- My editor asked me – a withering millennial – to learn a new TikTok dance every day for a week.
- For some reason, I accepted.
- I attempted a Vampire Weekend leg jig, dances to “Obsessed” and “Get Busy,” the Git Up, and finally, the Renegade. It nearly broke me.
- However, overall, I found TikTok to be a friendly place where people are more likely to build each other up than tear them down, and that was a really nice change.
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Between the ages of about 5 and 10, I went to weekly ballet and modern dance lessons. My teacher asked if I’d ever considered drama instead.
I have no rhythm, I’m clumsy, and I’ve always struggled with getting my limbs to cooperate, so I found being assigned a story of figuring out an app that’s “just dancing” quite alarming.
Nevertheless, I tried learning a viral TikTok dance every day of the week in the name of journalism. I soon found there’s more to the video platform than flailing your arms around … A lot more.
For starters, I was NOT prepared for how sexual it is. I understand all teenagers really do is eat pizza and touch each other, but watching hundreds of them suggestively thrust and body pop to Kesha’s “cannibal” wasn’t exactly what I signed up for.
1. Nobody wants to see that, and 2. I had to practice all the dances in the office in one of the glass-walled meeting rooms, all the while worrying about being reported to HR.
I know what you're probably thinking: "OK boomer." And just over a week ago I would have taken that because I had little to no interest in TikTok at all. But I've changed. I get it now.
I did not expect to have as much fun as I did with this project, despite, at 28, feeling like the most ancient, blundering person on there. Here's how it all went, starting from Day one.
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@lindsaytokson no I know
Day 1: The Leg Dance challenge
Being hungover didn't help as I tried to wrap my head around learning a new skill. But somehow I struggled my way through the first step: downloading TikTok and setting up the account LindsayTokson. Then I chose my first dance - a fun leg jig performed to the tune of "A-punk" by Vampire Weekend.
It's unclear whether it has an official name, but it was pretty big on TikTok last year. It looked like the most simple place to start because it's basically just one move over and over. So, beer fear in tow, I started recording.
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@lindsaytokson ##duet with @layla_marie_ amI doing it right
Needless to say, I had immediate regret. If I couldn't even work out this one move, I didn't have high hopes for anything else.
But after a few tries and getting used to the confused curiosity from my colleagues, I think I got the hang of it. That's Insider News Editor-in-Chief Jim Edwards who wanders past by about halfway through and our MD Julian Childs quietly trying to work in the background.
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@lindsaytokson Not losing my mind at all
Day 2: Obsessed challenge
The moves to Mariah Carey's 2003 hit "Obsessed" are supposed to be so simple anyone can do them (even a ferret). It took about half an hour to get the hang of it, and I even managed to remember it the next day - result.
Day 3: Get Busy challenge
I realized almost immediately that this one was a mistake.
I'd been scrolling through Charli D'Amelio and Addison Rae's profiles to see what some of the most viral challenges were and didn't take into account how much more quick and nimble their teenage bodies are than mine, which is getting more haggard by the day.
I barely managed to practice the whole routine at all without recording it on a slower speed.
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@lindsaytokson ##duet with @charlidamelio okthis one is freaking impossible lmao (2x speed)
I kind of got the hang of it in the end, but I didn't feel good about it.
Day 4: The Git Up
Everyone kept telling me this was their favorite dance on TikTok. Challenge accepted, I thought.
It took a good two hours and a lot of sweating in a very cramped meeting room. I got the basics in the end, but again, I can't stress enough how bad it looks in comparison to pros like Harvey Bass.*
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@lindsaytokson @insiders ode to @harveybass ##thegitup##fyp ##foryou ##foryoupage
*Not pictured: the rest of Insider's London office trying to get on with their work.
Day 5: Intermission
I had a bit of a breakdown trying to learn the Renegade, but we'll get to that in a bit.
Overall, I had a lot of fun learning more about TikTok over the week - the memes, the in-jokes, the fact a decades-old song can suddenly go viral. The trends are so quick-paced your ideas can feel out of date almost immediately, but nobody makes you feel bad about it.
I took a break from choreography I'd never master in my wildest dreams and enlisted some help from colleagues to try out some more challenges that have been popular on there in the past year.
Former Insider UK Social Media Editor Charlie Clark stopped by especially on his trip back from Hong Kong to teach me the "oh na na na" leg dance.
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@lindsaytokson @charliewclark came back from Hong Kong to drop in the officeand teach me how to tiktok
Entertainment editor Tom Murray and I tried the leg shuffle challenge up the stairs out the back of the office. He told me how exhausting it was. I laughed and told him he had no idea.
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@lindsaytokson Practise makes perfect @tiktom95 ##shufflechallenge##foryou ##foryoupage
Later on day 5: The Renegade
There are so many different versions of the Renegade I didn't know where to start. This was only my first problem. I tried YouTube tutorials, and failed. I then tried TikTok tutorials, and also failed. The end sums it up well really.
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@lindsaytokson ##duet with @autumnskleintrying to learn the ##renegade - watch tilthe end &û
@
After two and a half hours in a meeting room, I had to call it a day. I just couldn't get my arms to do what I wanted them to and getting mad at myself for it wasn't going to make me or my 51 followers feel any better.
Then, finally, after a good night's rest, it turned out to be none other than James Charles who showed me the light. I eventually learned a basic version from him and Bretman Rock after watching it on repeat about 100 times. I nearly went mad, but I can now safely say I can do (a version of) the Renegade.
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@lindsaytokson ##duet with @bretmanrock onlyfitting that James Charles taught me the ##renegade really
TikTok isn't what I originally thought it was - a bunch of arrogant teenagers being blasted into fame from the latest viral cannon. Some of them are insufferable, of course, but they were in the minority.
I mostly found TikTok to be supportive, friendly, and comically brilliant - a place of immense creativity where people are more likely to build each other up than tear them down. Considering I spend a lot of time on Twitter for work, that made a nice change.
To think, a mere nine days ago I was indifferent to Charli D'amelio. I now know she's a precious angel whom we must protect at all costs.
While you're getting your head around that, you'll find me here, thinking of the most cunning way I can keep making TikTok skits at work instead of writing about them. It's just the dancing I might leave behind for good. Neither my joints or my aging anxiety can handle that.
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@lindsaytokson When blogs are life
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