If you were watching the Super Bowl XLIX halftime show a few years ago, you have hard about Left Shark. If you have internet at all, you most likely have heard about Left Shark because of how viral he went.
Long story short, Katy Perry performed at this Super Bowl's halftime show. During the show, she was accompanied by many beach figures like palm trees, beach balls, and sharks. While they were performing, Left Shark's dancing was cleary offbeat and out of sync compared to everyone else dancing. The watchers observed this and blew it out of proportions. Left Shark then became an internet meme and he was the talk of the nation days after the Super Bowl.
Even though it may have seemed like Left Shark was inexperienced at dancing, he really wasn't. Bryan Gaw, the man inside Left Shark, has been one of Katy Perry's background dancers for a good time now. People were saying that he did this intentionally so that people would take notice. Well, he sure got what he asked for! Some of the memes included "not knowing what I'm doing" and "They said being a dancer would be fun". Besides becoming a popular internet meme, Left Shark got a lot of notice on both Twitter and Facebook as well. Aside from Justin Timberlake's wardrobe malfunction over ten years ago, Left Shark has to be one of the most iconic parts of the Super Bowl halftime show in this century.
Gaw basically told NPR in an interview that there are two types of choreography that can be performed: sat choreography and freestyle choreography. Freestyle choreography is obviously what Gaw chose to do. It's not that he was bad at dancing. Gaw just rolled with what he wanted to do. He said that it is better to be yourself than to play a perfect role. This is very evident in his dancing. In fact, he told NPR that he really didn't even practice the actual steps. He just went with the flow. Instead of playing the shark, he played the role as an underdog. He used this underdog symbol as a form of self-expression. He basically stated that it isn't cool to be in a 7-foot shark costume dancing to a choreographic beat. Everything is the same and nothing is unique. Unfortunately, Gaw is no longer a background dancer for Perry or any other music star for that matter. Instead, he is a hair stylist in Los Angeles.
Quite frankly, there are many things that we can take away from left shark's performance. One, you don't always have to play by the rules. Instead, you can shape the rules in your favor. You can do what you like to do even if everyone doesn't approve of it. Two, you can be yourself. Even though Left Shark may have had some second thoughts about the performance before he did it, he continued to be himself and the internet has since loved him for it. No negativity has been brought up to Gaw. Shoot, he even puts Left Shark on his resume. The good thing about Left Shark is that he not only made the Super Bowl a little funny but he also became an inspiration throughout the nation to be yourself and do things you truly love. Even though Gaw is no longer dancing, he may have found a new love in hairstyling. All in all, it's all about doing what you want to do and doing it because you love it and makes you feel good. Left Shark will be remembered for many years to come.