Dancing Matt Is Back, and Once Again, He's a Cure-All For Your Black Cynicism

By Dustin Rowles | Videos | June 22, 2012 |

By Dustin Rowles | Videos | June 22, 2012 |

I’m sure you guys remember Dancing Matt (Harding), the international traveler who bounces around the world and dances with people of various countries and cultures often against the backdrop of historical monuments. Like most sequels, this one is bigger and more choreographed, but no less affecting. It’s hard to understand why a cross-cultural goofy dancing is so affecting, but it is. I guess there’s just something incredibly powerful about watching a guy connect with people in places like Syria, North Korea, Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea the same he connects with people in Toronto or Philadelphia. There’s also a certain power to the goofy dance: It’s impossible to dance like that without experiencing joy, and to experience it with one guy in Bangladesh or 200 in Boise has got to be the only job in the world better than the one I have.

Warning: It’ll sneak up on you. It may take a few seconds for the idea of a sequel to mow down your cynicism, but it will, and by the end, if the dancing seal doesn’t work a number on you, the last shot will.

Bring Kleenex, you saps.