An explainer
The Moonwalk, Step by Step
A two-minute narrated explainer on how to do the moonwalk the way Michael Jackson did it: the illusion, six slow-motion steps, then the whole move at full speed.
The six steps
- Lift one heel. Stand side-on with your feet together, and rise onto the ball of one foot with the knee bent forward. Most of your weight goes there.
- Slide the flat foot back. Slide it straight back past the raised foot, keeping it on the floor with light pressure.
- Switch both heels at once. When the sliding foot is behind you, lift its heel and drop the front heel flat at the same moment.
- Repeat. The front foot is now flat, so it slides back. Switch again, and keep going.
- Glide the top half. Keep your head and shoulders level, with no bounce, and let your arms swing the way they would on a forward walk.
- Put it on the beat. Pop the heels on the beat and slide between beats: half speed first, then one slide per beat.
How it was made
Claude Code drew the dancer and every scene in code as a web page. The dancer is a jointed figure: the code places each foot and works out where the knee has to be, so the legs bend on their own. A script captured the page frame by frame and ffmpeg turned the frames into video. Each animation is timed to the word that describes it.
The narrator is a stock ElevenLabs voice. The music is original and made in code, with a knock on every heel switch so you can hear the timing. Captions are in the player.