How a Viral Choreographer Makes His Moves | Sean Bankhead | TED

0:04 (Music: Victoria Monét "On My Mama")

2:56 (Music ends) (Cheers and applause)

3:09 Helen Walters: OK, alright.

3:12 You guys, we can't let him go without asking him some questions,

3:15 which is really unkind, given all of the dancing,

3:17 but here you are.

3:18 There's a microphone, my friend.

3:20 Sean Bankhead: Thank you.

3:21 Hi.

3:23 HW: Hi, Sean.

3:24 SB: How are you?

3:25 HW: I've never felt so cool adjacent.

3:27 (Laughter) SB: Thank you for having me, this is incredible.

3:31 HW: Come in the light.

3:33 (Cheers) SB: Let me wipe my sweat.

3:36 HW: That was ridiculous and amazing.

3:39 And a song by Victoria Monét.

3:41 Can you tell us about that choreography?

3:43 SB: Woo!

3:43 I'm going to catch my breath.

3:46 Thank you.

3:47 So myself and Victoria knew that we wanted to pay homage

3:52 to so many different things that have inspired us in pop culture:

3:56 HBCU culture, Black culture, college culture,

4:00 skate culture, even meme culture

4:03 and things that you see on Twitter

4:05 that are just really funny and memorable.

4:07 And we decided to make a kind of a mixing pot of a lot of different,

4:11 really cool things that have inspired us.

4:13 And that’s how “On My Mama” came about.

4:15 (Cheers) HW:

4:17 So would you say that that is a driving force in your work in general,

4:20 is trying to connect choreography to the current moment?

4:23 SB: One million percent.

4:24 I am standing here today

4:27 because of all the incredible choreographers and artists

4:29 that inspired me, back from Missy Elliott,

4:32 Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson,

4:34 Aaliyah, Usher.

4:35 And watching their music videos

4:38 gave me the tools and the inspiration

4:40 to try to keep carrying the torch of what's hot, what's new,

4:43 and making sure that dance and choreography

4:45 is still very prevalent in pop culture.

4:48 HW: So we should be clear, that video went super bonkers online.

4:52 So why do you think that some dance videos go viral?

4:57 SB: There's a couple things.

4:58 One, I think luck or God, thank you.

5:01 Still making things that are hot.

5:04 One thing, I think,

5:06 I always put 1,000 percent of my heart

5:09 and time and energy into anything I create.

5:12 So if I'm stepping into a project, I want to kill it.

5:15 I want to put 1,000 percent of myself into the project.

5:18 And people can feel heart, they can feel passion.

5:21 And I think it translates through the screen.

5:24 And I think another thing is,

5:26 oddly enough, the song is called "On My Mama,"

5:29 and I always love having at least one move or one groove

5:33 that my mama can do, in a video.

5:34 (Laughter) But I think it allows dancers and non-dancers alike to feel like,

5:41 "Oh, I like that move.

5:42 I can do that whenever the song comes on."

5:44 And I think it just translates.

5:46 It's catchy, it's trendy.

5:47 HW: Which move was it in that one?

5:50 (Laughter) I'm asking for your mum.

5:53 SB: Let's do this one.

5:54 HW: Oh no, no, let's not.

5:56 SB: Here we go, we could do this right here.

5:58 Real easy.

5:59 Step together, step together.

6:01 OK, step— (Laughter) That was amazing.

6:06 HW: That was really horrific, but thank you, I appreciate that.

6:09 Now tell us about your friends.

6:10 Your amazing friends.

6:12 SB: Oh, please, this next generation of incredible talent.

6:14 I've been watching these kids take my class.

6:17 Kimoni, Cam, Corey and Devonte.

6:21 Thank you guys for assisting me.

6:23 (Applause) (Cheers and applause)

6:30 Thank you guys, love you.

6:31 Thank you for showing up for me.

6:33 The next generation of dancers, choreographers from Atlanta.

6:36 Thank you for having me.

6:38 (Cheers and applause)