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

06:40Added Aug 30, 2026

In a swaggering performance, choreographer Sean Bankhead and his students perform the viral dance he designed for Victoria Monét's hit song "On My Mama." Roo...

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Contributed by 刘嘉琪

Transcript

Transcript format
  1. 00:04(Music: Victoria Monét "On My Mama")
  2. 02:56(Music ends) (Cheers and applause)
  3. 03:09Helen Walters: OK, alright.
  4. 03:12You 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.
  5. 03:20Sean Bankhead: Thank you. Hi. HW: Hi, Sean. SB: How are you? HW: I've never felt so cool adjacent.
  6. 03:27(Laughter) SB: Thank you for having me, this is incredible. HW: Come in the light.
  7. 03:33(Cheers) SB: Let me wipe my sweat. HW: That was ridiculous and amazing. And a song by Victoria Monét.
  8. 03:41Can you tell us about that choreography? SB: Woo! I'm going to catch my breath. Thank you.
  9. 03:47So myself and Victoria knew that we wanted to pay homage to so many different things that have inspired us in pop culture:
  10. 03:56HBCU culture, Black culture, college culture, skate culture, even meme culture
  11. 04:03and things that you see on Twitter that are just really funny and memorable.
  12. 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.
  13. 04:15(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?
  14. 04:23SB: One million percent.
  15. 04:24I am standing here today because of all the incredible choreographers and artists that inspired me, back from Missy Elliott,
  16. 04:32Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Aaliyah, Usher.
  17. 04:35And 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,
  18. 04:43and making sure that dance and choreography is still very prevalent in pop culture. HW: So we should be clear, that video went super bonkers online.
  19. 04:52So why do you think that some dance videos go viral? SB: There's a couple things. One, I think luck or God, thank you.
  20. 05:01Still making things that are hot.
  21. 05:04One thing, I think, I always put 1,000 percent of my heart and time and energy into anything I create.
  22. 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.
  23. 05:21And I think it translates through the screen.
  24. 05:24And 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.
  25. 05:34(Laughter) But I think it allows dancers and non-dancers alike to feel like, "Oh, I like that move.
  26. 05:42I 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?
  27. 05:50(Laughter) I'm asking for your mum. SB: Let's do this one. HW: Oh no, no, let's not. SB: Here we go, we could do this right here.
  28. 05:58Real easy. Step together, step together.
  29. 06:01OK, step -- (Laughter) That was amazing. HW: That was really horrific, but thank you, I appreciate that.
  30. 06:09Now tell us about your friends. Your amazing friends. SB: Oh, please, this next generation of incredible talent. I've been watching these kids take my class.
  31. 06:17Kimoni, Cam, Corey and Devonte. Thank you guys for assisting me.
  32. 06:23(Applause) (Cheers and applause) Thank you guys, love you.
  33. 06:31Thank you for showing up for me. The next generation of dancers, choreographers from Atlanta. Thank you for having me.
  34. 06:38(Cheers and applause)