The running man is a

street dance Street dance is an umbrella term for a large number of social dance styles such as: breakdancing, popping, locking, house dance, waacking etc. Social dance styles have many accompanying steps and foundations, created organically from a cult ...

, consisting of "shuffling" and sliding steps, imitating a stationary runner. The dancer takes steps forward, then slides the foot placed in front backwards almost immediately, while moving their fists forwards and back horizontally in front of them. The fad dance was said to have been started in the mid-1980s. Notable performers of the dance were

MC Hammer Stanley Kirk Burrell (born March 30, 1962), better known by his stage name MC Hammer (or simply Hammer), is an American rapper, dancer, record producer and entrepreneur. He is known for hit songs such as " U Can't Touch This", "2 Legit 2 Quit" ...

Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreog ...

Five Star Five Star (also styled as 5 Star) are a British pop group, formed in 1983 and comprising siblings Stedman, Lorraine, Denise, Doris and Delroy Pearson. Between 1985 and 1988, Five Star had four top 20 albums and 15 top 40 singles in the UK, ...

Selena Selena Quintanilla Pérez (; April 16, 1971 – March 31, 1995), known mononymously as Selena, was an American Tejano singer. Called the " Queen of Tejano music", her contributions to music and fashion made her one of the most celebrated Mex ...

Milli Vanilli Milli Vanilli were a German-French R&B duo from Munich. The group was founded by Frank Farian in 1988 and consisted of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus. Their debut album, ''All or Nothing'' in Europe, reconfigured as ''Girl You Know It's True'' in ...

and

Vanilla Ice Robert Matthew Van Winkle (born October 31, 1967), known professionally as Vanilla Ice, is an American rapper, actor, and television host. Born in South Dallas, and raised in Texas and South Florida, Ice released his debut album, ''Hooked'', ...

during their live concert shows and in

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

Dance history

The running man is one of the most recognizable

hip hop dance Hip hop dance is a range of street dance styles primarily performed to hip hop music or that have evolved as part of hip hop culture. It is influenced by a wide range of styles that were created in the 1970s and made popular by dance crews in ...

s. According to ''

Essence Essence ( la, essentia) is a polysemic term, used in philosophy and theology as a designation for the property or set of properties that make an entity or substance what it fundamentally is, and which it has by necessity, and without which it ...

'' magazine,

Paula Abdul Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreographe ...

created the dance and taught it to

when she was working as her

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who c ...

during Jackson's album ''

Control Control may refer to: Basic meanings Economics and business * Control (management), an element of management * Control, an element of management accounting * Comptroller (or controller), a senior financial officer in an organization * Controlli ...

'' (1986). Abdul also choreographed the 1987 film '' The Running Man''. Jackson further popularized the dance, when she performed it in her 1989 music video "

Rhythm Nation "Rhythm Nation" is a song by American singer Janet Jackson, released as the second single from her fourth studio album, '' Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814'' (1989). It was written and produced by Jackson, in collaboration with Jimmy Jam and ...

". Others sources claim

developed the party dance. Before the 1980s ended, Hammer made the dance his own, complete with his signature Hammer pants.

Bobby Brown Robert Barisford Brown (born February 5, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter and dancer. Brown, alongside frequent collaborator Teddy Riley, is noted as one of the pioneers of new jack swing: a fusion of hip hop and R&B. Brown started h ...

also popularized the Roger Rabbit dance (similar to a "backwards" running man), as seen in the music video for his song " Every Little Step" (1989). The running man achieved a

meme A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ...

revival during the 2000s, being performed in a similar manner as the Melbourne shuffle dance style. Additionally, singer

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage producti ...

performed it during her

The M+M's Tour The M+M's Tour was the sixth concert tour by American entertainer Britney Spears, consisting of six brief shows at clubs in the United States. Spears expressed interest in touring again as early as February 2006. She started rehearsing for a show ...

, and

Scarlett Johansson Scarlett Ingrid Johansson (; born November 22, 1984) is an American actress. The world's highest-paid actress in 2018 and 2019, she has featured multiple times on the ''Forbes'' Celebrity 100 list. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 100 ...

claimed "I do a great running man" in an interview with '' Seventeen''. In 2008, " Something Good" by the

Utah Saints Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its we ...

was re-released. The video, set in 1989, comically suggests that the running man craze started in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. It features many people dancing the running man and ends with the "rights" to the dance being signed over to MC Hammer under

duress Coercion () is compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner by the use of threats, including threats to use force against a party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to induce a desi ...

. The pop duo

LMFAO LMFAO (an initialism for Laughing My Freaking Ass Off or Laughing My Fucking Ass Off) are an American electronic dance music duo consisting of Redfoo and Sky Blu. Redfoo is the youngest son of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy and Nancy Le ...

brought the running man back into the mainstream with their song "

Party Rock Anthem "Party Rock Anthem" is a song by American music duo LMFAO, featuring British singer Lauren Bennett and American music producer GoonRock. It was released as the first single from their second album '' Sorry for Party Rocking'' in 2011. The sin ...

", which was named the 2011 song of the summer by ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

''.

References

Novelty and fad dances Articles containing video clips Fela Kuti {{dance-stub

Dance history

See also

References