 A 2018 GIF of a man doing the floss | |
| Etymology | Back-and-forth movement is similar to the use of dental floss |
|---|---|
| Year | 2009s–present |
| Origin | United States |
The floss is a popular dance in which a person repeatedly swings their arms, with clenched fists, from the back of their body to the front, on each side. [1]
The name comes from the moves themselves, which involve "a lot of fast arms and hip swings as though using a huge, invisible piece of dental floss". [1]
The earliest instance of the dance being promoted on the internet was in a 2010 clip uploaded by the YouTube channel ryan mayall (MayAllLove13), in which Ryan mentioned that he learned the dance from Max Castillo and that Max Castillo learned it from someone else. In 2014 it was uploaded to YouTube by JStuStudios, run by content creators Justin Stewart and Andrew Scites. [2] Stewart and Scites have performed the dance in televised appearances, such as The Meredith Vieira Show . [3] Videos of the dance on social media achieved viral popularity after 14-year-old Russell Horning, known as "the backpack kid", performed the dance in an August 2016 video. [2] Horning was invited to participate in a live Saturday Night Live performance of Katy Perry's song "Swish Swish" in May 2017. [4] [5] It has since become a trend among children and younger teens, and has been performed by celebrities in videos. The floss has been featured in The Simpsons , Bluey , and in television shows airing on Universal Kids, Disney XD, and Disney Channel. [6] [7]
Flossing is featured in the 2017 video game Fortnite Battle Royale , developed and published by Epic Games, as a limited-time dance "emote" as a reward from the Battle Pass Season 2 that can be performed by the characters while playing. Flossing has become popular in schools due to the popularity of Fortnite [5] [7] and because of support from parents and administrators, as flossing can be seen as lacking the relative eroticism seen in other dance moves popular with young people. [8] In December 2018, Horning's mother filed a lawsuit against Epic Games for copyright infringement of the dance emote, the third such similar that Epic had seen. [9] Horning's suit against Epic resulted in Playground Games removing the dance emote in their 2018 racing video game Forza Horizon 4 via an update to avoid possible litigation against them. [10]
"Numa Numa" is an Internet meme based on a video by American vlogger Gary Brolsma made after the song "Dragostea Din Tei", released by Moldovan pop group O-Zone in 2003. Brolsma's video, entitled "Numa Numa Dance", was uploaded to the website Newgrounds on December 6, 2004 under the username Gman250, showing Brolsma's lip-syncing of the song with lively dance moves. The video's title is derived from the Romanian words "nu mă nu mă" occurring in the refrain of O-Zone's song, which was the first Numa Numa-themed video to gain widespread attention.
Alfonso Ribeiro is an American actor, comedian, singer, and television host. He is best known for his roles as Carlton Banks on the NBC sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Alfonso Spears on the sitcom Silver Spoons, and Maxwell Stanton on In the House. He is the current host of ABC's America's Funniest Home Videos, taking over for Tom Bergeron, who left after 15 years. Ribeiro has hosted the GSN game show Catch 21, the ABC Family show Spell-Mageddon, and the television show Dance 360. At the beginning of his career, he starred in the title role of the Broadway musical The Tap Dance Kid and later took part in the 13th season of the British reality show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. Ribeiro won season 19 of Dancing with the Stars with professional partner Witney Carson, then later became the co-host alongside Tyra Banks starting from season 31. Ribeiro has served as the main host of Dancing with the Stars alongside co-host Julianne Hough beginning with season 32 in 2023.
"Kids" is a song by American rock band MGMT. It was released as the third and final single from their debut studio album Oracular Spectacular (2007) on October 13, 2008. The version of the song that appears on Oracular Spectacular is updated from earlier versions that appear on the band's EPs Time to Pretend (2005) and We (Don't) Care (2004). A track entitled "Kids " appears on the album Climbing to New Lows (2005). At the 52nd Grammy Awards, it was nominated for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. The song was created to mock how effortlessly pop-music can be made, and first played, by then students, Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser, at an event at Wesleyan University in 2003.
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"Delorean Dynamite" is a song by Norwegian DJ Todd Terje. It was released as the third single from his debut studio album, It's Album Time, on 10 February 2014. A 12" vinyl version was released on 28 May 2014. A music video for the song was uploaded on Terje's YouTube channel. The song was featured on the soundtrack for the video game Forza Horizon 2.
"Turn the Music Louder (Rumble)" is a song recorded by British DJ KDA. It is a re-working of his instrumental hit "Rumble" and it features vocals from rapper Tinie Tempah and singer Katy B. The song was released as a digital download on 16 October 2015 by Ministry of Sound. The song was written by Tempah and Katy B and produced by KDA. On 23 October 2015, the song debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Tempah's seventh single to do so and KDA and Katy B's first. The song appeared on Katy B's third studio album Honey (2016), in a version without Tinie Tempah's vocals.
"Swish Swish" is a song by American singer Katy Perry featuring Trinidadian rapper Nicki Minaj from the former's fifth studio album Witness. The song was initially released as a promotional single on May 19, 2017, and later as the album's third single. The house-inspired EDM and hip hop song was written alongside Sarah Hudson, Starrah, producer Duke Dumont, and additional producer PJ "Promnite" Sledge, with Roland Clark receiving writing credits for the sampling of his song "I Get Deep", and Noah "Mailbox" Passovoy receiving additional and vocal production credits.
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