Origin of the Backslide/Moonwalk | 1930-1983 

Facts

Makes you wonder if like 13,000 years ago there was some Mesopotamian dance tribe that figured out this s*** on a sandy stone floor...

Absolutely

Eclesiastes 1:9

Facts

Even more ironic, watching this clip again I realized that Jeffrey Daniel is also dancing to a MJ song called Lovely one.

Maybe not even a coincidence, probably how Michael took notice of the dance move.

@@RABS23 That Eclipse dance routine is also where some of MJ's inspiration for the Thriller dance came from, too, and some moves in Beat It. Recognise the Thriller slide/head crank move. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6McuBTJy4Gk.html

Lol I said this exact statement to myself right before I read this comment

So they inspired each other 😜😂

There were a lot of song and dance men in major movies that did this dance like Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. Even Buddy ebsen who played grandpa on the clampetts or Beverly hillbillies. When Jackson first did this performance, apparently Buddy ebsen said that's nothing new we've been doing this for 45 years. Suit to him and tell those people above it was not anything new when they saw it but everybody thought buddy was crazy

Smoothest I've seen for sure. What a guy!

MJ named, it popularized it, and perfected it along with a shit load of other dances

The same thing happened with rap music. Most believe it started in New York in the 70s, but it actually started down south in the Church decades before that. Look up the Jubalaires. They were a Florida group rapping in the 40s and 50s.

bruh MJ named, it popularized it, and perfected it

@@janepatton8100 MJ revolutionized music and dance

😂 this isn't history, it's opinion. Charlie Chaplin did this. Michael admitted that he learned it from watching Charlie.

Yeah Jeffrey said he modified it by stretching out the strides and covering more ground. No one was doing it like that b4

Met Shabba Doo early 70's doing the moonwalk,robot and locking. He was also a soul train dancer planting west coast flavor pre Hip HOP in Brooklyn! Bed Stuy Do or Die!

WOW ! Thanks for the clarification 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

To call Michael a legend is a severe understatement, he's literally the goat bruh MJ named, it popularized it, and perfected it

Michael turbo Chambers did it best after Jeffrey. Chambers taught Mike the sideways moonwalk, widen the strides and doing it in place. Jeffrey taught him to do it in a circle and backwards

@AC-mp7cx How the hell could he perfect it, if he doesn't do it the best? Make it make sense.

yessir

Check out Bob fosse in Little Prince 1974, Mj took more than 50% of mannerism and moves from him.

@@brownm.r1981 Bob Fosse seldomly gets any credit.

@@brownm.r1981 You are 100% correct!

Si ,l ha sempre detto... Forever Michael ❤️

Boogaloo Shrimp had the best backslide, he could do it on concrete with nike trainers

Yes, but MJ make the move famous around the world. No one before him did it.

MJ always said he didn't invent it. He made it better.

Nobody thought that. Michael himself said he learnt it from Charlie.

Ohhhh please.... He lied and claimed it as his own created dance. But you can find this move in 1930, 1940's Bill Bailey.

@@paulaoyedele2081 not true

@@paulaoyedele2081child pleeeeease.

​@@paulaoyedele2081he didn't learn that from Bill Bailey. That lil 5 second stint was nothing

@@paulaoyedele2081Wrong. He never claimed that as his own dance. He said it himself thay he learnt the moves from Charlie. Stop spreading misinformation

bruh MJ named, it popularized it, and perfected it

In the UK we only had 3 channels, so when Jeffrey Daniels debuted the backslide on Top Of The Pops, half the nation was in awe. The show got so many letters asking for him to return just to dance again, and it gave Shalimar their biggest UK hit.

bruh MJ named, it popularized it, and perfected it

@@AC-mp7cx 😂😂😂🤡

​@@AC-mp7cx Perfected it? He didn't even do it the best.

​@@sydboski MJs style was the best

@@mohammadsufian7890 Maybe white people called backslide in 79 who knows, i have 59 now and my grandfather used to tell me people did this on he's ancient days and that this was "the floating" and kids on the streets were doing this here and there, so i bet you anything this didnt start on France. And yes, some few people can think MJ was not the best on the moonwalk as much as they want but the other 99% of people on the planet do not share the same view you guys have about this, so you guys not liking MJ moves is really not a big deal i guess.

bruh MJ named, it popularized it, and perfected it you're also brain dead if you think they came close to him

Tell the truth, but know disrespect to M. J though.

@@roxannemiller6961 no disrespect intended!!! 😇. Originals alot of times do it better tjan someone who is inspired by it. MJ is a master in his own right for so many reasons... INCLUDING HIS SPIN/TAKE on this dance.

@@niclu "inspired" lol you mean he copied it ripped it off lol

No, MJ saw someone else do it, wanted to learn it, learned it and called it the "Moonwalk" and had people thinking he created it.

@@thedarkstranger963 he never claimed e created it dumbass

@@joshdaboss2365 Joshdabitch: I didn't post MJ claimed to have invented the dance. Put down the crack pipe and try to read correctly.

@@thedarkstranger963 yeah but you implied it you dumbo.

The camel walk is not the same move as the backslide.

Amen to King Solomon

Imo MJ being first on a World Stage is what made it popular more so than it being him. Had it been Prince (or James Brown in his day) under the exact same circumstances the dance would have become just as popular. Similar to Chubby Checker & the Twist.

Just accept the fact that history of the moonwalk origin was brought to you and stop being too debating about it.

Exactly

@@kyngizymusic6390 I get what you're saying. But when did it become "too debating" just to share thoughts and express opinions?

