and performed some physically difficult moves.  They also had good group coordination which cannot be overestimated in difficulty.  Lastly, they gave proper homage to the video by using some of its moves and even having the lead dancer dressing like the singer. The only drawback was that the girl in the group was less into it than the others, dragging down the team effort.  Overall grade: A-

Competitors #3: The adorable kids

These kids were awesome.  They were really well rehearsed and totally unfazed by the large crowds and they had really good dance moves.  The fact that they were 7 and 8 made it even better.  Plus you gotta love the bow-tie.  Overall grade: A+  The Champs!

Conclusion:  Gangnam Style is huge globally right now, and Penang is no different.  The crowds for this event were very large but here was a complete absence of crowd participation or enthusiasm.  Crowd singing and cheering and dancing would have enhanced this competition by 200%.  Nevertheless, Megan and I found entertainment gold when we stumbled upon this.  One of those great spontaneous travel moments.  And the spicy chili bacon from the street vendors was delicious.  Street festivals are wonderful no matter where they are.