It may seem uncool to talk about Michael Jackson’s song and dance in millennia. But the legendary artist – Michael Jackson’s craze is still going viral everywhere. Dancers on Instagram and Tik Tok never miss a chance to include an MJ song in their choreography. I cannot deny that MJ has been the biggest influence in my life.
My love for music, dance, and rhythm began by watching the song Black or White on tv. It was a historic moment! The most awaited music album of the 1980s and the most popular album too. The singing, the dancing, the direction, the creation of this album blew everyone’s mind.
Imagine a 10-year-old girl sitting on a couch, looking intently at the tv, absorbing all the energy of the music and dance of this legendary song. That was me. Later, I would search for more music by Michael and found every song so hypnotic and rhythmic. Such velvet voice and such magnetic dance and choreography.
I was shaken to the core of my soul. I wanted to dance like him. I used to close my bedroom door, play MJ music, and dance all the MJ steps. I remembered every step precisely. No tutorial from Youtube was required. I used to dance till I sweat. And felt so exhilarated and amazing.
The rhythm and energy of MJ the ‘King of Pop’ inspired me the most. And there was one more bizarre thing. I was thin and dark like MJ. Please do not misunderstand me but for a 10-year-old girl, copying everything of her favorite idol is natural. I wanted to dance like MJ. I want to feel like MJ. I even wanted to dress like MJ but that would have made my parents very very mad.
While listening to MJ’s music, I started to understand rhythm more precisely. From then on, I will dance with the same energy to all the songs of Bollywood. I started listening to more English songs but my performance had the same style of MJ. I looked for ‘hitting the beat’ while dancing to every song. I loved turning and doing the moonwalk. I discovered at an early age the joy of turning/spinning in different ways and not get dizzy. I love dancing light on my feet so I can do tricks while doing the moonwalk. At that stage of my life, studying became my last priority and dancing became first. MJ was my first teacher and mentor.
I wanted to stretch my hands and touch the sky just like MJ did in many of his songs. I also wanted to play a character, just like MJ did in the Thriller song. Unfortunately, I was born before the age of the internet and YouTube so I don’t have any dance videos of my youth.
I could go on praising my inspiration MJ for many more hours. But the idea of writing about my love for MJ and his dance/music came from watching a few tik tokers still dancing and grooving on his music. These dancers are doing urban, freestyle, and even Bollywood dance forms on MJ music. Check out some of their work here.
Watching all these videos again, I also feel like creating my own MJ choreography.
“Dancers come and go in the twinkling of an eye. But the dance lives on” – Michael Jackson, King of Pop
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