Why Gliding Still Amazes Us

You know it when you see it. A dancer magically moves across the floor as if his feet are gliding effortlessly on the surface. Millions have seen Michael Jackson do the moonwalk, or what we know as its original name - the backslide. Usher has dazzled a newer generation with glides like in his "U Got It Bad" video, after being trained by Flowmaster. There's something that catches the eye when we glide. It's a captivating illusion that's a crowd pleaser. A mainstream audience understands glides when they see them because they've seen some form of it in their youth or on television. So why does it still amaze us?

It's not human. We don't naturally travel across the ground that way. But there's deep desire inside of us that wants to believe that we're capable of doing more. Glides are like a superpower. When we do it, we feel like we're flying. We're not restricted by the normal pitter-patter pattern of our feet. And when we fly across the floor, we take the audience with us. It's the kind of movement that is very interactive when performed before an audience. They're vicariously experiencing your moment.

Perhaps gliding also underscore the illusional aspect of poppin'. It creates an aura around these dancers making us believe that magic can really happen. It brings out the child-like playfulness in all of us when we see it. And that connects us to an even deeper reason of why we love dancing. It allows us to play no matter what age we are.