Even Hillary Clinton has dabbed.

April 20, 2016 7:08 AM

A Decade of Viral Dance Moves
posted by BuddhaInABucket (19 comments total)

I took a hip-hop class once, because it feels like dancing like this would be so liberating. Well, it's really really hard. I gave up after an hour.
posted by Dragonness at 7:19 AM on April 20, 2016

That was really fun, but I have an important question: what happened in 2010 to cause a three year drought? I would have assumed it was Pon Pon Pon that laid waste to hip hop dancing for a few years, but that didn't come out until 2012. Hope us, experts!

(And I agree with Dragonness, far too much effort goes into making it look this effortless.)
posted by vanar sena at 7:31 AM on April 20, 2016

We've been talking about this in Atlanta lately. Dr. Regina Bradley, who is a Nasir Jones Fellow at Harvard right now, writing about Outkast and Southern hip hop, came to our NPR affiliate to talk about dabbing.

And a trio of our most thoughtful writers on Atlanta hip hop got together to talk about this on their podcast.
posted by Maaik at 7:32 AM on April 20, 2016 [5 favorites]

Totally awesome but of course the UCLA gymnasts throwing in tumbling and all sorts of crazy stuff just took it over the top. The editing was really pretty solid as well as there was pretty much no break in the awesome.

The kid doing the shmoney was totally killing it though.
posted by vuron at 7:39 AM on April 20, 2016

Am I the only one experiencing some cognitive dissonance regarding a video about fundamentally hip/urban dance moves being published by *The New Yorker*?
posted by uberchet at 7:58 AM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

Uberchet: no.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 8:04 AM on April 20, 2016

I kept waiting for the Wobble but maybe that's too specifically southern or something. Maybe it's just (still) on my mind because even the cops in New Orleans can wobble.
posted by komara at 8:07 AM on April 20, 2016 [2 favorites]

Came to see Hillary dab. Was disappointed. Youth dancing like youth terrific.
posted by AugustWest at 8:15 AM on April 20, 2016

I love this video and I love those kids.

Yak Films is really, really good and you should check out their YouTube channel for more slickly produced dance videos.
posted by AFABulous at 8:16 AM on April 20, 2016

If like me you found the gymnasts distracting and were wowed by the schoolkids, you too may dig this longer and smoother video of the Ron Clark Academy kids (and Ron himself!) Both videos were shot by a member of the prolific Yak Films collective, subscribe for lots of great street dance and B-boy video, including a series with Dragon House who are another highlight of the NYer video. (On preview, seconding!)
posted by nicwolff at 8:19 AM on April 20, 2016 [4 favorites]

I'm not embarrassed that I can't dance as well as those kids, but I am embarrassed that I can't dance as well as their principal.

[this is good]
posted by Elementary Penguin at 8:23 AM on April 20, 2016

Wow, I'd put their principal in the top 10% of white guys in his age group who are not professional dancers. That is pretty dang impressive.
posted by AFABulous at 8:26 AM on April 20, 2016

It helps that he's clearly enjoying the hell out of himself.
posted by Elementary Penguin at 8:28 AM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

Ok I'm legit impressed by the single take version of Ron Clark Academy kids that people linked to and honestly more than a little jealous of how cool that school is. It looks like a Disney Channel Sitcom middle school but actually real.
posted by vuron at 8:33 AM on April 20, 2016

Not bad! I thought the Dougie was a bit too understated and lacking his signature hand moves around his head. They also lumped the Whip in with the Nae Nae, which I thought was kind of lazy. And then at the end the kids Hit Dem Folks but they didn't note that in the video. They could have thrown in the DLow Shuffle and the Sexy Walk, though I figured those don't qualify as viral, though Hit Dem Folks does. The fun part is watching NFL and NCAA players doing dances in the fall, and then the general public doesn't get the dance until months and months later. Hit Dem Folks is probably my favorite to do because you can just put a little hip thrust with the overhead arms to accentuate whatever you're talking about at the moment. For instance, you start doing the initial hand motions while saying "Hillary won" and when you get to "New York", that's when you hit the arm part. Try it with your coworkers right now.
posted by cashman at 8:35 AM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

I dab every time I cough or sneeze.
posted by pxe2000 at 8:41 AM on April 20, 2016

I'm largely ignorant of "urban" youth culture. But now that I've seen this New Yorker video on Metafilter, I'm ready to show the kids I'm "with it" by "bustin' out" and "doing the Dougie".
posted by Nelson at 9:36 AM on April 20, 2016

I thiught this was going to be something of a compilation of dance videos that went viral, like the Harlem Shake.
posted by annsunny at 3:56 PM on April 20, 2016

Holy cow! That Ron Clark oner that nicwolff linked is really, really good.

Both the Ron Clark Academy and UCLA gymnastics had viral dance videos sweep through the Twitterverse (and Black Twitter in particular) earlier this year which no doubt informed their inclusion in this compilation:

1. Ron Clark Academy - Do It Like Me Challenge (and here's a CBS news piece about them)
2. UCLA gymnast incorporates every single 2015 dance craze into her routine
posted by mhum at 6:23 PM on April 20, 2016 [1 favorite]