There is always one dumbfounded question that comes to mind when watching a viral video of a trending song or dance: “Who the hell came up with this?” How do these viral dance trends and vine trends become popular?
Although the answers to those questions aren’t always necessarily clear and easy to find for most viral videos and vines, it is always interesting to trace back the origins of massive internet sensations. Finding the original video or finding the best performances of these trends is always a fun goal for people who are avidly entertained by these videos.
So while we’re talking about viral dance videos, it should only be fitting that we start by addressing the latest dance craze that is currently sweeping the nation: the #RunningManChallenge. If you’ve been living under a rock for the past week or so, then allow me to explain what this is. Disclaimer: if you are over the age of 30, this is not the same running man dance you’re familiar with. The #RunningManChallenge is primarily performed by dancing to the recently revived 1996 pop hit “My Boo” by Ghost Town DJ’s by running in place and moving one’s arms up and down to the beat of the song. I know this is a very crude description of the dance, but that is as close as I can get to describing it in words. It sounds pretty random and simple, right? So how could it possibly be the newest viral trend? Add in the original challengers, the University of Maryland’s Men’s Basketball team and their creative scenes and props and you can see why this blew up:
😂😂😂😂😂 RIGHT AT YALL @jnickens_ @jaybriddle_1 @damontedodd35 WASSUP @krisjenk2 @epaschall4 @pbooth_5 they light😴
A video posted by Mikal Bridges (@mikalbridges) on
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEKAXYUSyNa/
After posting a series of these dance videos with players dancing all over the place, including their team locker rooms, outside on the street, and at what looks like a 7-11, the Terrapins created a monster of a viral sensation. College basketball teams all over the country responded to the Terps’ “challenge” and posted their own renditions of the #RunningManChallenge using even more props, unique locations, and twists with each posted response.
Oh yeahh!!! 😂😂😂😂 wassup wit it ? @jaybriddle_1 add my snap: jnickkk
A video posted by Jared Nickens (@jnickens_) on
https://www.instagram.com/p/BEMMmWjJN0f/
It wasn’t long before massive news stations such as ESPN began to pick up on the craze, spreading the #RunningManChallenge through the media and by the time any of these videos reached major social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, the challenge became an epidemic. People everywhere are posting their own version of the #RunningManChallenge, athletes or not, displaying the wildly entertaining viral media culture that has been born in the digital age through apps such as Vine.
This is probably the best one 🔥 pic.twitter.com/8f4sYRuplH
— WSHH FANS (@WSHHFANS) April 23, 2016
The #RunningManChallenge comes at the heels of a few declining, might I even say dying, dance sensations that had their long stay in the spotlight. Dances such as the whip, nae-nae, the quan, milly rock, the dab, and the folks dominated vines and dance videos for the good part of over a year collectively and are still very common to this day but the #RunningManChallenge has now become the centerfold of viral dance sensations and I’m not complaining.
What I like best about the #RunningManChallenge is that every video posted trying to do the dance, whether good or bad, has at least some entertaining value and poor attempts at it aren’t necessarily cringe-worthy as poorly executed whips and dabs are. The really good videos are funny, entertaining, and make you want to dance, which makes this challenge much more fun to hop on the bandwagon as compared to other dances because it’s such a funny looking dance in general. You don’t necessarily have to hit the dance super hard or anything for the video to be good, you just gotta stay on beat and be creative and that’s what I love about it. For everyone that knew the song “My Boo” before this, it was always that song that once it started playing everyone would anticipate the first run of the chorus, and prepare to dance. But everybody had their own dance to the song when the chorus came around. Now, thanks to the University of Maryland Men’s Basketball team, we all have a dance we can do together once we hear “My Boo” come on, the #RunningManChallenge.
