Midway through the 2017 season, Houston Astros mascot Orbit began dancing to “Moves Like Jagger,” but no one could have predicted the unforeseen spectacle that was about to take place. Just as Orbit was ready to encounter a security guard as tenacious as the Queen’s Guard, the man in black broke into his own stunning, explosive dance.
As if they were watching The Beatles, the security guard stunned the Jumbotron audience with his unpredictable, star-power-fueled, insane, and silly motions, causing them to exclaim with glee. A full-body tumble into the most unbelievable worm dance you’ve ever seen—his final move—capped his impromptu set and became one of the most viral moments of the 2017 ALCS. More than 17 million people have viewed it on YouTube since then.
However, this was not the first time a lone flash mob surprised security at a Houston, Texas sports stadium. The first concert that sparked this peculiar phenomenon in the United States was captured in a very identical viral video from 2014, which included the famous dancing security guard Willis Harris.
Willis Clinton Harris, a freelance security guard, is well-known for his amazing ability to perform wild and outlandish dance routines like campy splits and cartwheels. His breakthrough breakdancing security guard video, “Work It, Willis,” has become a meme king with 99 million views on YouTube in just over a decade after its premiere.
Willis Harris has made it a habit of going viral during sporting events, most notably the Tampa Bay Rays game, with his dance moves. It was widely assumed that these now-iconic viral videos were staged from the start after another unidentified security guard danced almost spontaneously with the Houston Astros’ mascot Orbit in 2017, three years after Harris’ first Orbit dance-off.
Regardless of how spontaneous Harris’ performance was, his interview with Fox demonstrates that he did so with good intentions: “I’ve always loved the entertainment industry.” The first priority is, of course, job security; the second is, without a question, entertaining the audience. As a result, we should take every chance to make them laugh and appear less serious than we are.
Regardless of the true source of Houston’s bizarre phenomenon of dancing security agents, these videos have gone viral and are sure to make anyone happy.
