Katy Perry's Left Shark Reveals to danced on Super Bowl Halftime

Left Shark boogied through Katy Perry‘s Super Bowl XLIX Halftime Show, quickly becoming a viral sensation for flailing off-beat.

And on Wednesday, the man behind the infamous 2015 moment, Bryan Gaw, revealed that his dance moves were strategically meant to be freeform, in fact, the choreography represented being an “underdog.”

Gaw, whose identity was first disclosed a day after Perry’s performance, was a backup dancer for the singer’s touring ensemble for five years. Presently, he’s a hair stylist in West Hollywood.

Katy Perry's Left Shark Reveals He 'Totally' Danced Goofy on Purpose During Super Bowl Halftime

The responses to my performance were overwhelmingly positive, including from Katy (who is an amazing person), my dance peers and the public. We were in rehearsal the next week, and I was still getting bombarded with press requests. Her managers helped me navigate the situation. (I declined to do interviews, as I didn’t want to violate my contract with Katy or with the NFL.) And she joked around with me about it, sure, but it was just another day for us. It was something to laugh about and be proud about, together. All of my fellow dancers and I had grown up watching Michael Jackson and Prince at the Super Bowl, and we’d all dreamed of being part of the halftime show. To perform with an artist at the peak of her career was a dream come true for all of us, and we all shared in the moment that was Left Shark – Katy included.

I think people were so attached to Left Shark because America loves an underdog. They love to root for one. The Super Bowl is a machine, so heavily planned and executed, and then along came this goofball. It gave people something to connect to.

I performed with Katy until the end of 2015. I believe that once a dancer, always a dancer, but I also believe in evolution. I had given my dance career a long healthy shot, and now I wanted to give my stylist career a chance. I buckled down, paused dancing, went to cosmetology school and got my license. Now I’m a hair stylist at Mare Salon in West Hollywood. My life has slowed down since the Super Bowl. But for me, fashion, hair, styling, dance – it all blends together. I’ll continue to dance and to be a stylist.

By then I’d been dancing professionally for more than a decade. I’d worked with major artists including Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga. I’d danced in all the major awards shows and in movies. I’d already been dancing with Katy for nearly five years. And there was nothing unusual about what I had done during the halftime show.