Moonwalkin'

Have you ever heard of the show "Glee?" Well its about a high school show choir- they sing and dance and stir up all kinds of controversy around the school... but that's not my point. What I'm getting at is that I was in show choir and performed a couple of other dances in high school, but don't let that fool you. I'm not much of a dancer. You can check out some of the videos I'm tagged in on Facebook if you don't believe me. (Look for the guy who messes up a lot)

I was there pretty much to lift the girls and sing while trying my best not to make a complete fool of myself. I'm usually quite comfortable performing in front of people, but when it comes to dancing, I'm really stiff and  I freeze up. I'm completely out of my element! That being said, I thought it might be interesting (or a complete train wreck) if I tried to learn a dance move that I'd seen my roommate doing. The Moonwalk! Follow after the jump to see look ridiculous..



Before I started actually learning how to do it, I have to admit I had no idea how it worked. I thought you just slid your feet backwards and that was it, but there's a lot more to it. The first thing my teacher told me was that it's really an optical illusion, you have the appearance of magically walking backwards but you're really just pushing back up on your toes of one leg while keeping the other leg straight and sliding it back. To help pull of the illusion he told me that it helps to work some slight arm movement in as well, to distract from any strange movement in your legs. Check it out!

Getting pointers on how to moonwalk in our kitchen/professional dance studio

After watching and learning the basic steps its time to practice. Just like with any skill, folk knowledge or otherwise, a lot of the learning comes from personal practice and experimenting. My roommate was always quick to point out something that needed fixing or give me a quick demo on the right technique, but at the end of the day you still have to be able to do it yourself.

Moonwalking "laps" in our room! Over and over and over...

I can now say I know how to moonwalk! Well sorta... I'm no King of Pop but at least know what you're supposed to do. I had a lot of fun learning this example of folk knowledge, and it got me thinking about how huge of a role dancing has played in cultures throughout history across the globe - from ancient Native American and Egyptian dance rituals, to modern examples from Elvis or even the Cat Daddy. Alright Professor Burton, if you know that last one you're pretty cool!


Here is my (sad) attempt at the moonwalk. But hey, like I said I'm not a dancer :)