You may have come across that internet meme from Queensland, Australia that’s sweeping the globe. The song Harlem Shake has existed for a while, but the dance trend named after it is gaining so much popularity that fans keep sharing videos on YouTube to copy the original and create their own takes. Curious about why that group of five teens in the video became an overnight internet hit? The answer is straightforward. It’s really the word straightforward itself.
Lesson #1: Dancing is for everyone
As a kid from the 90s, I watched my cousins dance to songs like “Macarena,” “Barbie Girl,” “The Ketchup Song,” and more recently, “Gangnam Style.” These songs were easy to dance to, but they still needed some grace and a bit of memory to learn the steps. I was not a good dancer, and saying I was bad is putting it mildly. That’s why I only watched my cousins dance and impress their parents at family gatherings.
A few months after Gangnam Style became viral, a follow up entered in the form of the Harlem Shake.. The original electronica song is actually three minutes long, but dance videos of it are usually just 30 seconds in length. The dance step involves shaking your body in any direction you want, and just… shaking it. And that’s what really made it popular. The dance craze purely relies on jump cuts (on the videos) and surprising random shake steps from people who do it. It’s very easy to imitate, and only requires pure craziness on your part to be able to dance to the song.
So there. A 30-second song with almost no lyrics and random dancing routines can probably convince you now to join the fad and make your own Harlem Shake video. As for me, I finally danced on the floor with my cousins when they played the song at a relative’s birthday party. It made me feel that I am given the right to dance.
Lesson #2: The steps shouldn’t always be followed
It doesn’t mean that you should not organize your goals anymore and stop answering your business phone—what I mean is for you to learn to unwind and let go of yourmasterfully planned life and career path. You can dance those pretty random dance steps and still look like you’re having fun in your company’s own Harlem Shake video. And you can apply that in your life. If your life plans make you feel as if there’s too much pressure, then try to set a day to do random things that you think will make you happy. You don’t have to keep memorizing the steps in your life to have fun—all you have to do is think that you WILL have fun, whether the steps go according to your plans or not.