Have you heard of the “foot shake dance challenge”? If you haven’t, you soon will.

I was first introduced to it this week. I love to dance - and my class know this. So on arrival to the playground on Monday morning, I was met with an ambush of questions all relating to this craze.

“Mr Adams, can you do the TikTok dance?”

“Mr A, do the foot shake dance?”

I had no idea what they were talking about.

What is the foot shake dance challenge?

I took it upon myself to do some research. 

Originally popularised in 2018, this crazy dance trend has had a resurgence - and a well-deserved resurgence!

The dance consists of a simple foot tap with your partner but then takes a wild turn and the difficulty level increases.

It’s gone viral on video-sharing platform TikTok, with people all over the world mastering the steps. 

Getting involved

After viewing a plethora of videos, I was amazed, confused, but up for the challenge. An emergency staff meeting was held where pairs were delegated to try and learn the dance the quickest. (Side note: as a staff, we love to have fun - have a look at our flash mob.)

So when the children had left on Tuesday, we all got started. After A LOT of trial and error, and an undisclosed amount of time, Mrs Brian and I were the first to crack it. 

Our vice principal, Mrs Wood, and our learning mentor, Mrs Pollard, followed close behind.

We were elated, and very excited to show the children.

We recorded and uploaded a video of our “performance” to our school’s sports Twitter account as we like to promote the successes of both children and adults in our community. I also uploaded the video to my personal Twitter account (@MrKAdams). 

Everyone doing the foot shake

Wednesday’s singing assembly arrived and, at the end, Mrs. Brian and I broke out into the foot shake dance. 

The looks on children’s faces were a sight. Hollers, gasps and giggling filled the hall.

The rest of the day was filled with children, of all ages, asking staff members to show them how to do it. Breaktime might as well have been a dance class!

Not just another trend

It would be easy to write it off as another trend to endure. But for me, this is more than just a “trend”. I have adored watching the children (and teachers) display a growth mindset trying to conquer the dance, showing teamwork skills and being supportive of one another.

The response on Twitter to Mrs Brian and me dancing has been overwhelming. So many positive comments have filled my timeline, so many heart-warming messages and so many schools getting involved.

Part of my original tweet stated that “instead of working after school, myself and Mrs B decided to master it” (in reference to the dance). 

On reflection, we were working. Working on our wellbeing, bonding as a team but most importantly doing it for the kids.

Kyrome Adams is a Year 5 teacher at Marsden Junior School. He tweets @MrKAdams_