Warm up those knees and quads. You’ll need them to try a new dance that’s going viral in New York City.
It’s called the “Reemski.”
The dance involves rolling your shoulders in a circular motion while taking tiny steps and moving your hips side to side, like a downhill skier.
It’s already been turned into a meme about the MTA and a popular joke about how Jesus walked out of the tomb, and has reached one of the most influential people on Twitch: Kai Cenat. Some clips of people doing the dance have been viewed over a million times on social media platforms.
It’s typically performed to the song “Fisherrr,” by Bronx rapper Cash Cobain in collaboration with rapper Bay Swag.
But the creator of the “Reemski,” aspiring rap artist Kareem Gadson, said it can be done to any song. His favorites include Sexyy Red’s “Get It Sexy” and Travis Scott’s “FE!N.”
Like iconic dances before it — the Chicken Noodle Soup, Harlem Shake, Shmurda (sometimes called the “Shmoney”) and others — the Reemski started in the Big Apple.
“I just got tired of doing the dances that I was seeing out here,” Gadson said. “So I just decided to do my own.”
Gadson, who lives in Brooklyn, said the dance is called the “Reemski” because the leg movements look like someone skiing downhill. He said he’s been doing it since 2016 at parties but it only recently took off online when people started posting clips of him dancing.
“I like that it doesn’t have anything to do with violence,” he added. “It’s got a lot to do with just having fun and enjoying yourself.”
Kareem Gadson, who created the “Reemski,” pictured in Bed-Stuy.
Photo by Precious Fondren / Gothamist
Cash Cobain said the timing of the dance taking off is “perfect.”
“And it helped boost my song too, so of course I’m gonna love the dance,” he said.
So how do you do the Reemski?
Gadson said the first step is to turn to sway your body to the right, pop and lock your arms, then do the same thing on the left. Whenever the bass of the song comes in, that’s when you start taking little steps while bending your knees, getting lower and moving your chest and shoulders in one fluid move.
“As you getting low you have to move sideways like you’re skiing,” Gadson said. “If you ever watch someone’s skiing and then you watch my dance, then you will go ‘OK, I see what story you’re talking about.’”
The dancer behind the viral Jesus joke meme, Elijah Hicks, said people shouldn’t overthink it.
“You just roll your shoulders, but it’s about the drop,” he said. “The drop is what makes it fun. It’s all in like one motion.”
Another important thing: “Add your own little style and swagger to it,” said music journalist, dancer and choreographer J’na Jefferson. “You have to have a certain level of zest to it and I think that’s what’s making it catch on.”
‘Your grandmother and grandfather could do it’
Hicks said he loves the positive reaction he’s gotten from people who recognize him on the street.
“I’ve probably done this dance over 50,000 times since I went viral,” he said. “People see me and we’ll just do the dance.”
The “Reemski” has caught on because it has an element of humor, according to Hicks. “Everybody can do it, because it’s so easy to do,” he said. “Your grandmother and your grandfather could do it. All they gotta do is roll their shoulders.”
Jefferson said that what sets New York dances apart from dances like the Drake-boosted “Toosie Slide” is the fact that they weren’t manufactured for social media.
“That’s why so many dances from New York specifically have stood the test of time,” she said. “You hear the beat to Bobby Shmurda’s song and it just makes you want to do the dance.”
She said that the Reemski seemed to be getting popular beyond the city but it remained to be seen if the trend goes national.
Gadson, the dance’s creator, said he’s grateful for the support it has received from fans and celebrities, including Meek Mill, Lil Yachty and Cash Cobain.
“No one expected this, but I think it’s all God if you ask me,” Gadson said.
