About

Face Dancing or Facedancing refers to the practice of rhythmically moving and expressing your face in highly exaggerated ways, often while lip-syncing to the beat of a song, as if making your face dance.

In 2017, the Face Dance Challenge app, a game in which participants are asked to strike specific faces to the tune of a song, went viral on social media in Asia. The practice of face dancing outside of the app became increasingly popularized in 2020, with one of the most prominent examples being the M to the B video by TikToker and influencer Bella Poarch.

Face dancing was further popularized on social media throughout the 2020s and is related to the similar trend of "wordchewing" or "word chewing." In August 2026, TikToker Miny Naranja's face-dancing videos went viral online, inspiring discourse about face dancing.

Origin

The exact origins of face dancing are unclear, but the earliest references to it date back to at least late 2017.

In August 2017, a face-dancing challenge held through the Face Dance Challenge app went viral on Asian social media sites. The challenge is a rhythm game where a player must make given faces as a song plays.

In 2020, face dancing began to grow in popularity on social media. One early example was posted on May 22nd, 2020, by TikToker^[1] @reitergrace, garnering over 12,000 likes in six years.

Spread

Face dancing became increasingly popularized throughout the 2020s. On August 17th, 2020, influencer Bella Poarch did a face-dancing video known as the "M to the B video." The video has since been deleted, but purportedly gained over 500 million views before it was deleted.^[2]

TikToker @minynaranja became one of the most notable face dancers throughout the 2020s. On October 28th, 2022, she posted her most popular face-dancing video on TikTok,^[3] garnering over 43 million views in four years.

On May 2nd, 2025, TikToker^[4] @abbyvatterott posted a video doing face dancing, garnering over 2.2 million views in a year.

On August 24th, 2026, X^[5] user @ElMichalito posted a clip of Miny Naranja performing at a party, writing, "For God's sake, how UNCOMFORTABLE this video makes me feel, I don't understand how there are people who dedicate themselves to doing this," gaining over 18,000 likes in a week.

On August 25th, X^[6] user @DTM_Woodworks quoted the video, defending it, writing, "I don’t understand the hate for this girl. Apparently 'face dancing' is a thing now and she is really good at it. She’s performing for a group of kids and has 1.6 mil followers on Instagram. If it’s not your thing, don’t watch it. Let her do her thing," garnering over 2,300 likes in a week.

The subreddit /r/Wordchewing,^[7] which was started in 2022, is made to post videos that are comparable to face dancing, with the practice having significant overlap in face-dance content.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References