Just Beat It!

How can you not remember the King of Pop on International Dance Day?

Kabir Singh Bhandari

They will never make music videos like MJ’s again. Thriller. Smooth Criminal. Bad. The list is endless. Through his breakthrough videos, an entire generation grew up trying to emulate Michael Jackson’s dance steps. Here’s looking at some of the most iconic ones:

The Anti-Gravity Lean: How the hell did he do that! Michael’s ‘anti-gravity’ lean from the Smooth Criminal music video was achieved using specially designed shoes that locked into metallic pegs emerging from the stage. For the original 1987 music video, wires were used, while he co-patented a mechanical solution in 1993 to perform the 45-degree tilt live.

Moonwalk: What? You thought we’d miss out on this one? Michael debuted the moonwalk during the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever TV special on March 25, 1983, at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. He performed the step while dancing to Billie Jean. Pro tip: Try out the step wearing only socks; you might just nail it.

The Toe Stand: Was ‘the toe stand’ copied by MJ from Elvis Presley? The latter had showcased the move in 1956 during a performance of Hound Dog on The Ed Sullivan Show. However, Elvis himself had borrowed from others, and there were others too who had done the same step, like Fred Astaire. Bottom line, however, was that no one used the step to maximum effect like Michael did.