The moonwalk or backslide is a dance technique that presents the illusion of the dancer being pulled backwards while attempting to walk forward.[1] A popping move, it became popular around the world after Michael Jackson executed the dance move during a performance of "Billie Jean" on Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever on March 25, 1983. It subsequently became his signature move, and is now one of the best-known dance techniques in the world.[2][3]
Contents |
The illusion
An illusion is involved in creating the appearance of the dancer gliding. At first the dancer draws attention to the leg being pulled up but moves the leg behind it back and transfers the weight on to it. The leg with weight on it goes up and the steps are repeated over and over.
History
There are many recorded instances of the moonwalk, originally known as the backslide or "walking on your toes", being used before Michael Jackson used it. Similar steps are reported as far back as 1932, used by Cab Calloway.[4] The origin is the pantomime exercise "Marche sur place" created by mime masters Decroux and Barrault and first recorded on film for Children of Paradise in 1944/45[5]). In 1955 it was recorded in a performance by tap dancer Bill Bailey.[6] 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. Marceau's famous "Walking Against the Wind" routine was the original influence that Jackson drew from, in which Marceau pretends to be pushed backwards by a gust of wind.[7]
James Brown used the move,[8] for instance in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. David Bowie was probably the first rock musician to perform it, though he remained stationary.[9] An embryonic version of the move appears in Bowie's 1960s mime pieces; he had studied mime under Étienne Decroux, Marcel Marceau's teacher,[10] and under Lindsay Kemp, who had trained with Marceau. By the time of his 1974 Diamond Dogs Tour, Michael Jackson was among those attending Bowie's Los Angeles shows, later remarking on Bowie's strange moves.[11] Another early moonwalker was Jeffrey Daniel, who moonwalked in a performance of Shalamar's "A Night To Remember" on Top of the Pops in 1982.[12] 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 1982 TV series Fame.[13] There is a similar dance to the moonwalk as well. It is known today as the 'airwalk.'
In the movie Flashdance, released in 1983, the move was used in the breakdance scene, where a street performer, with an umbrella prop, mimed the wind blowing him backward as he first walks forward, fighting the wind, then starts moonwalking backwards.[14]
Michael Jackson
The dance was brought to widespread public attention in 1983, when Michael Jackson performed it during a television special, Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever on March 25 that year. Dressed in his signature black trousers, silver socks, silver shirt, black-sequined jacket, single sequined glove, and black fedora, Jackson spun around, posed, and started moonwalking. Ian Inglis writes that Jackson encapsulated a long tradition of African-American dance movements in that one performance. The audience screamed with joy to Michael's moonwalk. From there on, the moonwalk became Jackson's signature move for his Billie Jean song. Nelson George said that Jackson's rendition "combined Jackie Wilson's athleticism with James Brown's camel walk."[8]
Michael Jackson's autobiography was also titled Moonwalk.
In nature
The Red-capped Manakin of Central America performs a mating dance similar to that of backsliding. During the male's performance, he shuffles his feet rapidly backwards or sideways.[15]
References
- ^ Banes, Sally. Writing Dancing in the Age of Postmodernism, Wesleyan University Press, 1994, p. 139.
- ^ Suddath, Claire. "How to Moonwalk like Michael", TIME, June 25, 2009.
- ^ Thriller 25: The Book, ML Publishing Group Ltd, 2008. ISBN 978-0-9768891-9-9.
- ^ Pagett, Matt. The Best Dance Moves in the World - Ever! Chronicle Books, 2008, p. 72.
- ^ Destin de Pierrot episode (see clip 7'19" to 7'37"), performed by Barrault
- ^ Video of Bill Bailey in 1955
- ^ Associated Press (23 September 2007). "Grand master of mime, Marcel Marceau, dies". http://www.cbc.ca/arts/theatre/story/2007/09/23/marceau-obit.html. Retrieved 2007-09-23.
- ^ a b Inglis, Ian. Performance and popular music, Ashgate Publishing, 2006, p. 122.
- ^ Video of "Aladdin Sane" (1974) by David Bowie
- ^ Dalhousie French Studies, Dalhousie University, 1994, p. 116.
- ^ The Complete David Bowie, 2002. ISBN 1-903111-40-4
- ^ A Night to Remember, Shalamar, Top of the Pops, 1982, YouTube, accessed July 10, 2009.
- ^ Fame: Season 1 Episode 10 - "Evolution of Dance" Original Air Date: March 11th 1982
- ^ First 12 seconds of this video [1]
- ^ Video of the Red-capped Manakin doing the moonwalk
|
||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
