On December 3, 2017, at the corner of Zhengzhou Shangcheng Ruins Park, the gu dance troupe danced live in the park, attracting crowds of onlookers. (Southern Weekend reporter Wang Ruifeng/photo)
(This article was first published in Southern Weekend on December 21, 2017)
Before the beginning of 2016, these awkward dancers who called kings and emperors were still the most fringe crowd in Zhengzhou.
"Awkward Dance" has a low threshold, but it is not so easy to become popular. The secret is the word "awkward".
This looks more like a game where one part consumes the dignity of the other part.
"Red-haired Emperor" Gu Donglin is almost 60 years old. With a handful of pink hair, he shook his arms frantically and twisted his body as soon as the world's best music sounded. His index and middle fingers were in a two-finger Zen-like shape, and he swung forward continuously. These seemingly irregular and harmonious movements, accompanied by music, circulate endlessly.
"My dance is heroic and domineering, like an emperor." He is full of confidence in himself. But in the awkward dance circle where everyone is called king or emperor, "Red Hair" is not recognized as the most influential person. After
awkward dance became popular on the Internet, 47-year-old Xingyang Wang Fuyuan claimed that he was the founder of this strange dance. "More than ten years ago, I combined fast four, slow four, ballroom dancing and dance dance, and created the original swing. The cramp dance is the awkward dance." He called himself the electric king, "My dance is as fast as lightning."
Compared to Gu Donglin, who claims to have "goed into the world", he described himself as "the god of electric shock dance", "the sensitivity of the assembly line is the same, the swing is natural."
may be due to this unique special ability. Li Ming, the martial arts coach who has taken in the "Electric King", believes that the influence of the "Electric Teacher" and the interaction with netizens are not local, but national, even radiating. Go abroad. "This influence exists objectively. Where the Internet exists, there is the influence of the old telephony."
"We have 600 million fans." "Dian Wang" waved his hands excitedly and said that he believed in his influence. It is recognized by the world, the world's top, "no one can dance my dance". The secret of
is the word "awkward"
I want to dance well. This kind of dance is purely "blind dance" in the eyes of professional dance teachers. The threshold is super low, but it is not easy to become popular. The secret is the word "awkward".
In order to create an "awkward" effect, "Dian Wang" specially dyed his hair. "Singing has a hairstyle for singing, and dancing with a hairstyle for dancing." After reading a hair styling book carefully, he finally chose yellow, but the fans did not accept it. Finally, he had to "change to red, yellow and white, which cost 110."
"Awkward dance has no fixed movements, just do whatever you want. You can dance as you like. There are duck dances, motorcycle dances, you can dance anything, just casual, just hi, when the music is fast, you can move quickly, and when the music is slow Slow down." Speaking of rise, Hong Mao got off the bed, turned on the computer music, swayed wildly, and showed off his dance skills. It was ten o'clock in the morning. The sunlight squeezed into the house through the crack of the door. The room of more than ten square meters was still cold, minus four degrees Celsius, almost the same as outdoors. The red emperor and his partner Jiajia just got up. This is an old building he rented in the 1980s with a monthly rent of 200 yuan.
The red-haired Jiajia claimed to be here for the red-haired awkward dance, "his dancing fascinated me".
32-year-old Jiajia is from Gansu. In March of this year, after seeing the awkward dance of the red hair on the live broadcast platform, she was suddenly moved by the frantic twisting and unscrupulous dance in the camera. She claimed that she had quit her job from her hometown and flew to Zhengzhou to join Hongmao. Hongmao plans to go to Gansu with Jiajia after the Spring Festival this year to meet his parents and get married.
For Hongmao, it is indeed an unexpected joy to harvest love and even marriage through awkward dance. Before the beginning of 2016, these awkward dancers who claimed to be kings and emperors were only the most marginalized people in Zhengzhou.
The 47-year-old "Electric King" went to work in Zhengzhou before graduating from elementary school. His three wives abandoned him one after another and did not know where he ended up. For most of his time in Zhengzhou, he was basically in a semi-vagrant state. Similar to the living conditions, there are also the "fertilizer" and "monkey king" who are addicted to alcohol. After the early divorce, Hongmao dragged her daughter alone for more than ten years.
Until the beginning of 2016, one day, a young "two-strong" who had just fallen in love with the online live broadcast platform, went to the park, photographed hot songs and crazy writhing bodies, and uploaded this video to the live broadcast platform. The strange swing of
awkward dance made people laugh, and was quickly recommended by the platform. The video's click rate suddenly exceeded 800,000, and fans increased by one.Wan, Kuwu became popular.
At this time, webcasting is starting, and the top two live broadcasts of awkward dances. Fans use their mobile phones to give the anchor "gifts"—in the real world, they can be exchanged for RMB. The second strong immediately bought the stereo and paid 300 yuan for the venue fee to the aunt of the square dance, and asked the dancers to dance next to him. He was responsible for the live broadcast. The second strong
proudly declared that it was because of him that made Kuwu go to the world. Now, he teaches a man with a short stature and a strange appearance to dance, and he named him "Monkey King". How much money can
live on the dance? The top two are secretive. Now, he has four live accounts, the most one has more than 2 million fans, and the team has more than 20 people. "I can tell you that I spend no less than 200,000 for the team a year." He told the Southern Weekend reporter. .
