Dmitry Medvedev's 'awkward' solo dance party

The video: A short video of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev shaking his hips has quickly become a viral smash. (Watch it below.) In the 52-second clip, Medvedev "somewhat awkwardly wiggles his hips and kicks up his heels," says Reuters, to the blaring sounds of "American Boy" (a 1990 hit by the Russian group Kombinatsia) as his compatriots bust similarly strange moves. An unidentified cameraman uploaded the footage to YouTube on Tuesday night, and it became an immediate hit, inspiring hundreds of comments. Medvedev took to the internet and explained, "We're rocking out last year at a reunion with my (university) class. The dances/music are those, from the past." Dancing for the camera seems to be a Russian presidential tradition; Medvedev's shuffle recalled Boris Yeltsin, Russia's president in the '90s, who was hardly shy about shaking his groove thing in public.

The reaction: Medvedev "dances like a marionette with a stick up its butt," says Maureen O'Connor at Gawker. Of course, given Vladimir Putin's vast power as prime minister, "this is also the way he governs." Actually, says Slate Video, this is just a "a slight variation of Elaine's stiff-legged strut, made popular on Seinfeld." Watch Medvedev get down:

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up