5 Dance Moves Michael Jackson Made ICONIC
Michael Jackson will go down in history as an iconic figure in the music industry who captivated audiences worldwide through his many talents, but particularly his incredible dance abilities. Throughout his illustrious career, Jackson revolutionized the art of dance, leaving an indelible mark on popular culture. His unique blend of dance styles are instantly recognisable, and therefore often imitated. Aside from ‘the moonwalk’, ‘the anti-gravity lean’ and his infamous ‘crotch grab’, iconic moves we have whole videos on for you to discover, we will focus on less notable but still instantly recognisable moves that made up Michael Jackson’s magical sense of grace, precision, and innovation that established him as a true pioneer in the realm of dance.
THE TOE STAND
When Michael Jackson performed his brand new song, ‘Billie Jean’, during the ‘Motown 25’ television special, the performer would later go on to reveal that he cried after the performance. “I’m never satisfied”, Michael Jackson said, “even when I see something that I’ve done, and people say: ‘Oh it was phenomenal’… when I did Motown 25, and I did the moonwalk for the first time, I was backstage crying afterwards because I was unhappy.” Jackson originally planned to execute his new moonwalk move and finish it off with a multi-rotation spin ending dramatically in a toe stand. However, the performer wasn’t able to maintain the toe stand position as long as he would have liked, ruining the dramatic effect he was going for. “But then I was walking to the car there was this little boy who was like 12” Michael continued. “He was this little Jewish kid and he said: ‘You’re amazing! Who taught you to dance like that?… And for the first time ever I felt like I did a good job,” he concluded. “Because I know children don’t lie, and I just felt so good about it.”
Many believe that the toe stand, which its silhouette has since become so synonymous with the King of Pop, was originally taken from another King, the King of Rock ’n’ Roll. With Elvis Presley showcasing the iconic move as early as 1956 during a landmark performance of ‘Hound Dog’ on the Ed Sullivan show. However, Elvis was far from the originator of the move, having himself borrowed a few from people he admired and was likely popularised by black performers at the time. As when he was a teenager, Elvis used to sneak into the black nightclubs in town to listen to the “race music” that he loved, and likely picked up some dance moves at the same time.
For Michael Jackson, the toe stand was likely taken from dance men of old musicals, like Fred Astaire, one of the Hollywood icons that Michael long adored. None of his moves were considered ‘stolen’ however, rather a homage. As Gene Kelly once pointed out to Fred, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”, and they were both huge admirers of Michael’s work. The move likely pre-dated Astaire anyway. As you can probably see films from the 1920s and 1930s where the toe stand is featured.
CIRCLE & SIDE SLIDES
With the notoriety of ‘the moonwalk’, Michael Jackson soon developed several variations. Including his circle slide, where the performer does a move that appears to be the moonwalk going round in a circle with some intricate footwork, first showcased on his Victory tour in 1984. The other being the side slide, that had Michael Jackson gliding across the stage facing forward and manipulating his feet to make it look as though he was on a conveyor belt.
Using other robotic touches, Michael Jackson brought out the moves during several occasions in any given show while performing. Including the breakdown segment of ‘Billie Jean’, Dangerous, Smooth Criminal, Stranger in Moscow and many others. Only adding to his highly precise and otherworldly dance sensibilities.
THE ROBOT
The robot is a dance move that involves the performer moving their arms and legs in a stiff, robotic manner. Movements of the robot are normally started and finished with a very abrupt stop, to give the impression of motors starting and stopping. Michael Jackson was known for incorporating this move into many of his performances and musical breakdowns, becoming one of his signature dance practices. It was also arguably the first dance craze he ignited when he was performing as part of the Jackson 5 in 1973. A 15-year-old Michael debuted his ‘robot’ dance alongside his brothers’ during their performance of ‘Dancing Machine’, as part of the song’s breakdown. The group performed the track on Soul Train, The Carol Burnett Show and during various other television appearances. This was arguably the first moment where Michael proved that he could potentially become a star in his own right away from his brothers.
Widely credited as bringing the robot into the mainstream of popular dances, the physically complicated technique was first developed by the likes of miming duo Shields and Yarnell in the early 1970s. Dancer Charles Washington became famous for his robotics beamed into millions of living rooms as a member of the first Soul Train Gang. He was the originator of the Robot style of rhythmic dancing and organized the group, ‘The Robot Brothers’ in the late 1960s. Putting music behind robotic moves and becoming the face of the new dance style. Though its roots go as far back as the 1920s, when it was used theatrically in miming.
Moving into the late 1970s and early 1980s, hip hop dancers known as ‘poppers’ started to emerge, incorporating the robot into their syncopated popping and locking. It is necessary to acknowledge the moment in 1982 that Shalamar’s Jeffrey Daniel (a former ‘Soul Train’ dancer) did both the robot and what became known as the moonwalk on the UK’s ‘Top of the Pops’, demonstrating how the two movements are intrinsically linked. His robot and slow popping and locking were moves never before seen on British television. Weeks later, Daniel was asked to come back on the show and do the dances again because their audiences’ minds were so blown. In fact, the moment was so huge that Michael Jackson caught wind as he was preparing to perform ‘Billie Jean’ for the first time on the upcoming television special. The gloved one then went on to learn some new moves, including what was then called ‘the backslide’, from Daniels, and both went on to be trailblazers in the ‘robot’ dance craze of the 1980s.
THE SPIN
The Michael Jackson spin, another gravity defying move that the King of Pop dished out in spades throughout his years of performing. Outwardly, it appears that the spin is the most integral to Jackson’s dance sensibility. With the child star demonstrating his impulse for the move as early as his audition tape for Motown Executives at the very start of his prolific career. Michael Jackson saying himself, “my dancing just comes about spontaneously. Some things I’ve done for years until people have marked them as my style, but it’s all spontaneous reactions. People have named certain dances after me! Like the spin I do, but I can’t even remember how I started the spin — it just came about.” Having Likely been influenced by televised appearances by the likes of Jackie Wilson and James Brown, who’s performances were often spin-heavy, Michael paid tribute to the latter by imitating the Godfather of Soul’s legendary moves in an impromptu performance with Brown in 1983.
However, Michael Jackson had his own, excuse the pun, spin on the dance move. Challenging himself to achieve impossibly smooth, more elegant multiple spins at faster speeds, usually topped off with another signature, his fierce head jerk or falling to his knees in grand drama like in performances of ‘Man in The Mirror’. There has been fan debate as to the most rotations Michael Jackson has ever spun doing the move. Some concluding it was during the ‘Dangerous’ tour in Monza in 1992, other saying a five-time spin in Copenhagen during the same tour. “I start to spin as wildly as I can. This is my favorite dance because it contains a secret. The faster I twirl, the more I am still inside. My dance is all motion without all silence within. As much as I love to make music, it’s the unheard music that never dies”, Michael Jackson said of the spin. The great Tony Award-winning choreographer, Donald McKayle, said when asked about working with Michael, that “he taught himself to dance”. And when it came to his spins, McKayle joked that Jackson did in fact have his limitations, “He could spin only to the left.”
THE HIGH KICK
The kick is a move that Michael Jackson showcased on many occasions, including the introduction of ‘Billie Jean’, first performed on Motown 25 in 1983, but most notably in the music video for ‘Beat it’ and later exaggerated in ‘Thriller’. Michael Jackson would often incorporate this move into his performances, and it was a testament to his incredible flexibility and athleticism. It appears that the style derives from traditional Karate or other Martial Arts and is fundamentally striking. Whether high side kicks that show control and then seem to pulsate through the rest of his body and impact his next movements, or a short flailing of the leg that sorts to portray aggression. The challenging move has a dynamic quality, as though the music is channelling through him in a ferocious manner and Michael Jackson’s dancing is breaking the fourth wall between him and the audience.
It’s a move that Michael Jackson often fell back on throughout his many years of performing and has become a signature of the artist that many have imitated. Including comedian and actor Chris Tucker, who in the 1998 action comedy, ‘Rush Hour’, does a Michael Jackson tribute by echoing the King of Pop’s moves. However according to Tucker, when Jackson caught wind of the scene, the gloved singer decided he needed to have a word with the up-and-coming actor.