How a Viral Choreographer Makes His Moves | Sean Bankhead | TED

00:04(Music: Victoria Monét "On My Mama")

02:56(Music ends) (Cheers and applause) Helen Walters: OK, alright. You guys, we can't let him go without asking him some questions, which is really unkind, given all of the dancing, but here you are. There's a microphone, my friend. Sean Bankhead: Thank you.

03:20Hi. HW: Hi, Sean. SB: How are you? HW: I've never felt so cool adjacent. (Laughter) SB: Thank you for having me, this is incredible. HW: Come in the light. (Cheers) SB: Let me wipe my sweat. HW: That was ridiculous and amazing. And a song by Victoria Monét.

03:41Can you tell us about that choreography? SB: Woo! I'm going to catch my breath. Thank you. So myself and Victoria knew that we wanted to pay homage to so many different things that have inspired us in pop culture: HBCU culture, Black culture, college culture, skate culture, even meme culture and things that you see on Twitter that are just really funny and memorable.

04:07And we decided to make a kind of a mixing pot of a lot of different, really cool things that have inspired us. And that’s how “On My Mama” came about. (Cheers) HW: So would you say that that is a driving force in your work in general, is trying to connect choreography to the current moment?

04:23SB: One million percent. I am standing here today because of all the incredible choreographers and artists that inspired me, back from Missy Elliott, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Aaliyah, Usher. And watching their music videos gave me the tools and the inspiration to try to keep carrying the torch of what's hot, what's new, and making sure that dance and choreography is still very prevalent in pop culture.

04:43HW: So we should be clear, that video went super bonkers online. So why do you think that some dance videos go viral? SB: There's a couple things. One, I think luck or God, thank you. Still making things that are hot. One thing, I think, I always put 1,000 percent of my heart and time and energy into anything I create.

05:12So if I'm stepping into a project, I want to kill it. I want to put 1,000 percent of myself into the project. And people can feel heart, they can feel passion. And I think it translates through the screen. And I think another thing is, oddly enough, the song is called "On My Mama," and I always love having at least one move or one groove that my mama can do, in a video.

05:34(Laughter) But I think it allows dancers and non-dancers alike to feel like, "Oh, I like that move. I can do that whenever the song comes on." And I think it just translates. It's catchy, it's trendy. HW: Which move was it in that one? (Laughter) I'm asking for your mum.

05:50SB: Let's do this one. HW: Oh no, no, let's not. SB: Here we go, we could do this right here. Real easy. Step together, step together. OK, step -- (Laughter) That was amazing. HW: That was really horrific, but thank you, I appreciate that. Now tell us about your friends.

06:09Your amazing friends. SB: Oh, please, this next generation of incredible talent. I've been watching these kids take my class. Kimoni, Cam, Corey and Devonte. Thank you guys for assisting me. (Applause) (Cheers and applause) Thank you guys, love you.

06:31Thank you for showing up for me. The next generation of dancers, choreographers from Atlanta. Thank you for having me. (Cheers and applause)