Have you ever wanted to get up and dance like no one’s watching, but felt too embarrassed because people might judge you? If that’s the case, it might be worth taking a leaf out of Collin Wynter’s book, the man who went viral in 2009 for starting a huge dance party at Sasquatch Festival in Washington, USA. Wearing nothing but a pair of shorts, Collin looked like he was having the time of his life at the festival, pulling off his best crazy dance moves and allowing the music to take over.
At first, Collin is seen dancing energetically on his own, soundtracked by a live version of the track ‘Unstoppable’ by the band Santigold, who were performing at the festival that year. At this point, it doesn’t look as though any other festival-goers are going to be joining Collin any time soon; people are either staring at him, ignoring him, or even laughing. That soon changes, however, when another man takes the plunge and starts to join in, showing almost as much enthusiasm as Collin himself.
This proceeds to set off a chain reaction, with another person joining in the dancing, then another, then another, before all of a sudden a huge horde of people descends on the group and starts dancing themselves. “I didn’t know that I did anything special really; all I did was self-express,” Collin later said after the event, also advising future ‘dancing guys’ to “exist for the moment through focusing your mind; worry not about the future or the past. Through movement you can evolve your mind.”
In fact, later that same year another so-called ‘dancing guy’ did actually emerge, this time starting off a dance mob at the University of North Carolina. The process was very much the same: one guy started dancing manically on his own, clearly enjoying himself and not caring what other people thought. Soon, another handful of people came over to join him, then before you know it a huge crowd has run over to show off their own crazy dance moves like they didn’t have a care in the world.
Interestingly, since the original video of ‘dancing guy’ Collin Wynter at Sasquatch Festival went viral, it has been used numerous times as evidence for articles about community leadership, marketing, and even social science. The main takeaway from the Sasquatch video as far as we’re concerned, however, is simply this: if you’re enjoying yourself, don’t worry too much about what other people think.