This is a dumb video that went viral – when it was posted on reddit, I only had a clip, which racked up the majority of views over on vimeo.
My mom had been on the morning news before, and did a bellydancing lesson with the morning news host. The next time they invited her on, she decided to do a lesson not with the host, but with myself as her student instead.
I have never bellydanced before.
As you can see in the following clip, at no point does a “lesson” begin. She showed me a move with the sword ahead of time that I fail to demonstrate when prompted. Then, the studio throws to music, and you can watch me panic and make up a dance, on live television.
I was hugely embarrassed, and although I posted the video online, I did not give the backstory. A couple years later, bored, I posted it to reddit with the full story (first to /r/cringe, then after some encouragement, to greater visibility in /r/videos). It spent two days the front page, and now whenever I post on reddit someone says “hey, you’re the bellydancing guy!”