My name is Corey Vidal

and in this video I am going to teach you how to dance like Michael Jackson.

I'm going to show you the moonwalk and a series of other very signature Michael Jackson moves

that he tends to use in most of his videos

and then at the end of the video, I'm going to show you a little combo

which kind of ties together a few of the moves

which you can then use to dance to any of your favourite Michael Jackson songs.

Now, to prevent your from watching any of the parts of this video that you don't really want to learn,

I'm going to put an annotation in the top right corner there

and it's going to show the times in this video where I teach those moves.

So if you want to, you can click along the YouTube timeline below us

and just jump to whatever time and whatever move it is you want to see.

So with that in mind, I think we should go ahead and get started!

Alright, so the move I'm going to teach you first is the move that

everybody's watching this video for anyways

and that's how to do the moonwalk

but I'm going to divide it up into two parts.

Part 1 is going to be how to do the moonwalk on the spot, not moving

and Part 2 is going to be how to do the moonwalk moving backwards travelling across the floor.

The reason I'm teaching it to you this way is

because you can figure out the moonwalk, you can kind of

learn the theory, while not moving

to kind of perfect what your body's doing and the way you're doing it

whereas when you're moving backwards, you can more focus on

the entertainment and the performance of it.

So, let me start off by explaining two things.

1: at no point do either foot (does either feet?) leave the ground

both feet are touching the floor at all times

and 2: one foot is always up

the other foot is always down.

Now, you're going to have to think about this very carefully

the weight and balance of your body is going to be transferring between both legs as you move

but the weight is going to be the complete opposite of what you'd expect.

For example, when I'm standing here naturally

my body puts all of my weight on my flat foot which is currently my left leg

because that's the most comfortable to stand on.

You need to mentally decide to put all of your weight on the foot that's

pointing and push yourself into the ground with that foot.

The reason that is, is because it's the point of foot that doesn't move,

it's the flat foot that slides backwards.

Then you switch your feet, but we'll get into that later.

So, one foot is pointed, all of your weight is on it,

that lets you move the flat foot, and while doing the moonwalk on the spot

what you want to do is slide the foot back and then as you're doing it,

slowly lower this foot, slowly bring it flat.

So you're here, this is sliding, and this slowly goes lower and lower and lower

until it's flat, and you're going to want to flatten both of them

when you're about a step apart.

So something like that.

So then what you do is after you have flattened both feet,

you pick up your back foot, bring it back up again to where you are, put it down.

When you put it down, don't put flat, put it at a point.

So to show you:

slide

step

With the point:

slide here.

And the reason you go into the point is because with the point

you are now going to slide this flat foot,

your feet have switched, put all of your weight on your left leg,

and you slide this one back. Point.

Here, here, here

it's the moonwalk on the spot.

So, practise that.

I don't want to over-explain it.

I mean, it's simple.

You're going to learn more as we learn doing the moonwalk backwards.

But seriously, practise this for a while so you can do it

and you'll see this foot kind of kicks up and it's very soft,

there's not a lot of sharp movements, it's very fluid

and it actually looks best if you're looking straight ahead.

Alright, so now that you've learned how to do the moonwalk on the spot,

I'm going to teach you how to do the moonwalk while travelling.

You have to watch this previous video to know what's going on here.

So you put your weight on the point of foot,

slide the other foot back, but before, when we were doing the moonwalk on the spot

this foot was slowly lowering while this foot went back

now you're not going to do that.

Now it needs to be less fluid and more of a snap.

Let me show you what I mean.

This is pointed, this goes back,

this is still pointed, then: snap.

And now, all of your weight needs to be on that back pointed foot

which is very hard and very uncomfortable.

But, you're going to put your weight here, and you're going to slide this foot back.

So then your foot, you're a step behind

swap them again.

Flat foot slides back,

and then swap, flat foot slides back.

Now I'm falling as I do this because you're not supposed to do the moonwalk that slow.

When you're actually doing it, the momentum is going to

prevent you from falling because your momentum's going to be pushing you backwards.

So if you come here and you have a pointed foot,

you go slide snap, slide snap, slide snap,

snap, snap, snap.

As you can see, my moonwalk doesn't look very good.

Why is that? How do you make the moonwalk better?

Well, you have to remember a few things.

One is that Michael Jackson is the king of pop

and one of the best entertainers and dancers of all time.

He spent his entire career perfecting his moonwalk

on top of that, there is money being poured into him,

the shoes he is wearing, the stage he is on,

is all optimized for dancing and performing.

I am on a concrete floor in my parents' basement

because I am super cool like that.

So, how do you make your moonwalk look better?

Well, there is a

"cheaters" moonwalk.

I don't know what the technical term is, but that's what I call it

and it's actually the moonwalk that I normally do

anytime I'm dancing or performing.

Instead of going all the way onto the point

and trying to put all of your weight on there

Michael Jackson's wearing a very certain type of penny loafer which

allows him to do that very easily.

This is hard, so instead of going on the point

go on the ball of your foot.

So you're kind of bending your toes backwards

but you're putting your toes and that fleshy part of your foot all the way on the ground.

You only go up that high and then you slide this foot

and then switch to the other ball of the foot

slide, switch, slide, switch.

