Normal Henshilwood High School helped to launch an informal dance group into local stardom.
Untimitive became social media sensations overnight on Monday September 5 after self-taught choreographer Rudi Smit’s dance cover of Meghan Trainor’s Me Too went viral.
The energetic video even caught the attention of the American artist herself.
“Wow, wow, wow. Unbelievable. Slay my life,” Trainor tweeted amidst a flurry of emoticons and hashtags.
In one day, the video was watched 26 000 times. To date is has been viewed more than a million times.
“There is not a word to describe how I feel about the reaction the video has received. I didn’t expect it, I thought it was just a fun video but people of all ages have been watching and sharing it, from teenagers to people aged up to 50 years old,” Rudi said. “The idea was for Meghan Trainor to see it and she did. She saw it and tweeted the video saying that she loved it. Mission accomplished.”
The idea for the video, which features school “cliques” dancing in unison, came to him while listening to the song, Rudi said.
The dance sequences were filmed at Norman Henshilwood, in Constantia, and Milnerton High. Normal Henshilwood principal David Millar said most of the three-minute video had been filmed there. Former head girl Tiffany Adams asked Mr Adams to let the group film there. Several of the 27 dancers in the video are past pupils of the school, while matriculant Caylum Hughes runs his own dance group at the school.
“We are happy to extend these opportunities to the kids because they are so talented,” Mr Millar said.
Tiffany matriculated in 2014. Her older sister, Stephanie, a Normal Henshilwood past pupil from 2010, also dances in the video.
“I’ve been dancing since I was nine years old, but I don’t see myself doing it as a full time career,” Tiffany, a BCom student at Stellenbosch University, said. “There’s not much money in dancing in South Africa.”
Stephanie has a law degree from UWC “as back-up” for her planned dancing career.
Untimitive have been overwhelmed by work opportunities since the video’s success, she said.
“Thank you to everybody for sharing, liking and supporting the video,” she said.
Rudi said the video had given the dance group a lot of exposure.
“I had to sit down with a friend and sift through the emails and messages in my inbox because it was so much … There is a lot of work lying ahead for us,” said Rudi.
To watch the video visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=J10YcOMd6kU
