She's been dubbed bold and vigorous by the local media, crowned the "sexy goddess on the sports arena" and hailed the "cheerleader of China's cheerleading cause".
Soojin Cho (middle and below) dances with members of her Soojin Dance Team. Photos courtesy of Soojin Cho |
During training she is a hard taskmaster and vents her fury at teammates. But most of the time, she's easy-going and likes nothing more than playing throw-and-catch with her two dogs.
South Korean Soojin Cho was one of the first foreign trainers to set up exercise classes in Beijing's gyms. In recent years, more people have got to know her through her Soojin Dance Team and their energetic cheering performances at sports events, such as the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) games and "Good Luck Beijing" pre-Olympic events.
Born in 1974, Cho, a native of Incheon, was among the first wave of South Koreans who came to China in the early 1990s.
"The two countries just established diplomatic relationship. Compared with the craze of studying English and Japanese, few Koreans could speak Chinese," Cho says.
She decided to go to China to study because the tuition here was less expensive, however another reason for moving to the Middle Kingdom was her name. Her father had always reminded her that their family name originated in China.
"Cho is a rare family name in South Korea. It is believed that my ancestors surnamed Zhao in China, and they changed Zhao to Cho after settling down in South Korea," she adds.
Cho arrived in China in the winter of 1994 and back then, there was no direct flight between Seoul and Beijing. She first took a flight to Tianjin, then a bus to the capital. She remembers a gray and overcast sky, not many skyscrapers and horse-drawn carts on the roads.
While undertaking a four-year course at the University of International Business and Economics, Cho also worked as a part-time trainer in a nearby gym. "I loved dancing when I was a little girl. I started to practice aerobic exercise at 14. I have always wanted to be a distinctive trainer of aerobic exercise," she says. "I wanted to build up my career here in China."
Her class was very popular and attracted 60 to 100 attendants, four times more than any other instructor.
"The reason why they liked my class was not only because I am a South Korean. I know how to spice up the class and mobilize people, while many other trainers simply follow routine movements," she says.
She starts her class by asking people to close their eyes and recollect what they've done in the day. Sometime she plays South Korean pop music. She teaches sophisticated movements but never stresses accuracy of people's movements.
"The main tasks in my class are to laugh and cry out loud," she says. "It was difficult for them at first. Asians are reserved and reluctant to express their feelings in public."
She tries to make people laugh by telling jokes in her broken Chinese, teasing them and making faces.
Cho's class is often filled with laughter and her unorthodox methods has earned her the nicknamed of "crazy" trainer.
"It is like a pop gig. Attendants have great fun and feel relaxed in my class. Many of them say that I helped them become more confident," she says.
Upon graduation in 1998, Cho continued to teach exercise classes in Beijing's gyms. Her courses and her trademark laughing-and-crying approach was well received. But some professionals criticized her methods for not paying attention to detail. Others questioned her qualifications and claimed she behaved like a nightclub dancer.
