BEIRUT: It started with a mask and a raunchy hip thrust. The Harlem Shake, a viral YouTube video trend, hit Lebanon several weeks ago and has been recreated by random strangers on the streets of Beirut, university students, club-goers and office workers. The dance video phenomenon began with a group of Australian teenagers who posted their half-minute version in January, which has since been replicated worldwide. Homemade Harlem Shake videos hit a peak of 4,000 versions uploaded on YouTube every day. 

In other parts of the region, the dance evolved into a tool of social and political protest. In Tunisia, the Harlem Shake has pitted young secularists against conservative Salafists, who condemn the dance for its witless profanity. Likewise, in Egypt, young secularists took a cue from Tunisian youth and performed the Harlem Shake as an act of protest against the ruling Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.

In Lebanon, however, the Harlem Shake remains as a kind of stress reliever and inspires a little lighthearted competition, according to participants of local renditions.

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