The collapsed "empire"
, but the dancers were indignant, "Why do we dance to the top two live broadcasts, and the money made him?" Everyone dispersed one after another, and registered their live broadcast platform accounts to broadcast their own dances. The red emperor
was the first to break up with the Erqiang dance troupe. Four months ago, he was preparing to set up his own dance troupe.
At that time, the Hongmao Emperor "ruled" the Zhengzhou Railway Station. In the West Square, his dance attracted three teenagers. They are three brothers from the Yi nationality in Liangshan, Sichuan. The eldest is 18 years old, and the second and third are 16 years old. In the summer, after the second elementary school final exams were over, they wanted to earn money, but did not tell their parents. They sneaked out of their homes. The town agent introduced them to a duck farm in Linyi, Shandong. Working hard and tired, the three brothers ran out of the duck farm and took a train from Linyi North Station to Zhengzhou Railway Station. Before transferring to Xichang, they lost their wallets and lived by asking relatives and friends for red packets to buy instant noodles. Wandering in the square for seven days and nights.
At that time, the three brothers hadn't eaten for a day, staring at the bun that Hongmao put next to him. Hongmao, who danced in the West Square every day, had noticed the three brothers. He gave the buns to the three brothers. After eating the buns, the three brothers wanted to follow Hongmao and learn how to dance.
Hong Mao readily agreed. Before, he had only three female apprentices, a female junior high school student who did not like to study, a 12-and-a-half-year-old girl star who dreamed of becoming a big star, and a woman who escaped from marriage. They all saw the red-haired awkward dance in the West Square. Adore him as a teacher. The three apprentices of
brought him tea and worshipped him, saying that "Master Hongmao kissed him more than his parents." He also praised the three brothers for "it is good at learning, ethnic minorities have a talent for dancing".
Hongmao regards these apprentices as brachii. He intends to compete with the second strong team and the Shaolin team when his awkward dance troupe grows. "The second strong has a monkey king, who is four meters tall, looks like a monkey, and Shaolin has transgender people. Fans love to watch.”
In order to make his apprentices feel at ease, he rented a room for three Yi brothers and two girls. The monthly rent was 600 yuan. Five people squeezed into two beds in the room.
But what Hongmao didn't expect was that this friendship between master and apprentice only lasted for two months because of the money. "It's not enough to manage food and housing. They want me to pay 10,000 yuan a month. I don't have that much money." The master and apprentice separated.
Immediately afterwards, the 16-year-old second child of the Yi nationality and the 12-and-a-half-year-old female apprentice Lili spent the night in a hotel. They were found by patrolling police and taken away. The lawyer representing the case confirmed that the second child knew that Lily was only 12 and a half years old and admitted to having sex with her. He has been arrested on suspicion of rape and the case has been transferred to the procuratorate.
Overnight, the "empire" created by "Red-haired Emperor" Gu Donglin suddenly collapsed. When talking about the apprentice who was taken away by the police, Hong Mao was quite cautious, "What does it have to do with me? They happened after they left me."
However, the "leader" of Henan's awkward dance circle is still hard to hide his disappointment. In the "Three Kingdoms Fighting for Hegemony" in Zhengzhou's Gwa Dance Circle, the Gw Dance Troupe he was trying to fight against was so fragile that it fell apart with a light push. Now, the other apprentices leave without saying goodbye, leaving only three of them, their partners Jiajia and Daxue.
"Where is the embarrassing dance vulgar?"
, but "Electric King" has become popular. He claims that he is now taking orders continuously, “There is a TV station in Guangzhou that says to build a dance troupe, and the opening dance is mine. Liaoning, Shandong, Xinjiang, Henan, Zhengzhou, I have all invited me. 150 per person a day.”
is on the live web platform, one The beautiful female anchor named "Zhuang Zhuang" once showed her love to him on the platform, "Zhuang Zhuang said I love you Dian Wang and will never change my heart. I asked if you really love me. She said yes. I went to the Catholic Church Vulcan Temple of Guanyin Temple kowtow, thank heaven and earth."
Dan and neverLike the "Zhuangzhuang" girls who have never met, the awkward dances that have become popular on the Internet are not very popular in the real society.
"Low-quality traffic, low-quality anchors, low-quality content, and low-quality users are matched by dicks, which are the least valuable batch of traffic." Liu Jun, the boss of the Internet celebrity brokerage company, has observed Kuwu for a long time. Use the "four lows" to define this special form of performance. Since
became famous, Kuwu has always been denounced as ugly and vulgar. The smashed dancers were expelled by the city management. Hongmao, Dianwang and others have all gone to seven or eight parks and squares, but still cannot find a fixed one. dance hall. Hongmao is very dissatisfied with
's evaluation of "vulgarity", "We don't hug or hug or show off clothes, so why is the embarrassment vulgar."
