Anyone who has been on the internet in the last three weeks has come across the recent “Harlem Shake” video trend. The 30-second videos feature people dancing to the song “Harlem Shake” by Baauer. For the first 15 seconds, one person is dancing, often masked or costumed, then there is a jump cut which then features many other people dancing, some of them also costumed or masked. “Dancing” in these videos is loosely interpreted, as many people are simply thrashing their arms and legs or humping other people or objects (for confirmation, check out Columbia’s own version here.)
However, the name “Harlem Shake” first belonged to a dance that originated in Harlem in 1981. The original Harlem Shake is a rhythmic dance that mainly features shoulder movements. The recent trend began in early February and continued gaining popularity. A video was shot and published on YouTube on February 18, 2013 titled “Harlem Reacts to ‘Harlem Shake’ Videos.” In this video, the more recent viral videos were shown to members of the Harlem community and their response to it. The popular videos were met with confusion, disgust, outrage and offense. “That’s not the Harlem Shake,” most people commented. One young man in the video commented “That’s West 4th street dancing… Nobody in Harlem would do that.”
The Black Heritage Month Committee (BHMC) recorded a video of Columbia students doing the real Harlem Shake for the Generation eXodus Fashion Show on February 24, 2013. When asked for her response to the recent Harlem Shake videos Reni Benson (CC ’15) responded, “I think these videos are funny but as an appropriation of black culture I have to frown on it. Simply because people are now forgetting that there is an actual Harlem Shake.” When “harlem shake” is searched on Google or YouTube, the most popular results are of the recent “dance” and not the original Harlem Shake, except for an urban dictionary post. Briana Rice (CC ’14) commented that some of the really sexual Harlem Shake videos that feature humping can give the impression that people in Harlem are also really sexual. Benson and Rice worry about how these videos will provide a misconstrued representation of Harlem.
On the other side of the fence is Jasmine Sudarkasa (CC ’13), the student who organized the Fashion Show and the Harlem Shake video shoot. Sudarkasa says that before the Harlem Shake trend started she wanted to record a video of the real Harlem Shake set in and featuring props from Harlem. She doesn’t see the recent videos as cultural appropriation because now “people all over the world have a concept of Harlem … and if the location is furthered, even if it’s not the way [one would] expect, [she] appreciates it.” For the recent Harlem Shake videos, Sudarkasa sees it as a starting point to build on black culture. In Sadarkasa’s perspective, people have taken the Harlem shake and appropriated it, but not negatively.
The Harlem Shake used to inspire a sense of pride in the members of the Harlem community. Now, most people associate the Harlem Shake with the silly, or funny, or crazy internet trend that displaced the original. The kids of this generation are unfamiliar with the original Harlem Shake. It is easy to see why the admirers of the original Harlem Shake would be offended or even disappointed with the new trend. But in a society that is constantly moving away from meaning and towards entertainment, is this surprising?