The Harlem Shake meme exploded online last week, as a video maker named Filthy Frank took an infectious beat created by a producer named Baauer and invented a kooky dance sequence.
UPDATE: The Epic Reads team at HarperCollins posted a publisher edition of the Harlem Shake today, bringing the dance craze to a major publishing house (embedded above).
Videomakers around the globe took the same 30-second clip from the song, choreographing surreal dances in everyday locations, including firemen, office workers and an entire news team.
Below, we’ve collected a few other literary video takes on the viral video phenomenon. We would love to see more literary participation, perhaps in a large-scale library performance, a big bookstore dance or even an Amazon warehouse ballet.
We have already uncovered a few examples of librarian patrons doing the Harlem Shake, but our favorite was the West Point Library edition of the dance.
In the video embedded below, grad student and YouTube fan Grace posted a Harlem Shake video as a sleepy student’s dream sequence.
Oregon State students turned a classroom into a disco, interrupting a lecture with the Harlem Shake.
Three young men performed a public library edition of the Harlem Shake. Warning: this video contains some dancing in tight pink underwear.
If you are upset that we forced you to listen to club music on a Monday morning, then you will most certainly appreciate this version…