The phrase “Gangnam Style” is a Korean neologism that refers to a lifestyle associated with the Gangnam District of Seoul. The song and its accompanying music video went viral in August 2012 and have influenced popular culture worldwide since then. “Gangnam Style” received mixed to positive reviews, with praise going to its catchy beat and PSY’s amusing dance moves (which themselves have become a phenomenon) in the music video and during live performances in various locations around the world. In September 2012, “Gangnam Style” was recognized by Guinness World Records as the most “liked” video on YouTube. It subsequently won Best Video at the MTV Europe Music Awards held later that year. It became a source of parodies and reaction videos by many different individuals, groups and organizations while also inspiring dance mobs in Paris, Rome, and Milan, with tens of thousands of participants each. On New Year’s Eve 2012, more than one million people witnessed a live “Gangnam Style” performance in Times Square, New York City, featuring PSY and rapper MC Hammer; as well as in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

By the end of 2012, the song had topped the music charts of more than 30 countries including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Although its reception in Japan remained lukewarm, “Gangnam Style” topped China’s Baidu 500 download list and was labelled by state media as having a “divine melody.”

The dance was brought to further 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 began moonwalking backwards (normal direction).

Ian Inglis writes that Jackson encapsulated a long tradition of African-American dance movements in that one performance. The audience cheered Michael’s moonwalk. Moonwalking received widespread attention, and from then on, the moonwalk became Jackson’s signature move for his song “Billie Jean”.

Nelson George said that Jackson’s rendition “combined Jackie Wilson’s athleticism with James Brown’s camel walk”. Michael Jackson’s autobiography was titled Moonwalk, and he also starred in a 1989 film titled Moonwalker.

Alexei Kovalev has also been known for using the moonwalk in his NHL career. He performed the move after scoring a goal on February 7, 2001 and on January 3, 2010. Kovalev moonwalked on to the ice after being named one of the stars of the game and again after scoring on a penalty kick in a 2008 celebrity charity soccer game.

James Brown used the move, and can be seen performing it in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. Another early moonwalker was popperand singer Jeffrey Daniel, who moonwalked in a performance of Shalamar’s “A Night To Remember” on Top of the Pops in the UK in 1982 and was known to perform backslides in public performances (including weekly Soul Train episodes) as far back as 1974. Michael Jackson was a fan of Jeffrey Daniel’s dancing and would eventually seek him out.

During that time, Jackson saw Derek ‘Cooley’ Jaxson and Geron ‘Casper’ Candidate, do the ‘backslide’ on Soul Train. Soon after the team of Casper and Cooley were asked by Michael Jackson’s management to teach the “backslide” to Jackson. Casper and Cooley worked with Jackson for three days at which time Cooley Jaxson was let go by Jackson due to a job with Sesame Street Live and the last two days Geron ‘Casper’ Candidate taught and helped Jackson to perfect the ‘backslide’.

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 TV series Fame.

In the 1950s, Dick Van Dyke performed a similar variation of the moonwalk and camel walk in his comedy routine called “Mailing A Letter On A Windy Corner”.

In a November 1969 episode of H.R. Pufnstuf, Judy Frog teaches everyone a new dance called “The Moonwalk”, which includes two instances of a stationary moonwalk.

Michael Jackson Moonwalk collection

The term “new style” was created by dancers outside of the United States. According to Moncell Durden, adjunct professor at Drexel University and director of the film History and Concept of Hip-Hop Dance, the 1992 dance documentaryWreckin’ Shop From Brooklyn was very influential to hip-hop dancers in France and Japan. These dancers wanted to move like the New York hip-hop dancers who were profiled in the documentary. They called the social dancing (party dancing) they saw “new style” which was short for “New York Style”.

In the context of the commercial dance industry, hip-hop (or new style hip-hop for dancers in France and Japan) is choreographed urban party dancing with studio technique added to it. From a technical aspect, it is characterized as hard-hitting involving flexibility and isolations—moving a specific body part independently from others. The feet are grounded,the chest is down, the posture is hunched,and the body is kept loose so that dancers can easily alternate between hitting the beat or moving through the beat. Like African dance, new style hip-hop is very rhythmic and involves a lot of footwork and radial movement of the hips. In addition, emphasis is placed on musicality—how sensitive your movements are to the music—and being able to freestyle (improvise). As long as dancers keep the foundational movements, they can add their own (free)style and have a performance that is still hip-hop.

A practitioner of this dance is called a b-boy, b-girl, or breaker. Although the term “breakdance” is frequently used to refer to the dance, “b-boying” and “breaking” are the original terms. These terms are preferred by the majority of the pioneers and most notable practitioners.