Moonwalk (dance)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search
The moonwalk is a dance move in which the dancer moves backwards. [1] Formerly known as
the "backslide", the moonwalk is a popping move. It became popular around the world
following Michael Jackson's moonwalk during the performance of "Billie Jean" on Motown 25:
Yesterday, Today, Forever, which was broadcast on May 16, 1983.[2] Jackson has been credited
as renaming the "backslide" to the moonwalk and it became his signature move.[3][4][5]

Contents

 1Technique
 2History
o 2.11930s
o 2.21943-1944
o 2.31950-1969
o 2.41970s
o 2.51980s
 2.5.1Michael Jackson and the moonwalk
o 2.62000s
o 2.72010s
 3References

Technique[edit]

The moonwalk

An illusion is involved in creating the appearance of the dancer gliding backwards. Initially, the
front foot is held flat on the ground, while the back foot is in a tiptoe position. The flat front foot
remains on the ground but is slid lightly and smoothly backward past the tip-toe back foot. What
is now the front foot is lowered flat, while the back foot is raised into the tiptoe position. These
steps are repeated over and over creating the illusion that the dancer is being pulled backwards
by an unseen force while trying to walk forward. Variations of this move allow moonwalking to
appear to glide forward, sideways, or even in a circle.

History[edit]

Cab Calloway executed steps similar to the moonwalk (sidewalk or toe stand) as early as 1932.

1930s[edit]
There are many recorded instances of the moonwalk; similar steps are reported as far back as
1932, used by Cab Calloway.[6] In 1985, Calloway said that the move was called "The Buzz"
when he and others performed it in the 1930s.[7][8]
1943-1944[edit]
In 1944, Judy Garland and Margaret O'Brien featured something like the move in their
performance of "Under the Bamboo Tree" in Meet Me in St. Louis, though their performance
lacks the illusion created by the genuine moonwalk.[9]
1950-1969[edit]
In the 1950, Dick Van Dyke performed a similar variation of the moonwalk and camel walk in
his comedy routine called "Mailing A Letter On A Windy Corner".
In 1955, it was recorded in a performance by tap dancer Bill Bailey. He performs a tap routine,
and at the end, backslides into the wings.[10] The French mime artist Marcel Marceau used it
throughout his career (from the 1940s through the 1980s), as part of the drama of his mime
routines. In Marceau's "Walking Against the Wind" routine, he pretends to be pushed backwards
by a gust of wind.[11]
In 1958, Mexican dancer-comedian Adalberto Martinez "Resortes" also performed the moonwalk
in the film Colegio de Verano (Summer School).
In a November 1969 episode of H.R. Pufnstuf, Judy the Frog teaches everyone a new dance
called "The Moonwalk", which includes two instances of a stationary moonwalk.[12]
Also in 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong did the moonwalk.[13]
1970s[edit]
In 1972, Lucie Arnaz in Here's Lucy Episode 9 of Season 5 "Lucy and Jim Bailey" Lucie does the
Moonwalk while singing "Fever" with Jim Bailey
Choreographer Bob Fosse moonwalks in his role as the Snake in the 1974 film The Little
Prince.[14]
In the late 1970s, the long-running African-American TV dance show Soul Train featured a dance
troupe called "The Electric Boogaloos" which routinely performed popping and locking dance
moves including the Moonwalk.[15]
It has also a been acknowledged that the professional wrestlers Michael "Pure Sexy"
Hayes, Terry Gordy, and Buddy Roberts started doing the moonwalk as their trademark ring
entrance by 1979 when they formed a wrestling stable known as The Fabulous Freebirds.[16]
1980s[edit]
James Brown used the move[17]. In 1981 in the promotional single and music video Crosseyed
and Painless by new wave band Talking Heads, authentic street dancers, picked by David Byrne,
are featuring, including Stephen "Skeeter Rabbit" Nichols doing the moonwalk.[18] It reached to 20
on the US dance charts.
Another early moonwalker was popper and singer Jeffrey Daniel, who moonwalked in a
performance of Shalamar's "A Night To Remember" on Top of the Pops in the UK in 1982[19] and
was known to perform backslides in public performances (including weekly Soul Train episodes)
as far back as 1974. Michael Jackson was a fan of Jeffrey Daniel's dancing and would eventually
seek him out.
Also in 1982, Debbie Allen performs a moonwalk during a scene with Gwen Verdon in Season 1,
Episode 10 ("Come One, Come All") of the TV series Fame.[20]
In Flashdance, the move was used in the B-boy scene, where Rock Steady Crew's Mr. Freeze
(Marc Lemberger), with an umbrella prop, mimed the wind blowing him backward as he first
walks forward, fighting the wind, then starts moonwalking backwards. Mr. Freeze's version was
also shown in the first hip hop movie Wild Style and Malcolm McLaren film clip "Buffalo Gals".[21]
In the 1984 movie Streets of Fire, actor and performer Stoney Jackson executed a moonwalk as
the leader of a fictional group, The Sorels, who lip-synced to the Dan Hartman song "I Can
Dream About You".