Floss (dance)

The floss is a popular dance move in which a person repeatedly swings their arms, with clenched fists, from the back of their body to the front, on each side.[1]

Floss
A 2018 GIF of a man doing the floss
EtymologyBack-and-forth movement is similar to the use of dental floss
Year2010s–present
OriginUnited States

Etymology

The name comes from the moves themselves, which involve "a lot of fast arms and hip swings as though using a huge, invisible piece of dental floss".[1]

History

Exact origins of the dance are unclear; however there is documentation of students at International School of Beijing performing the dance as early as 2013, the same year that Matthew Bisping did it dancing in the crowd at Austin City Limits.

The earliest instance of the dance being promoted on the internet was in a 2014 clip uploaded by the YouTube channel JStuStudios, run by content creators Justin Stewart and Andrew Scites.[2] Stewart and Scites have performed the dance in televised appearances, such as The Meredith Vieira Show.[3] Videos of the dance on social media achieved viral popularity after 14-year-old Russell Horning, known as "the backpack kid", performed the dance in an August 2016 video.[2] Horning was invited to participate in a live Saturday Night Live performance of Katy Perry's song "Swish Swish" in May 2017.[4][5] It has since become a trend among children and younger teens, and has been performed by celebrities in videos. The floss has been featured in The Simpsons, and in television shows airing on Universal Kids, Disney XD, and Disney Channel.[6][7]

Flossing is featured in the 2017 video game Fortnite Battle Royale, developed and published by Epic Games, as a limited-time dance "emote" as a reward from the Battle Pass Season 2 that can be performed by the characters while playing. Flossing has become popular in schools due to the popularity of Fortnite[5][7] and because of support from parents and administrators, as flossing can be seen as lacking the relative eroticism seen in other dance moves popular with young people.[8] In December 2018, Horning's mother filed a lawsuit against Epic Games for copyright infringement of the dance emote, the third such similar that Epic had seen.[9] Horning's suit against Epic resulted in Playground Games removing the dance emote in their 2018 racing video game Forza Horizon 4 via an update to avoid possible litigation against them.[10]

References
  1. Whelan, Zara (17 April 2018). "'The Floss' dance craze sweeps the nation – here's how you do it". lincolnshirelive. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  2. "Everything Parents Need to Know About The Floss Dance". 4 June 2018.
  3. "Dancing on Live TV!! Meredith Vieira Show". YouTube.
  4. Meet the Dancing 'Backpack Kid' Who Stole Katy Perry's Spotlight on 'SNL' on YouTube
  5. Maddison, Paddy (13 April 2018). "What Is 'The Floss' And Where Did It Come From?". LADbible. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  6. Anderson, Vicki (1 April 2018). "Forget fidget spinners, now the craze is The Floss dance". Stuff. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  7. Morris, Joshua (24 April 2018). "From Fortnite to the classroom: the 'floss' dance craze sweeping schools". Tes News. Archived from the original on 11 November 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  8. Meyer, Robinson (11 May 2019). "Hello Fellow Kids, It's Me, the New Morning Edition Theme". The Atlantic. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  9. Arif, Shabana (18 December 2018). "Backpack kid is the latest in a long line of celebrities suing Epic over its Fortnite dances". VG247. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  10. McWhertor, Michael (15 January 2019). "Forza Horizon 4 removes two dance emotes at the heart of lawsuits". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
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