YouTube dance craze Harlem Shake hits Swindon (From This Is Wiltshire)

IT’S an internet craze that has been sweeping the world and this weekend Swindon got dancing to the Harlem Shake.

The 30-second phenomenon has had people across the globe grabbing their video cameras and dancing in their wackiest attire to the song.

On Saturday afternoon a group of around 30 people, led by Dave McKenna, braved the freezing temperatures to perform the dance in Wharf Green.

Shoppers would have been surprised to see people dressed as Teletubbies, superheroes and animals invading the usually quiet square.

Dave, 35, who has just moved to Devizes from Park North, said he wanted to get involved after seeing the craze take off on the internet.

He said: “I saw the craze taking off and I’d seen a few videos on YouTube also.

“Last Friday when I’ had had a couple of beers I thought I’d set up a Facebook event.

“I didn’t expect the response I got and quite a lot of my mates decided to come down.

“I reckon we had about 30 people in total. The video came out a lot better than we thought it would so I‘m really chuffed – it’s had nearly 10,000 hits on YouTube.

“I was wearing the crash helmet but we had two half-naked Tellytubbies and a guy in a flasher suit. We had plenty of people standing around watching and taking picture on their phones, and everyone in McDonald’s was watching too.

“It was crazy – and very cold.”

The short videos feature just one person dancing, usually in a helmet, and then the videos cut to the same scene but more people dancing and doing wild demonstrations in strange clothes.

The dance craze was sparked by a group of Australian teenagers who uploaded the 31-second clip called The Harlem Shake v1 (TSCS original) on to YouTube earlier this month.

It has now been viewed nearly 17m times and has taken the internet by storm, similar to the dance craze Gangnam Style.

Clubbers in Swindon also joined in with the craze on Saturday night as Revolution, in Bridge Street, saw hundreds take part in their video.

The bar called on people heading out to pay a visit and the video shows people dancing on the tables in morph suits and waving inflatable bananas.

Students from Swindon College school of art have also shown their creative side as they uploaded their own version of the internet craze.

To view the videos visit www.youtube.com and search for Swindon Harlem Shake.