In early 2013, the Internet craze ,Harlem Shake, took over the web. Thousands of clips appear on YouTube with so-called Harlem Shakes. It is not the first time that the internet has been captivated by a certain dance hype in a video. But what exactly is the Harlem Shake? It is described in this article.
What is a Harlem Shake?
Baauer’s dance song ,Harlem Shake, is the soundtrack to the early 2013 internet craze, the Harlem Shake. It is a craze consisting of short half-minute videos. The most important thing seems to be that an unexpected dance is created consisting of random movements.
30 second video
A Harlem Shake is a video showing several people who are all sitting quite quietly in a room. One of the people (often wearing a mask) is already dancing/moving in a special way for the first 15 seconds. After 15 seconds, when the climax takes place, the other people in the room also participate in the dance. Everyone makes a dance or certain movements in their own way.
- A good example of a Harlem Shake on the Great Wall of China: YouTube
The dance song Harlem Shake
As mentioned, DJ/producer Baauer created the song Harlem Shake. A modern song with a techno beat, some random sounds and shouts and a climax after about 15 seconds. The song quickly became very popular due to the unexpected trend in early 2013. The disc jockey himself seemed unable to believe it, as his tweet read ,this is fucking nuts, on February 9, 2013.
The original
Al B created a dance in 1981 that was also called the Harlem Shake, this dance originated in the Harlem district of New York. It was a dance where the dancers’ movements illustrated how mummies would move if they could. Al B himself also said the following about his dance: a drunken shake anyway, its an alcoholic shake, but its fantastic, everyone appreciates it..
The first Harlem Shake video
It is always difficult to say why, when or how a hype arises. It is also difficult to identify the discoverers of a particular hype. In this case it is suspected that the people of this video are the people who started this internet craze at the time.
Previous internet hypes
Some internet hypes that preceded the Harlem Shake are planking, flash mobs and milking:
- Planking is the phenomenon in which someone lies down like a plank in a special place where this is not expected.
- A flash mob is a gathering of a large group of people who, at a certain time, do something unexpected at the same time. This often involves dancing or singing with the entire group.
- Milking is a slightly less well-known internet hype. This involves people throwing several liters of milk over their own bodies. This idea came from some students from Newcastle, they filmed it and then it went around the world.
How do internet hypes arise?
In the past, there were rarely such short but major hypes or fads. With the advent of the internet and social media, a few crazy ideas or videos can grow into a huge craze. It often starts with a group of young people, they post something on Twitter, Facebook or another social media channel. The video or photo is then shared by many others. People see it and imitate it, after which a hype quickly arises.
Start a hype yourself
Hype on the Internet often arises completely unexpectedly. But it is of course not impossible to start a hype yourself. Make a video or photo with something completely unexpected, yet accessible. So make sure that there are no costs involved and that it is not prohibited by law, so that many people can easily imitate it. Also make sure that it can be done almost anywhere. Then put your video or photo on the internet, share it via social media and ensure that many people share your message again. With a lot of luck, a (small-scale) internet hype will arise.