Whether you think of it as an ’80s dance that originated in the Harlem neighborhood of New York or a silly Internet meme that started with a bunch of guys in silly costumes, the “Harlem Shake” has become an international hit. With parodies springing up everywhere from Tunisia to Estonia to the stage of the English National Ballet, it’s on its way to becoming the new ping pong diplomacy. Or at least the new “Gangnam Style.”
Occupy Wall Street’s tent cities are so 2011. After teenage students in Tunisia published a Harlem Shake video on Feb. 24, the outraged Tunisian education minister called for an investigation. As Tunisia Live reports, Tunisians then staged another Harlem Shake protest in the rain outside of the Ministry of Education Friday to protect the students’ right to do the dance. Here’s the controversial video:
The day before, more than 400 activists did the dance outside of the Muslim Brotherhood’s office in Cairo, the New York Times reports. This comes after police arrested four Egyptian university students after they caused a disturbance by doing the Harlem Shake in their underwear, according to the Lebanon Daily Star.
Elsewhere, Estonians did the Harlem Shake to commemorate the 95th anniversary of the country’s independence:
The Harlem Shake officially became a fine art when the English National Ballet did it:
The “Keep Calm and Do The Harlem Shake” shirt in the Fulham Football Club’s video is bloody brilliant:
Looks like the Miami Heat Forward King (LeBron) James wants to be the King of the Harlem Shake too:
Shakes on a Plane? The FAA is now investigating a Harlem Shake video filmed by Colorado College’s ultimate frisbee team on a Frontier Airlines flight earlier this month. A spokesperson for the airline couldn’t comment to the Los Angeles Times, but did say, “all safety measures were followed and the seat belt sign was off”: