One’s high school years are very formative times, filled with many cultural touchstones and none more so than prom. For one group of students, their prom night is one they will never forget, but not for the reasons you might think.
A viral video featuring four teen boys dressed in matching brown pants, white shirts, and suspenders was filmed on their prom night. They weren’t making a fashion statement, though, but were actually there to perform for their classmates.
They begin by dancing to the familiar opening notes of Ben E. King’s classic song, «Stand by Me.» Yet, after just a minute of dancing to that song, the music switched without warning to Chubby Checker’s iconic «Let’s Twist Again.»
Little did everyone know, it had just begun…
This routine is titled «New Evolution of Dance,» which should sound familiar. The original «Evolution of Dance» was one of the first-ever viral videos on YouTube.
Dancer Jason Laipply uploaded a video of his 2001 performance in which he performed dance styles from various eras spanning the past 50 years of pop culture. This video has inspired hundreds of parodies and similar videos since, including the climax of the film Napoleon Dynamite.
It obviously inspired these kids, as they decided to update that video with their own unique spin. These kids take on dance crazes from the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and beyond.
It takes a lot of guts to do this sort of performance on prom night in front of your entire class, but one look at the grins on their faces tells you all you need to know about how much fun they are having. The more-than six-minute long performance features these kids bouncing, twirling, and flipping all over the stage, while their classmates groove right along with them.
In days of old, this performance might not have been seen beyond it’s initial performance or, if it did, it would have been on shaky, grainy video. However, thanks to this video, millions of people have seen their performance, and it will exist out here on the internet for years to come.
In five years, 10 years, or more, these kids will be able to go back and relive this moment. And the rest of us are lucky we got to share it with them.
Now that’s really a «night to remember.» Watch the performance and see if you can name all the dances they do!