However, in the live broadcast rooms of the top two, people's favorite sections are still the things that make people blush. Red hair was humiliated by a divorced woman in the live broadcast room, and the TV king was live eating wheat seedlings in the wheat field. The mentally impaired were teased and talked about love, a group of people wrapped balloons in front of their chests and danced... When the
powder sucking competition became fierce, the Hongmaogu dance troupe and the Erqiang dance troupe had both jumped into it one after another and gave off a smell In the Jinshui River, live dancing in the water. The concise interface settings of
make the live broadcast software easy to learn and use. It does not require a high threshold of knowledge. It only takes half a day, and the masters who have not finished primary school can operate proficiently. The
interface allows users to present content to the greatest extent. “After a video work is followed, it enters a popular area based on the popularity of viewing it, commonly known as popular. Once it becomes popular, it attracts a lot of fans, which means rewards and income." A former employee of the live broadcast platform explained.
Although every live webcast platform advertises records, it is still the performances that have become popular in the end. "According to the record of life, you may not even get a praise, but well-planned performances are possible. Gaining the favor of netizens. Popular rewards are enticing. In order to become popular, various outliers and lower aesthetic limits have become the first choice." The
webcast did give grassroots opportunities. As soon as he turns on his phone every day, the 47-year-old "Electric King" starts his stardom. He sat in front of the camera with his newly dyed red, yellow and white hairstyle, a neat jacket, walking, sitting, lying, eating and dressing. The whole process was broadcast live and was watched by 15,000 fans.
In the illusory online world, "Dian Wang" is getting deeper and deeper. Now, he claims to be the world dance king, with 1.2 billion fans, attention from 98 countries, dance skills surpassing American superstar Jackson, and even Obama congratulated him.
"Don't let the awkward dance dance here"
"I don't like the money, I earn more than 100 a day in live broadcast, just make it fun." Hongmao defended himself. After he became famous, a bar once invited his team to perform an awkward dance. Drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes casually. After going twice, Hongmao asked the team to come back. This time the discussion was about money. "
is also interested in people of all kinds. A debt collection company found three awkward dancers, "Electric King", "Fertilizer" and "Liu Dongli", and tried to create the "Three Musketeers of Awkward Dance", allowing them to dance and earn rewards from fans.
may be because of the income problem, or it may be based on the public reasons: "Electric King" and "Fertilizer" are addicted to alcohol, and Liu Dongli does not take a bath and brushing his teeth all the year round, which makes this company's boss intolerable. This combination was disbanded before it lasted a few months.
Immediately afterwards, some fans with reasonable financial strength took the awkward dancers to their homes to help them broadcast their gifts and share the benefits. In one year, "Dian Wang" was taken in by at least five people and broadcast live for them.
However, in Liu Jun's view, the live broadcast of Awkward dance has no investment value. If you compare the live broadcast room of a beautiful woman to a villa, the broadcaster's live broadcaster is a slum. "People pay attention to the dance because of its low bottom line."
Liu Jun’s company has a number of beautiful anchors. His live broadcast room is more like a well-designed game. Undercover looking for local tyrants, warming up the rhythm, inspiring the rich people’s desire to compare, the anchor asks the local tyrants for gifts and kicks. Haunted money but cursing dick silk, "As long as the first wave of gifts is brushed out, the first local tyrant will be held high, arousing the desires of other local tyrants. As long as you swipe it once, you will be held up and unable to control yourself. The hand."
But in the Guanwu live broadcast room, the anchor didn't even have a chance to set a trap. "Guanwu fans don't have that much money, so they can only broadcast various demons and ghosts."
This looks more like a game where some people consume the dignity of the other. "Wu Wu satisfied Diao Si, Diao Si looked at Ku Wu and found that I live better than this group of peopleBetter, it is nothing more than finding a psychological comfort and brushing off the sense of existence, because most of them are people who have no sense of existence in their lives. Liu Jun said.
But even if it is as small as an ant, the fight still exists.
On December 11, 2017, at the corner of Zhengzhou Shangcheng Ruins Park, when the second team was broadcasting the dance, an awkward dancer blocked his live footage with his body. I lighted the cigarette and faced the video. The second team felt that the visitor was unkind, and both sides pushed and pushed, “You cannot smoke, drink, have a bed, or have tattoos in the live broadcast, otherwise you will be titled.”
On this day, a martial arts coach holds Guan Gong Dadao yelled in front of the second strong Gawwu venue, "The Gawwu has discredited Zhengzhou, defeated the Gawwu and resisted it. "
The police who rushed to finally disperse the awkward dancers, "We have received a request, and the awkward dancers are not allowed to jump here. If you skip your head, you will easily fight. "
, the martial arts coach, is the new host of "Dian Wang".
(In response to the request of interviewees and the protection of minors, Lili and Liu Jun are pseudonyms in the article)
