I vividly remember the first time I saw Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal video. An uncle, who had just returned from the United States brought a videocassette of a compilation of some of his popular videos at that time.
As an ardent fan who used to imitate his dance moves (though I totally sucked) with my cousins and friends during playtime, I was filled with excitement from the very moment my uncle pressed play.
Fast forward, the Smooth Criminal video, and up came the famous gravity-defying tilt. My cousins and I, totally gobsmacked, looked in awe and total elation while clapping! Thinking it was going to be a walk in the park, we also tried to do it when we later on went outside to play but failed miserably, and then came the million-dollar question; how was he able to pull it off?
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As naïve kids, we eventually let it slide (and I’m sure most people did) because hey, he’s the King of Pop and he’s capable of doing anything. I mean we’ve seen the moonwalk among other famous signature dance moves.
Though the tilt was flawless, he couldn’t, however, do it without some “technical help”. Jackson had custom-made shoes whose soles were specially designed to interlock with a nail on the ground/stage, hence giving him the luxury to lean over 45 degrees.
To celebrate his birthday, Face2Face Africa shares with you a video demonstrating his ingenious invention and how he was able to pull it off, just like a smooth criminal.
Let’s just throw in the official video for nostalgia sake!
