Running man (dance)

The running man is a street dance, consisting of "shuffling" and sliding steps, imitating a stationary runner. The dancer takes steps forward, then slides the foot placed in front backwards almost immediately, while moving their fists forwards and back horizontally in front of them. The fad dance was said to have been started in the mid-1980s.^{[citation needed]}

Notable practitioners of the dance were MC Hammer, Janet Jackson, Five Star, Selena, Milli Vanilli, and Vanilla Ice during their live concert shows and in music videos. ^[1] According to Janet, Paula Abdul learned and then taught her the dance. Abdul also choreographed the 1987 film The Running Man.^[2] Jackson further popularized the dance, when she performed it in her 1989 music video "Rhythm Nation".