Lean (dance pose)
The lean is a pose from Michael Jackson's music video Smooth Criminal from the movie Moonwalker and, alongside the sidewalk and the moonwalk, one of the well-known dance elements from the singer's repertoire. The dancer can position his upper body so far forward that the body's center of gravity is shifted far in front of the toes. This creates the illusion that the dancer can stay in the air against gravity without falling over (hence the term "lean").
Jackson invented this step while filming the music video Smooth Criminal , when the effect was still created by a rope device. A similar dance pose can, however, already be seen in the film Stage Free for Marika from 1958 in the space scene .
One method of implementation is the use of special heels in shoes that are hooked and fixed in devices on the floor. The heel construction has been registered as a patent by Jackson in the USA and is referred to as "anti-gravity illusion".
In 1992, the hook device was used for the first time in stage performances during the Dangerous World Tour . A dancer at the other end of the stage provided the necessary distraction so that Jackson and his dancers could fix their shoes on the floor unseen in the darkened area of the stage. This procedure was also retained on the subsequent HIStory Tour from 1996 to 1997.
At a concert in Tokyo in 1996, the performance went wrong. Jackson fell over in front and had to support himself with his hands on the floor, but was uninjured. At a concert in Munich in 1997, one of the dancers briefly got stuck with his shoe on one of the two nails after unhooking the lean.
Web links
- Video compilation of Lean demonstrations from 1988–2009
Individual evidence
- ↑ Patent US5255452 : Method and means for creating anti-gravity illusion. Registered on June 29, 1992 , inventors: Michael Jackson, Michael L. Bush, Dennis Tompkins.
- ↑ Michael Jackson - The King of Pop patented shoe trick ( Memento November 6, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), accessed August 10, 2011
- ↑ Miguel Angel: マ イ ケ ル ・ ジ ャ ク ソ ン - Smooth criminal (東京 1996) [リ ー ン ・ フ ェ イ ル]. June 22, 2018. Retrieved November 26, 2018 .
- ↑ loismig: Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal EPIC FAIL. June 27, 2011, accessed November 26, 2018 .