Dragon Dream Feet
TL;DR · OriginThe root of this meme is "Double Dream Hands," an instructional dance video by American music teacher and choreographer John Jacobson. It was made as group choreography for e…
Origin
The root of this meme is "Double Dream Hands," an instructional dance video by American music teacher and choreographer John Jacobson. It was made as group choreography for elementary education, but a high school student found it and uploaded it to YouTube on December 6, 2010; two days later, on December 8, it was picked up by The Daily What, CollegeHumor, and Today's Big Thing and spread rapidly. His signature move — hands splayed wide and waving — is the "double dream hands." Jacobson himself uploaded the sequel, "Double Dream Feet," on April 4, 2011. The lineage is documented in the Know Your Meme entry on Double Dream Hands.
"Dragon Dream Feet" is a later variation built on that sequel. Re-edits setting the footage to music from "Lacheque ~ Dragonfruit Salad" circulated, and the best known of them is "ULTRA DRAGON DREAM FEET." The "Dragon" in the name comes from that track's title — not from any dragon appearing in the video.
Spread
What drove it was the mismatch built into the source. It is an earnest instructional video meant for classrooms, yet the movements are wildly exaggerated and Jacobson's expression stays relentlessly enthusiastic, so it already plays as absurd to anyone watching without context. Lay unrelated music over it and loop the edit, and the choreography's beats line up with the track in a way that becomes genuinely addictive. That is why remixes kept coming.
The family works by leaving the original movements untouched and changing only the music and the editing. That is how derivative videos set to entirely different songs still read as one lineage.
Usage
- Referring to any relentlessly upbeat dance video presented without context.
- Citing it as a case of an earnest production becoming funny against its own intent.
- Naming it as the standard example of the game of setting footage to absurd music.
- Labeling exaggerated hand and foot movements when imitating them.
Sources
- Know Your Meme, "Double Dream Hands" — confirms creator John Jacobson, the December 6, 2010 YouTube upload and December 8 pickup by The Daily What and CollegeHumor, and the April 4, 2011 sequel "Double Dream Feet"
- Know Your Meme video, "Ultra Dragon Dream Feet" — the form the derivative edit takes
- NamuWiki (English), "Double Dream Hands" — explains that "ULTRA DRAGON DREAM FEET," set to "Lacheque ~ Dragonfruit Salad," is the representative derivative
