On Campus

What is the Harlem Shake?

Canadian university students go crazy for dance meme

The Harlem Shake, a dance move popularized by New York DJ Baauer, may be the fastest-spreading meme on Canadian campuses… ever? The copycat YouTube videos have been made by everyone from a father-and-son duo to Norwegian soldiers, but few groups have moved for the cameras more than our own university students. Canadian students’ videos are racking up tens of thousands of views per day. The jig is simpler than Gangnam Style: one person, usually wearing a mask, flails around unnoticed until suddenly, through the miracle of editing, everyone joins in. So far Western University is leading in the competition for clicks at 170,000. But they’re about to face some challengers. More than 1,000 have signed up on Facebook for Wednesday’s taping at Brock University. More than 450 say they’ll attend at the University of British Columbia on Friday. At Queen’s University 1,200 have accepted the invitation. At the University of Toronto 700 have. At McGill it’s 500.

Western University’s, posted on Sunday, had 170,000 views by Monday.

The University of Guelph’s, posted Saturday, had 160,000 views.

This one, from Wilfrid Laurier University, has 100,000 views.

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