‘Harlem Shake’ craze hits CMU

Only “The Harlem Shake” could bring together a cow, Waldo, Gumby, Pooh Bear and someone in a taco suit.

About 200 students gathered in front of the Central Michigan University seal outside of Warriner Hall Friday to make their own version of the viral video trend that has swept schools across the nation.

Alexander Urban, who wore a cape and wrestling singlet for the video clip filmed on campus, said he wanted to make an appearance during the video as something funny to look back on.

“I want to show my kids one day … for them to see how crazy I was during my college years,” the Troy junior said. “Now is the time to do these wild things.”

“Harlem Shake” by Brooklyn D.J.e Baauer has hit the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and the iTunes charts and has accumulated 103 million weekly streams on YouTube.

Although the song made its debut in May, it wasn’t until recently that the song started to lay claim to fame as a result of fans posting 30-second clips of dances to the songs.

Saginaw junior Oladipo Jibowu said he saw the YouTube videos and got interested in the “Harlem Shake” craze.

“It’s so random, which is what is funny about it,” Jibowu said.

Most videos begin with one person, usually wearing a helmet or something on their head, dancing to the song alone for 15 seconds in the beginning, while everyone else in the video appears unaware of the dance. Then the beat drops, and everyone in the video dances wildly in usually ridiculous costumes.

Manchester junior Logan Caszatt dressed up in a spaceship costume to stand out for the CMU video.

“I wanted to look unique,” Caszatt said. “It’s a blast, and we have to do hilarious things to make our CMU video the best.”

Students across the globe, including at the University of Texas, University of Georgia and University of Toronto, have made their own versions of the videos. Music stars T-Pain and Fat Joe and late night hosts Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon are also among the hundreds of thousands to post videos online.

Senior Matthew Rosenbach, who was in charge of the video recording, said he saw Western Michigan University’s video on YouTube and made it a goal to try to top their version of the “Harlem Shake.”

The Ferndale native said he thinks it was a successful event overall.

“I think it lived up to the buzz,” Rosenbach said. “I think the snow throwing in the middle of the video made ours better; we didn’t let the weather stop us.”

Many students didn’t let the snowfall stop them from baring some skin to try to make the video as crazy as possible.

Senior Kyle Clem, dressed as a banana, said it was an exciting experience to be a part of.

“It’s fun to be out here with everyone and just live a little,” the Pinckney native said.