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, starpower-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 last 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. An identical viral video from 2014 captured the first concert that sparked these peculiar phenomena in the United States, featuring the famous dancing security officer Willis Harris.
Willis Clinton Harris, a freelance security guard, is well-known for his amazing ability to do crazy and outlandish dance routines, including campy splits and cartwheels. His breakthrough breakdancing security guard video, “Work It, Willis,” has become a meme king, with 99 million views on YouTube 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 routines. It was widely assumed that these now-iconic viral videos were staged from the start, when another unnamed security guard danced nearly spontaneously with the Houston Astros’ mascot Orbit in 2017, three years after Harris’ first Orbit dance-off. When Harris spoke to Fox about the two of them, he sparked additional suspense by referring to Orbit as a “good friend” and noting, “I’m not going to give away the secret sauce completely.” Even though it was unplanned, we knew we would be close.
Regardless of how spontaneous Harris’ performance was, his interview with Fox demonstrates that he did it with noble intentions: “I’ve always loved the entertainment industry.” The first is, of course, employment stability; the second is, without a question, entertaining the audience. As a result, we should grab every chance to make others 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.