Viral Culture: Matt’s dance

A brand of football trickery and showmanship have only reaped bad results on the field for South African teams, but is also a great dance.

Screenshot.

We’ve been going on about Diski, but I couldn’t resist sharing yet another Diski-related video. Earlier this year, no less an authority than The New York Times defined Diski as “… football in township slang.” The site’s editor, Sean, doesn’t like Diski; he says in real life, this brand of football trickery and showmanship have only reaped bad results on the field for South African teams. In any case, this time featuring Matt Harding, of Where the Hell is Matt fame (you know, that guy that got paid to go around the world making ridiculous dance videos?) Not particularly interesting, but precisely the stuff that viral sensations are made of. Well, Matt has resurfaced in South Africa, where he was  apparently invited to come learn the diski dance.

Watch him not (completely) screw it up. Rhythm like you’ve never seen before, indeed.

Further Reading

On the pitch

This year, instead of taking a publishing break, we will be covering the African Cup of Nations. To transition, we consider why football still matters in an era of enclosure, mediated presence, and thinning publics.