Salif Lasource moon walking in Paris

This post pulls together under the rubric "American cultural hegemony." American performing artists are appreciated, admired, emulated and used globally. America's black rappers music, their beats, their language are copied globally in ways that are simply astounding.

American rap style and British street cred with its Socialist conceits is hilarious. It just doesn't work.

Actually, it goes back and forth. Decades before Michael Jackson developed his moonwalk for Billie Jean, I saw Marcel Marceau do the same move in a performance about closing a window in a wind storm. An electric fan offscreen is blowing chiffon curtains and Marceau is apparently blown backward while walking forward to close the window. Turns out Jackson did work with Marceau. Aha!

But now they're both dead and it is Michael Jackson who has influenced Salif Lasource in Paris. American creativity continues to influence. And it is other American rappers who have influenced Lasource's dance style and it's nothing at all the sort of moves you see on American stages and in the rap videos made for the songs. It's actually adorably attractive. I find the sign language elements especially intriguing.

Earlier tonight I looked for the 1Million K-pop studio recording of Jason Derulo's "Wiggle" with Snoop Dog. Here a black rap artist inspires Korean dance moves. The choreographer, Bongyoung Park, decided to demonstrate the dance wearing high heels. 

I showed this before. I think. It's a mind-blowing interpretation. The original was taken down most likely for copyright issues. But the original was saved by another YouTuber and uploaded again. The comments to this video show that viewers are as impressed as I am. Even more so. Their comments are bombastic. They say, "This video made me gay" and "how to get pregnant" that sort of thing. Most are women impressed he can dance in heels where most commenters cannot even walk in them.

In this video after the first performer, Bongyoung, other students follow his moves. Each team does the same moves. Two more young men led by a woman are all wearing heels and attempting the same raw sexuality. They're all very good. Then a team of women wearing regular shoes. Then two males dancing as males. And they're all hot as h-e-double Roman candlesticks.

But notice, when Bongyoung liquidly drops to the floor he nearly kicks the back of his head with his shoe heel, while all the other dancers that follow him do not back-kick nearly that dramatically. And they don't finish by pulling their bodies up onto a one arm pose like mercury, then rise up back onto their heels languidly as a swan in defiance of gravity. The moves really are outstanding.

The cross-cultural inspiration just doesn't stop.

A girl in comments to Bongyoung's video says, "Doesn't anyone else think Bongyoung looks like Kuroo Tetsuro (an anime character)? 

Another asks what is the style of his haircut.

So even hair cuts are inspiring other haircuts. "I want my hair cut like Bongyoung in the Wiggle video." 

At this point in comments the uploader to the saved video answers, "Here it is." The anime video of the character Kuroo Tetsuro dancing like Bongyoung in women's high heels.

So, an American rap artist inspired Bongyoung who inspired a studio of students to copy him, and inspired an anime artist to have their character dance as Bongyoung does.

The comments to the anime video are outrageous. Many don't know where this dance comes from. All they know is their favorite anime character is dancing as a female wearing high heels.