International Dance Day: Michael Jackson's Most Iconic Dance Moves

Was ‘the toe stand’ copied by MJ from Elvis Presley? The latter had showcased the move in 1956 during a performance of ‘Hound Dog’ on the Ed Sullivan show. However, Elvis himself had borrowed from others, and there were others too who had done the same step, like Fred Astaire. Bottomline, however, was that no one used the step to maximum effect like Michael did.

Seen in several of his videos, like Smooth Criminal, he displayed the move first as part of the Jackson 5 in 1973.

This step can be seen in the music videos of Billie Jean, Smooth Criminal and the Dangerous live shows choreography.

How the hell did he do that! Michael’s ‘anti-gravity’ lean from the Smooth Criminal music video was achieved using specially designed shoes that locked into metallic pegs emerging from the stage. For the original 1987 music video wires were used, while he co-patented a mechanical solution in 1993 to perform the 45-degree tilt live.

What? You thought we’d miss out on this one? Michael debuted the moonwalk during the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever TV special, on March 25, 1983, at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. He performed the step while dancing to Billie Jean. Pro tip: Try out the step wearing only the socks, you might just nail it.