Wednesday Dance (The Addams Family)

About

The Wednesday Dance or Wednesday Addams Dance refers to two scenes in which the character Wednesday Addams from The Addams Family dances: one from the original 1966 series (portrayed by Lisa Loring) and one from the 2022 Netflix series Wednesday (portrayed by Jenna Ortega). The original scene became the subject of memes throughout the 2010s as people set it to various music. In 2022, the scene of Wednesday dancing in a goth dress then inspired a dance trend on TikTok in which users copy the dance.

Origin

On April 1st, 1966, season two episode 29 of The Addams Family^[1] premiered. In the episode, Wednesday Addams, played by Lisa Loring, tries to teach Lurch how to dance the Watusi so he can be cool and impress his crush. The scene was uploaded to YouTube^[2] on May 18th, 2011 by CalvinJohns and garnered over 1.1 million views in 11 years.

On June 27th, 2012, YouTuber^[3] Angelbyshaggy uploaded the first known video setting the clip to another song, using "Hard In Da Paint" by Waka Flocka. The video garnered over 46,000 views in 10 years.

2022 Wednesday Addams Dance Scene

On November 23rd, 2022, Wednesday, a spinoff of The Addams Family centered around Wednesday Addams, premiered on Netflix. In the fourth episode, Wednesday (played by Jenna Ortega) attends a school dance at Nevermore with Tyler. In the scene, she dances to "Goo Goo Much" by The Cramps in an elaborate way (shown below). The scene was first uploaded by YouTuber^[4] EDGAR RENTØN that day, garnering over 3.2 million views in two days.

Spread

Throughout the mid-2010s, several videos setting the original 1966 scene to new songs were uploaded to YouTube. Some of the most viewed videos use gothic-sounding songs over the scene. On July 26th, 2015, YouTuber^[5] gabogoblin posted a video that sets the scene to "The Blitzkrieg Bop" by The Ramones, garnering over 14 million views in seven years (shown below). On October 22nd, YouTuber^[6] Greg Gioia set the video to a James Brown song, garnering over 200,000 views in the same rough span of time.

2022 Wednesday Dance TikTok Trend

The Wednesday dance scene gained viral spread following its premiere in late November 2022, including a November 23rd repost to Twitter^[7] that garnered over 2.7 million views and 36,000 likes in six days. Also on November 23rd, the TV Guide YouTube channel posted a video interviewing Ortega about the scene, garnering over 356,000 views in six days (shown below). In the interview, Ortega says the dance moves were inspired by the performances of Siouxsie and the Banshees, videos of goth kids dancing in clubs and Bob Fosse.

On November 24th, 2022, TikToker^[8] @n0gitsxne.backup posted an edit of the scene setting it to a sped-up version of the song "Bloody Mary" by Lady Gaga, garnering over 28 million views in five days (shown below).

The original sound for @n0gitsxne.backup's video became popularized over the following days as TikTokers posted videos doing versions of the dance themselves. On November 26th, TikToker^[9] @clairementfrr did the dance, garnering over 4.7 million views in three days (shown below, left). On November 27th, TikToker^[10] @emilymeding did a version of the dance, garnering over 14 million views in two days (shown below, right).

On November 28th, 2022, TikToker^[11] @konni___ posted a video doing the dance in Wednesday cosplay while standing in front of the TV as the scene plays, garnering over 19 million views in a day (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References