Why are people doing interpretive dances to get what they want? Inside the viral trend

What would you do to get what you want? Would you, for example, perform an interpretive dance for potentially millions to see?

A recent TikTok trend sees creators, often women, asking the men in their lives to dance in order to have their wishes granted.

And, oh — do the men dance.

The trend began when Alana Hackman, 22, had plans with her roommate to have a girl’s night in. But her roommate’s boyfriend wanted to hang out with them and stay the night.

Hackman’s roommate said the decision was up to Hackman.

She came up with an out-of-the-box solution: Hackman said that if he performed an interpretive dance, then he could stay over.

“We let him back inside, and he started to do it,” Hackman tells TODAY.com. “But then I was like, ‘No, I have to record a TikTok. This is going to be so funny.’”

Hackman uploaded the video to TikTok with the words "making my roommate’s boyfriend perform an interpretive dance in order to spend the night" atop the footage of him dancing.

The video went viral, racking up over 27 million views and sparking a trend.

In spinoff videos, husbands are dancing to watch football, play Fortnite or go golfing. Dads are dancing for brownies or to change the channel. Sisters are dancing to borrow clothes. Dogs are (unwittingly) dancing for dinner.

Some creators have flipped the camera on themselves, performing their own interpretive dance to get their husband to do something for them, like watch “27 Dresses” or buy them dinner.

There are re-creations of Hackman's video, too – women asking their boyfriends, or their roommates' boyfriends, to dance to spend the night. And there are also mold-breaking videos. In a hospital-set snippet, one woman asked her husband to dance to distract her from labor contractions.

“I knew that it was going to go crazy on TikTok — it hit all the boxes,” Hackman says. “But I had no idea I was going to get 4.7 million likes. That was crazy. I think the trend is funny. I like people’s takes on it and how they’re interpreting it.”

Hackman says she has received some negative comments from men who took her video a little too seriously, questioning why she got to decide if her roommate’s boyfriend stays over or not.

It’s “just so funny to me,” she says, brushing it off. To her, the video was the mark of intimacy.

“Just having that relationship with your friends’ partners or significant others — I think it creates more light-heartedness, instead of feeling like it has to be separate from your home life. I think it’s cool. Women should make men dance more,” she says.

The trend is set to the song “Laterals” by Fat Coda Studios, found on the album “Music for Modern Dance Class.” The song doesn't contain lyrics but is full of bongos and an upbeat tempo, allowing creators to dance freely.

Hackman found the beat on TikTok thanks to dancer Shelby Dorminy, 26, who originally uploaded the song to TikTok when she posted a video of her performing a modern dance in 2023.

After the trend took off, with over 19,000 videos using the song, Dorminy posted another TikTok, writing, “Not sure if we are making fun of me or not. But I’m here for it regardless.”

Dorminy clarified to TODAY.com that she doesn’t “necessarily think they’re making fun” of her, she just finds it funny that her video’s sound was used since it was “from so long ago.”

“It was definitely not poking fun at (Dorminy), because I’ve been doing dance my whole life,” Hackman says. “I guess from an outside perspective, some people can find the style of that type of dancing a little strange. But, no, I thought she was killing it in her video.”

Dorminy plans to try out the trend herself.

“I think it’s awesome,” she says. “I plan to make my boyfriend do it at some point, if I can convince him. I think it’s also nice to spread awareness about modern dance, because there’s not a lot of people that know about that type of dancing.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com