Double Dream Hands

About

Double Dream Hands is a viral video starring music teacher and choreographer John Jacobson, and features a dance routine that includes a signature move that he calls "double dream hands".

Origin

The video was first published in the August/September edition of the Music Express Magazine. The dance is choreographed for the song "Planet Rock", which was written by John Jacobson as well.

Spread

The video was discovered by a Hanford High School Student, and was uploaded to YouTube on December 6, 2010. On December 8th it was posted to The Daily What^[1], CollegeHumor^[2], and Today's Big Thing.^[3]

On December 9th, Ellen Degeneres tweeted a link to an embedded video of the dance on her website.^[4] It was tweeted by Zachary Levi of Chuck the same day.^[5]

Search

Search queries for "double dream hands" started in December, and peaked in early January, all within a month of the video being uploaded to YouTube.

Parodies

The dark black backdrop behind Jacobsen made the video ripe for parody, because the background could easily be swapped out using video editing software. There were also quite a few remix videos with new audio overlaid like "Single Ladies", and Soulja Boy.

Hanford High School Version

After the video had taken off, the captain of the Dance Team of Hanford High School organized a "Double Dream Hands" performance at the school pep assembly. With the addition of 5th hour German students, and the initial uploaders of the video, the dance was recorded in front of a live audience for the first time. It was later featured on CNN's social media highlights.^[6]

Sequel

On April 4th, 2011, John Jacobson uploaded a sequel entitled "Double Dream Feet." It was posted on The Daily What on April 26th, 2011.^[7] A commercial for Sprint's Kyocera Echo smart phone uses a clip from video, and it was uploaded to YouTube on April 22nd, 2011.

America's Got Talent

Jacobson appeared on the 6th season of America's Got Talent during the Los Angeles auditions to perform Double Dream Hands. He was eliminated from the competition following his performance.^[8]

Jacobson recounted his experience on the show on his personal website. He was told by producers of America's Got Talent that a cooperative audience would join him in a flash mob in order to raise awareness of art and music programs being eliminated from Los Angeles area public schools. Jacobson described the experience as being "slushied", a reference to the TV show Glee.^[9]

Search Interests

External References

^[1] The Daily What – Early Bird Special of the Day / 12/8/2010

^[2] CollegeHumor – Double Dream Hands / 12/8/2010

^[3] Today's Big Thing – Double Dream Hands / 12/8/2010

^[4] Twitter – @TheEllenShow / 12/9/2010

^[5] Twitter – @ZacharyLevi / 12/9/2010

^[6] CNN -Social media highlights / 1/7/2011

^[7] The Daily What – Song And Dance of the Day / 4/26/2011

^[8] America's Got Talent Wiki – John Jacobson

^[9] JohnJacobson.com – I've Been Slushied