Now, it doesn't look as good.

but it's really the only thing you're going to be able to pull off

and if you've ever seen anybody, usually other than Michael Jackson

and very, very, very highly trained professionals

that is actually what they're doing.

It is quite a bit easier to go like this

That's your moonwalk.

The rest of your body, your arms, your back, your head.

It's best if you're looking straight ahead.

Your hands are kind of in a circular walking motion

and I know nobody really walks like this,

but it does kind of help with the illusion.

So if you're here

and it helps a little bit

I mean, let your arms swing naturally anyways,

just forward and back, but a little bit like a train.

I know when Michael Jackson does it he is very rigid in a

fluid way. Which makes no sense but he's Michael Jackson, he's amazing.

He kind of chugs his head out and in

I can't really explain it any better then that, go watch a video of Michael Jackson.

But, the head here, it's kind of in the shoulders.

It's going to be almost impossible to explain. Like I said, go watch a video of him.

He is way better than me.

Bu that is the basics of how to do a moonwalk.

Alright so we learned how to do the moonwalk on the spot and we learned how to do the moonwalk while travelling backwards,

now we are going to learn the most complicated and advanced moonwalk.

And that's how to do the moonwalk sideways. Michael Jackson has done this from time to time

but it was actually Usher who started throwing it in all of his music videos

and he makes it look really good, although he's doing it a little bit differently.

Now you are traveling quite a bit of distance and I tend to do it going right.

I do something else going left, I'm gonna kind of show you both of them but they're actually two

completely different things because I have never been able to mentally figure out how to do it the other way around.

Anyways, it's the same idea: you always, always, always

put your weight on a pointed foot.

You always, always, always slide your flat foot.

Now, doing it sideways, kind of like the moonwalk on the spot, this foot slowly lowered

as this went back, instead of going back do the same thing but stand facing forward.

Pointed foot you're gonna push the foot to the side, kind of like that.

As you get there you want to bring this foot up to a point and because you're going

sideways this foot can't go back so you actually drag this foot

in, which is weird and you kind of have to pull yourself with this foot

and then you get to about there and then you could swap them, and then again

you kind of push this foot around and to the side

over and down and then you pop it and you pull it in.

And yes, I'm sure this looks ridiculous but when you do it fast I promise it looks cool.

It's something along the lines of this.

Now, with this you what to see a lot

more knee popping, your knees are kind of go out in, out in, as you're doing it.

Pay attention to the knees here.

They are kind of what is making it happen.

And then Michael Jackson is really good with this,

as the feet are going, don't forget about the rest of your body.

Your shoulders are kind of getting into it, your arms are doing something.

This actually looks better when it's not as fluid or if the legs are fluid but the

upper body is a bit more robotic and jerky. That is how Michael Jackson does it.

You know, kind of heavy arms here and he'll do it

fast and pop his chest, etcetera, etcetera.

Go watch Usher's "You've Got It Bad" music video and then Michael Jackson's one hour "Ghost" short film.

Going the other way, it is somewhat similar. I push the foot in and pull it in

but I've...it is slightly different I guess.

Sliding the foot out, pulling it in, I just kind of pull it weird and

twist it the other way, but I'm just going to show you going right here.

Don't forget the shoulders and the arms.

Going left, somewhat the same thing.

So, yeah. Sideways, on the spot, moving backwards.

There is really no such thing as a forward moonwalk.

You could take the theory, but it's not gonna bring you anywhere.

That's pretty much all you need. Just remember to put all your weight on your pointed foot.

It's basically all you need to know, good luck.

Alright, so now that we've learned the three different styles of moonwalk,

now we're gonna do something completely different.

We're going to do the very signature Michael Jackson kick.

I'm gonna teach this to you, step back a bit here.

It's kind of one of those moves...that he does. It's a kick.

I don't know any other technical term for it. But when he does it

it's very fast, very sharp, really good posture, and then he'll usually

do something rather dramatic and angled with his hands.

Let me show it to you one step at a time.

The foot that kicks is going to be, aside from the fact that it's sharp, very wobbly.

Which makes absolutely no sense. But as you're kicking, it's always with the right leg.

Your right knee goes left. As you do so, your foot goes right so you're making kind of this weird zigzag

that requires you to use your hip to push your knee out and then your foot the other way.

So it goes there and then swaps places.

So the knee goes right and the foot goes left so you're kind of going back there.

So as it kicks, as it goes up: there, there, there, down.

But he does it very fast, very straight on.

When it goes here, here

when he's on the second one, he's going left right, he kicks that in really hard.

Imagine a soccer ball coming down and you're kind of kicking it up in the air.

Go that, and then as he brings it down

this foot that pushes into the ground you have so much momentum and

energy being expelled downwards that it tends to push the other leg a bit

so I'll wiggle that leg like that.

When this lands: totally straight leg. Not a bent knee.

So there, and then this will pop up. As he does it I know in the "Thriller" music video

his hand is like there. In other music videos, could be there. Whatever.

Usually something with very straight arms.

I feel a bit silly doing this but it's Michael Jackson's move.

In the vein of silliness he has also done this move while

twisting to the side and grabbing his crotch,

with these two fingers here, he will hold it here and then do a

sexually suggestive dance move, which in the early 90's was

you know, very racy, but nowadays not as much.

So here, hand on the crotch if you want to.