With a little spare time, one ISU team created a parody of a popular music video that sent it into sudden Internet sensationalism.

Members of the ISU dance team recreated Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” music video and reached over 50,000 Facebook views and almost 40,000 views on YouTube.

Two members of the dance team, Toni Ugolini, junior in advertising, and Kate Britten, senior in elementary education, had the idea to recreate the video after their state dance competition Dec. 5 when their practices had ended for the season. The team members all met one day and began rehearsing.

“We had some downtime from practice and we all love Justin Bieber, so it looked like fun,” said Britten, one of the team’s captains.

Not all of the team members could make it, but 14 were able to meet Dec. 12 to work on the video. The women then distributed characters to portray from the video and were told to find costumes.

The team spent several hours at Beyer Hall in a racquetball room practicing and recording. Because of conflicting schedules among the members, the only choice was to record the entire video in one day.

“It would have been ideal to have three days [to record],” said Hannah Greco, senior and team captain.

Britten said she agreed that more time would have helped overall.

“[The most challenging part] was trying to get it all done in one day,” Britten said. “It was a long five hours but all worth it.”

They watched Bieber’s original video multiple times, which was choreographed by Parris Goebel, a professional choreographer.

Ugolini then put the girls in the formation that matched the original dance.

The video features multiple quick shots of the ISU women dancing. They were dressed in colorful outfits that followed the 1990s fashion trend, just as the original video follows.

The women danced in shots that included anywhere from just one member to all 14 in one shot. The dancing consisted mostly of quick, sharp movements. Some movements were in complete unison, while others were completely different than the ones around them. 

“It was fun watching everyone try to reenact the original,” Ugolini said. “We usually do sharp and consistent, and this video was a lot more loose.”

After editing, the final video was added to YouTube on Dec. 30 and shared on Facebook. People immediately began watching and sharing the link on social media.

The video blew up in terms of views and shares in the two weeks since it was released.

“I think it’s great,” Greco said. “I’m excited so many people enjoyed it.”

Ugolini was also excited about the amount of views and recognition the video received.

“I did not expect it to get that big,” Ugolini said. “We all talked it up a lot. I think it became so big because we filmed it to the exact [original] video.”

The team has no current plans to create another remake of a video, but Britten, Greco and Ugolini all agree that they hope another one is made in the future.

The video, titled “Sorry (Justin Bieber) – Iowa State Dance Team,” can be found on YouTube.