what is harlem shake: 7 Essential Surprising Facts in 2026

what is harlem shake is a question people still ask because the phrase names two different things: an old Harlem street dance and a wildly viral 2013 internet meme. The phrase crops up in history, music charts, and social-media nostalgia, so it helps to untangle the pieces.

what is harlem shake: What Does It Mean?

The short answer to what is harlem shake depends on which meaning you want. It can mean a specific dance move that came out of Harlem’s street and club scene decades ago, or it can mean the viral 2013 meme that swept social platforms and pushed a Baauer track to the top of the charts.

As a noun, harlem shake might refer to the original choreography or the meme videos. As a verb people sometimes say someone ‘did the Harlem Shake’ to mean joining a chaotic group dance, even if the movement has little in common with the original steps.

Etymology and Origin of what is harlem shake

The phrase traces back to Harlem, the New York neighborhood known for its rich Black cultural life, including music and dance innovation. The dance labeled the Harlem Shake emerged in the early 1980s as part of local club culture and street dance, with moves that emphasize jolt-like shoulder and upper-body motion.

Decades later the name was borrowed for a very different thing. In 2012 producer Baauer released a track called ‘Harlem Shake.’ In early 2013 people began pairing that song with short videos that followed a distinct pattern, and the meme sewed the phrase into internet history. For more background see Wikipedia on the Harlem Shake meme and an overview at Britannica.

How what is harlem shake Is Used in Everyday Language

The phrase shows up as a dance name, as a meme label, and as shorthand for a certain kind of group prank-video. The context tells you which meaning applies. Here are real examples of usage you might see in writing or online.

“They learned the original Harlem Shake at the dance workshop last night.”

“Our office made a Harlem Shake video during lunch and posted it to the company channel.”

“The song ‘Harlem Shake’ shot up the charts after everyone started making those short meme clips in 2013.”

“He tried to Harlem Shake at the party, but nobody knew the original steps.”

what is harlem shake in Different Contexts

In formal writing about dance history, the Harlem Shake refers to the original movement and its place in Harlem’s cultural fabric. Dance scholars and local historians treat it as part of a lineage of Black vernacular dance in New York.

In casual speech and on social platforms, the phrase often points to the meme format: a single dancer appears alone, then a cut or drop reveals a chaotic group dancing wildly to Baauer’s song. In music-business contexts the phrase can mean the Baauer track itself, because the song and meme were intertwined commercially.

Common Misconceptions About what is harlem shake

People often assume the viral meme preserves the original Harlem Shake dance. It does not. The meme uses the song title and a spontaneous, exaggerated style that borrows little from the original choreography.

Another misconception is that one person created the meme single-handedly. In reality the meme format evolved quickly across platforms and communities, with many creators making similar videos that amplified each other. For a timeline and media coverage see reporting from major outlets and archives.

Related Words and Phrases

Words that regularly appear alongside the phrase include meme, viral, Baauer, dance craze, and Harlem. You will also see it connected to terms like ‘flash mob’ or ‘viral challenge’ because of the group, performative nature of many videos.

If you want to read more on related entries, try our pieces on meme meaning, dance terms, or slang meaning for how words shift across communities.

Why what is harlem shake Matters in 2026

The phrase remains a useful example of how language and culture intersect. It shows how a local cultural practice can be named, reinterpreted, and then globalized through media, sometimes with distortions and controversies along the way.

For media scholars and casual readers alike, the Harlem Shake story offers lessons about authorship, appropriation, and how music can be repurposed. The Baauer chart story also matters for how streaming and sharing began to influence Billboard rankings in the 2010s.

Closing

If you hear someone ask what is harlem shake now, you can answer with nuance: it names both a Harlem-born dance tradition and a 2013 internet phenomenon built around a Baauer track. Context will tell you which one people mean.

Language moves fast. Sometimes a neighborhood step becomes a global meme. And sometimes that shift changes how the original gets remembered. Keep asking questions. The best answers respect both history and how words live in new places.

Further reading: Wikipedia: Harlem Shake (meme), Britannica: Harlem Shake.