How dance challenges became popular during the Covid-19 pandemic

Everyone, including health workers, indulged in these challenges, sometimes to blow off steam and sometimes, for social causes

The Covid-19 pandemic brought with it not just physical but mental stress and with everyone locked down, there was only one place to relieve it: The internet with its many cooking, singing and dancing challenges.

The most popular dance challenges from the newest releases went viral, with millions trying them on and posting on their social media while isolating themselves in their homes.

Not just the public, health professionals and frontline workers who were out at work while the nation was shut down, also indulged in these challenges.

Two Kerala doctors recently made headlines with their viral dance moves to Rasputin, but it was not all compliments. A man named Krishna Raj, believed to be a support of the Sangh Parivar, slammed the video, pointing out the religion of the two.

As a protest of painting a dance video in a communal light, several covers of the same song have surfaced by youngsters, with a #ResistHate hashtag.

Read | Youth support Kerala medicos with their own Rasputin dance videos

In what could be considered as an expression of solidarity with the students, the Kerala Health department brought out an animated video of two vials of Covaxin and Covishield dancing to the tune of 'Rasputin' as a campaign to promote vaccination. Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (MILMA) also featured Naveen and Janaki for their new ad.

From the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns, dance challenges have been popular. Seeping from TikTok into Instagram, they started as a way to kill time during the full lockdown that began in March. These challenges have come a long way since then, now becoming social messages.

At the beginning of the pandemic, a video was shared with 60 doctors from different parts of India dancing to Pharell William's song 'Happy'. A similar video was shared by the ICU staff of the Ronald Reagen UCLA Medical Center, who danced every time a patient was relieved from a ventilator.

To relieve some of the mental stress from fighting the Covid-19 virus, doctors took some time to dance and sing. In Tamil Nadu, 100 doctors had made a video and posted on social media, wherein they are dancing. Some doctors from Kanpur had gone viral for putting up a video where they are cheering up patients by dancing for them.

Doctors of the Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru had also posted a video of them dancing a 'Happy Dance' to overcome the fatigue of treating Covid-19 patients.