Dude,I learned how to Backslide /Moonwalk from a Mine in New York in 1977,No doubt M.J. Put the dance move on the world stage,But that same move was being done when M.J.’s granddad was a kid.And will still be done past his grandkids days.As a Veteran Break Dancer,I can tell you the move wasn’t a secret.Some of us could do it.But some couldn’t.And if M.J.hadn’t done it in 83,The Break Dance craze would have put it on the map for sure.M.J. also had Jeffrey choreograph some of his best known dance videos,and last I knew,Jeffrey still dancing around the world.Win,win situation.

Dis you & I watch the same clip of jefferey Daniel group those guys were way smoother love MIKE and no doubt the greatest entertainer of all time but MIKE said a zillion he watched and learned many a dance from the innovative BLACK DANCERS OF THE SOUL TRAIN ERA and as we see it goes further back then that its called evolution and Jefferey also said when he worked with MIKE that he loves to practice to perfection / so the love & respect for each others craft was mutual /

bruh MJ named, it popularized it, and perfected it

MJ was a better dancer than anyone ron paizley use your brain please He influenced soul train since he was on it since the early 70s

@@AC-mp7cx 😂😂😂😂🤡

@@Johnny-667 I was thinking the same thing about AC lol

MJ named, it popularized it, and perfected it along with a shit load of other dances

@@AC-mp7cx uh huh?

MJ named, it popularized it, and perfected it along with a shit load of other dances

bruh MJ named, it popularized it, and perfected it

Yes! Thank you! The dance move is called backslide, I don't know why, but it irritates me a little, when people call it moonwalk, 'cause it isn't it's true name.

James Brown an Fred Astaire did not do the move.

Yeah some of them did in own way Jeffrey and turbo did it in ice skating way .mj did it in mall escalator watery way in it all on the knees and the shoes how u do it

@@tavwilliam9367 not sure I follow your comment. There is no way "to do it", it's a evaluation of a move. It's not MJ move

@@RomboutVersluijs basically man all of them had different feels how they did the moon walk .I'm a dancer myself. Other wrds one person might do it fast. And the other one might do it slow. Tbh mj stamp the move. So anyone do it now u automatically think of Michael Jackson.

I know. It was common by the time Michael did it, but it was exciting because Michael did it. Ya know??

@@monember2722 Actually, it wasn't common until after he did it, that's why most assumed he invented it.

@@janepatton8100 I argue that it was common. B boys, poplockers, (however you want to categorize street style dancing in the early 80s) regularly did it. Michael perhaps expanded the audience.

@@monember2722 That's not "common"... 🤔. A thing isn't common if it's unique to a specific demographic (young pop lockers), of a specific minority group (black people). "Common" is pop culture. MJ introduced it to pop culture (all racial/ethnic groups), thereby making it "common".

@@janepatton8100 if the move is common among the population that created it and commonly seen by those who observed them, then it is a common move among those who would dance that type of dance. Even today, non street style dance does not incorporate the backslide and it is not now nor was it practiced outside of that narrow style. It might be more well know because of Michael, but the move was commonly practiced prior to him doing it on national tv. The fun fact was that Michael did a cool street move.

This is just a clip it because there are long dancing scenes in those old Golden era Hollywood song and dance movies where Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly or Buddy ebsen or whoever it may be are doing the basic mashup and what we call moondance. Cat dancers would generally incorporate this into their work. Everybody knows MJ was a student of old school Hollywood. He was absolutely fascinated with what they call the Golden era. That's why he was so fascinated with people like Elizabeth Taylor and was a good friend of his. He was also influenced by people from Motown obviously. James Brown would do the mashup. The press saw it and ran with it. Have you ever heard the cliche what's old is new and what's new is old? There's nothing new under the Sun. It's all been done before. Does that mean Eminem is not a guest in the house of hip Hop anymore? Hahaha

it wasnt even a matter of perfecting it, its more of when someone famous does it then it becomes more popular.

It's actually from the late 2000s-2010s, I put 1975 as it's a documentation of the man's statement. Sadly I have found no 1975 footage of him.

Aprenderam com Marcel Marceou

It goes back farther than Bill Baily. Tappers had that move down long before that.... the tap shoe with those silky smooth floors.... it was almost to easy for the athletic types. Michael came along at the right time in the right venue to pull it out again. Glad he did. And he did it without tap shoes.

It's even possible that an unknown everyday Sam dreamt up the idea, and Bo Jangles, or Bill Bailey picke it up and ran with it.

The clip isn't from 1975, but if you listen to what he says he's refering to the year of 1975 of when he and his dance group first did the Backslide (as some people claim the Electric Boogaloos did it first in 1979 on Soul Train). That's why I put 1975, it's a documentation/proof of reference, and is not refering to the year the actual video clip was filmed.

It takes muscle memory to master that move. You can tell he had just started doing it.

He mastered it by the bad tour tho

At twilight skating rink in pleasant Grove😂

He didn't rename it. People just started calling it that.

@@ddjmfan He did. It was previously called the back slide.

​@@ddjmfan it was known as backslide for many years before MJ renamed it

So what there dancers not singers so much of 70s & 80s styles came from the SOULTRAIN dancers MIKE like eveyone else was a fan of the soultrain Dancers he said he was Jeffery Dance all the time even before Jeffery and jody Watley ( also a soul train dAncer )were a part the groups Shalamar !!!

Also named the dance

he didnt originate a single dance move

Rockin' Robbin also was originally by Bobby Day in the 1950s which Jackson 5 later sang. I also theorise that ABC may have been inspired by a great group in the 50s "Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers" (one of my favorite 50s bands), who sang a song called "ABCs of love", which has a similar ring to it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kTFSfqOeK54.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vJJZ5117-K0.html

Yea but he didnt invent it he just copied it and changed it he just happened to be a huge worldwide pop star which is why it became more famous.

El ponerse de puntillas se lo copió a Elvis Presley.