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New video from "Dancing Matt"

He dances with the world

Matt Harding dances around the world - with locals. Seven years ago, his first video was a hit. In the meantime, he is a star.du Pham

"Dancing Matt" in his element: traveling and dancing. Image: Screenshot YouTube

BERLIN taz | Stand in the middle of a backyard in Kigali, Rwanda, in rank and file 11 locals. Midst of the slightly overweight Matt Harding in the tour outfit. Then they break out in a dance - the YouTube star "Dancing Matt" is back again.

Matt Harding from Seattle dances not only in Rwanda but also in Austria on a chic ball, with cheerleaders in Pennsylvania or underwater with divers on the famous dive spot great barrier reef in Australia. He has danced through the world. Why not, YouTube is full of small movie in which the virtual celebrities shows their beard or even at all possible places. But "Dancing Matt" is one of the most famous YouTube stars.

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Making Harding to do so: he is dancing. And the obviously bad. His story sounds a little after "from rags to riches", only that he once was a video game maker and yearned for more. in 2003, he announces his location in Brisbane, grabs his savings and travels to Asia.

Up to date to keep his family and friends, he set up a Web site. After a few months, travel, many blog entries and pictures later, it is now in Hanoi. There, a rice-mate encouraged him to dance but instead of the same all the time tourist photos. He would record the videos.

And as it is with the Internet, the video will be forwarded from one person to the next. It catalogs and geliked. The growing popularity of the Internet community will not go unnoticed: the video is seen by 3 million people.

And then a chewing gum company to Harding is aware, would like to send him on a further world tour - paid. The result, another video, which for six months accompany him through 39 countries on all continents while dancing.

While Matt has a new idea: due to numerous E-Mails, he will also receive even worse dancing fan, he would like to make another trip. And the E-Mail writers to invite to dance with. The result: the video with 300,000 hits. After just one day. The first needed for about half a year.

Since the Place tourist photos video in 2003, Harding has become professional. The older recordings are still shaky and remind of private travel recordings, scores the current with high-quality shots and crisp cuts. The list of contributors in the credits reveals that in addition to his girlfriend Melissa Nixon, an entire production team behind it is.

 

His website "Where the Hell is Matt" reveals that he is so at home staying in Seattle, Washington. Probably he finds places that have still no red tiller needle on the world map.