Pokémon Dance
TL;DR · OriginThe proper name is "POKÉDANCE." It is an animated music video that The Pokémon Company released on YouTube and TikTok on February 27th, 2024 for Pokémon Day, in which the fir…
Origin
The proper name is "POKÉDANCE." It is an animated music video that The Pokémon Company released on YouTube and TikTok on February 27th, 2024 for Pokémon Day, in which the first partner Pokémon of each generation dance the same routine alongside their trainers.
Unusually for a meme, the credits are known. Per Know Your Meme's account, the video was directed by MimicryMeta, the dance choreographed by Bunkei, the music composed by Yuki Honda and the vocals performed by Nanahira. Animators including kantaro, mitarashi santa, USGMEN, Komugiko2000, QuickObake, ASCAN, kariya, misato and alpha@ contributed. This was not a meme that arose by accident but official content engineered from the start to be copied — and the engineering worked.
Spread
The distribution machinery ran from day one. On February 27th, 2024, the official @pokemon TikTok account posted a video of the K-pop group ENHYPEN performing the dance, which passed 12 million views within a month.
The response from ordinary users shows up in sound usage: the video's original audio was used more than 217,000 times on TikTok in the month after release. Alongside people filming themselves doing the dance came a wave of reanimations putting characters from other properties through the same choreography.
The routine's construction is why it travelled so easily. The choreography is short, looping and built mainly from hand movements, so it could be copied regardless of space or skill. And because the original is animation, the barrier to derivative work was low as well.
How it is used
- As short-form challenge videos performing the choreography
- As reanimations and fan art putting other properties' characters through the routine
- As background music for cheerful posts
- As a case study in an officially manufactured meme — a trend engineered rather than found
Sources
- Know Your Meme, "Pokédance" — the February 27th, 2024 release, the direction, choreography, composition and vocal credits plus the participating animators, the 217,000-plus TikTok sound uses, and the 12 million views on the ENHYPEN video
- Bulbapedia, "POKÉDANCE" — its status as the Pokémon Day 2024 commemorative song and related details
- YouTube, "Pokémon Day 2024: Time to POKÉDANCE!" — the official channel upload
