The author of the Jumpstyle entry insists that widespread popularization of the dance is due to sharing of online videos.
The Soulja Boy dance spread via video sharing and that's just a solid fact. Soulja Boy's popularity grew out of a viral video before getting any professional advertising or record contract. It started out as a legitimate viral spread.
The Charleston spread back in the 1920's, well before their was any sort of internet to speak of.
Popping started in the 70's.
C-Walking became widespread in other media prior to the internet. Breakdancing as well.
I don't know anything about soukous but Wikipedia does a pretty good job of tracing its history from the 1930's through the 60's through the 90's to today.
The Melbourne Shuffle I think is questionable. It states that the dance had been around since the 80's which makes me think the internet's part it it's popularity is less relevant.
The low volume of search interest makes me think that it hasn't really broken into any new audience outside of the one that existed prior to the internet.
And the similarities between The MB shuffle and Jumpstyle make me question the Jumpstyle article as well.
If Jumpstyle really did become a widespread phenomenon prior to the internet, then we may have to revoke its "Confirmed" status.
Now I don't know the definite origins of Jumpstyle, but according to the article it really took off in 2006. Google Insights also supports that idea.
http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=jumpstyle&cmpt=q
Google insights also shows that searches for Jumpstyle came primarily from The Netherlands.
I think we can take for granted that the style of dance emerged from what was happening in real life in the clubs and other parties, but for how long prior to its presence online?
There have been rave forums and music forums for at least the last 15 years, and probably much longer. But ever since video sharing has become widespread, dances have become a piece of culture that spread much further and quicker than before, especially those set to electronic music. In fact, many of the events where people will happen to come in contact with these specific styles of dance are found out about both online and in real life; through both web forums as much as flyers at record stores.
Jumpstyle is just one of those dances that's part of a real life scene that has becomes widespread much quicker because of online communities.
Regardless of the fact that a dance originates IRL, the idea and form of the dance spread to larger audience because of online interactions. In cases where the dance is new and the dancers are among the internet savvy, the dance spreads both IRL and online simultaneously.
But it's not like people are seeing the dance in TV and movies. It's grassroots. Many people can come into contact with the dance for the first time by viewing it online. Some become compelled to create their own Jumpstyle videos, adding their own unique style, while others may not even partake in the dance, but go on to still have conversations about the subject. The meme spreads. From a cultural anthropology standpoint, the dance of a culture is a big point of interest. So if a dance finds new audiences online, it becomes relevant as the dance of a certain slice of online communities.
Google Trends actually does a pretty good job at illustrating the relevance of the dances mentioned.
Light Blue: jumpstyle,
Red: melbourne shuffle
Orange: breakdancing
Green: C-walk
Dark Blue: "the Charleston"
light blue: jumpstyle
red: crank dat
orange: lean wit it
green: macarena
dark blue: waltz
I think it's pretty clear when the trend is spreading virally, and when it's a long-established cultural fixture. Breakdancing, C-Walk, the Charleston, the Macarena, and The Waltz are all dances that are no longer spreading. They get traffic from their core audiences. Meanwhile, Jumpstyle, Crank Dat, and to a lesser extent the Melbourne shuffle all experienced fast rises in popularity online, growing to popularity outside of their initial audiences.
I threw "Lean wit it" in their because it's another recent fad dance that was born of a professionally produced song that got radio airplay, music videos on TV, and plenty of online advertising and parody videos. But the popularity was more advertising than grassroots.
So that's really the main question then. Did Jumpstyle take off overnight because of a music video that gets repeated 10 times a day, reaches a Billboard top 10 list and owes it's popularity to an artist or record lable? Or is it something that people just started doing, put online, and turned it into a viral sensation?
