Throwback Thursday – Michael Jackson “Smooth Criminal”

It was this day in 1988, that Michael Jackson released “Smooth Criminal” from his seventh studio album, Bad.  The short film for Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” was the centerpiece of the feature film Moonwalker

The music video has a 1930’s vibe.  Michael’s white suite and fedora paying tribute to the Fred Astair musical comedy film The Band Wagon.  But can we talk about those dance moves for a minute?

I don’t know about you – but that lean is something I always was in awe of.  Like, seriously.  How did they do that?  In this video, we see Michael and his dancers perform this seemingly impossible “anti-gravity lean”.   The trick?  The illusion was created using cables and a harness.  In October 1993, Micheal’s team patented a method of performing the lean in concert using specially designed shoes that hook into pegs that rise from the stage.  Even with the shoes, the move still requires some seriously good athletic core strength.

Categorised in: Afternoons

This post was written by Carrie Buchanan