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, swiveling up and down like a hammer.

The strangely enthralling routine, often referred to as the “Pikki Pikki” dance, is performed by cheerleaders for the Kia Tigers, a Korean baseball team, and it has become a sensation on TikTok, racking up millions of views across numerous accounts. The moves are simple, repetitive and unassuming; the song, addictively catchy (beware). It’s 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. They even look a little … bored?

The lax approach is intentional, according to Lee Si-Young, founder and president 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 emphasize setting moves and outward expressions to match the tone and mood of the music while making it easy for the fans to follow,” Mr. Lee said in an email through a translator. “We felt that it would fit more to have a more casual feel rather than something energetic or powerful.”