Must-See Moments From the “Shake It Off” Aerobic Dance Video

Posted November 7, 2014

There was a brief moment of glory this morning when all was right in the world—Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” was dubbed over the opening choreography of the 1988 National Aerobic Championship and it was magical. But a copyright claim is (hopefully only temporarily) making this video unavailable—we’ll update this page right away if the video becomes public again.

It’s almost eerie how seamlessly Swift’s lyrics match up to the aerobic choreography. As she croons: “You could’ve been getting down to this sick beat,” three of the dancers pelvic thrust in perfect unison to that sick beat that Swift is talking about. And when Swift follows up with the lyric “My ex-man brought his new girlfriend,” three men appear in Tae-Bo get ups and show off their muscled physiques.

Can you tell we’ve been watching the video on repeat all morning? And after our tenth time hitting the refresh button, we started to realize how these aerobic dancers managed to incorporate all of our favorite dance moves. So, naturally, we’ve broken them down for you below:

–0:46: Maya Rudolph Serious Dancer Face

Just like Rudolph in Bridesmaids, this woman is our spirit animal when it comes to battling it out on the dance floor. She’s throwing air punches and serving a menacing face that is sure to wound anyone she locks eyes with.

-1:16: Julia Louis-Dreyfus Excited Dance

Elaine was never one to hold back her excitement on Seinfeld and neither is this guy. Dancing gets those endorphins flowing and those pearly whites on full display.

-1:49: The Classic Carlton

Just as Carlton’s hips start swaying and his arms start swinging when he puts on Tom Jones’s “It’s Not Unusual,” these two dancers give it all they’ve got with hip-popping, arm-flailing realness.