This move first emerged in the Jazz dance era as a side to side move that could be paired with the Charleston.
Eventually, the Happy Feet was re-adapted by House and Hip Hop dancers to involve a jumping motion that could work with fast-paced club music.
Watch the move demonstrated here:
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If you’re more of a reader, keep scrolling and follow along with the steps below!
How to do the Happy Feet
- First, you’re gonna start bouncing to the beat with a focus on bouncing upward on each beat rather than downward. Think “lift, lift, lift, lift” as each beat hits.
- Now let’s add in the steps. First, you're going to bring your right foot out, turning your right toes to the right corner of the room and lifting the toes off the ground so only your heel is on the floor. Then, turn your left foot inward, so your left toes are also pointed toward the right, but instead of lifting the toes, lift your left heel so only the toes are touching the floor. Once you’ve got both feet pointed and lifted to the right, you’ve officially created the main “picture” with your body that makes up this move.
- Next, you’re going to try jumping into this picture. This time, when the beat hits, you’re gonna jump up and land in the picture you’ve just practiced – toes pointed right, right toes up, left heel up. Practice jumping into the picture several times.
- After you have the jump and point to the right motion down, practice doing the same thing to the left side. You should jump and land with your toes pointed left, left toes up, right heel up.
- Now, try jumping straight to the right and straight to the left, without coming to a neutral position at all. You should be doing “jump right, jump left, jump right, jump left” to the beat. As you do this, you can allow your arms to naturally swing, and turn your head whichever way your feet are pointing.
All done!
If you’re feeling confident with the right and left version of this move, you can also try another variation where you jump forward and back.
Use the video above as a reference!
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