Itâs not just teens: Weâre all in the TikTok-dance-challenge phase of quarantine now

It was early March, just a week before spring break, when social work graduate student Richard Unite learned that Columbia University would be moving classes online to slow the spread of coronavirus.
Like many others in the coming days and weeks, Unite was suddenly confined to his apartment, which he shared with one roommate.
âI was just in bed all the time and I didnât really have access to the gym,â the West Harlem resident said. âI wanted to find a way to have some kind of outlet for exercising and having fun without leaving the house because I was too scared.â
So Unite turned to TikTok, the increasingly popular short-form video social media app. Unite â at 25, already something of An Old in the TikTok universe â had downloaded the app in January but never posted.
He uploaded his version of a viral internet dance thatâs set to the song âSupalonelyâ by Benee on March 8. The same day, he posted one thatâs set to Keshaâs âCannibal.â About a week later, he posted the âSavageâ challenge dance, set to the Megan Thee Stallion song.
Created by 19-year-old Keara Wilson in early March, the âSavageâ challenge dance blew up after being reposted by the rapper.
The dance, which has been emulated by celebrities including Justin Bieber and Jessica Alba â doesnât just live on TikTok. Itâs been cross-posted on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. Thereâs even a Netflix âTiger Kingâ and âSavageâ mashup.
More and more people of all ages are embracing these types of dance challenges on TikTok. Itâs the new reality as quarantine and stay-at-home orders keep people indoors around the world.
The âSavageâ challenge was one of the most popular dance challenges in March, with 9.3 million videos created using the song, said Greg Justice, TikTokâs U.S. head of content programming, via email. Other popular dance challenges in March include the viral â elbow, elbow, shimmy, clap â dance to âSomething Newâ by Wiz Khalifa featuring Ty Dolla Sign.
On March 24, the platform launched a #DistanceDance challenge and fundraiser featuring 15-year-old Charli DâAmelio, TikTokâs most followed creator with more than 47 million followers, âto reach young people across the country and around the world, encouraging them to practice social distancing in a fun and creative way.â Justice said.
Since launching about two weeks ago, the hashtag has surpassed 4.6 billion views.
TikTok, which is owned by the Beijing-based tech company ByteDance, began as the lip-syncing app Musical.ly. The platform is known for being most popular among teens, but quarantine may be helping to break down age barriers.
Rodell Bautistaâs 15-year-old daughter introduced him to TikTok in late March, inviting him to join her in a dance challenge. After posting the video to Twitter, Bautista, 46, created what he called a TikTok âDance-A-Paloozaâ â asking family members to join him in dance challenges to songs including the âCha-Cha Slide,â âMen in Blackâ and âLove Shack.â
âIâve been bugging every family member every day,â said Bautista, who lives in Winnipeg, Canada. âSometimes theyâre a bit annoyed, but theyâre kind of amused by it.â
Dancing on TikTok during the pandemic is a form of expression and a break from the constant flow of depressing news.
âWatching people enjoy themselves in the midst of this all, actually finding a positive way to put their energy while weâre all locked up and staying at home, itâs a chance to connect with your family and have fun with them, be silly,â Bautista said.
As on other video-centric platforms, dance on TikTok has allowed creators to break out of the shadows and gain large followings. Itâs âone of the most expressive art formats and is a shared language that users of all ages and backgrounds enjoy,â Justice said.

Meet the L.A. dancers capitalizing on L.Aâs. influencer culture
The most viral TikTok dances tend to be simple â choreography that can be performed in small spaces and moves that people can pick up regardless of their skill level.
âWhat generally sticks is if someone watches ... and they feel like they can do it and theyâre not too intimidated,â said Melanie Wilking, 20, who creates TikTok dances with her 23-year-old sibling, Miranda, as the Wilking Sisters.
One exception is the Renegade â Bautista said heâs attempting to learn it now â a dance set to rapper K Campâs âLotteryâ by 14-year-old Jalaiah Harmon. The dance is fast and at some points has multiple movements between each beat.
Some on Twitter have debated whether âoldâ people â mid-20s and up â are inadvertently ruining TikTok for teens.
âYâall remember how annoying it was when your mom joined Facebook,â activist and writer Brittany Packnett Cunningham playfully tweeted. âThatâs yâall joining TikTok and doing these challenges. Let the young cousins have something.â
But like the viral TikTok coronavirus anthem by Curtis Roach, people being âbored in the house, bored in the house, boredâ is a compelling reason to join dance challenges.
Samantha Parent, 27, said via email she didnât quite understand TikTok challenges initially âand thought there was no way you could catch me doing one.â After a few days of scrolling, though, she was hooked.
Since being in quarantine, sheâs learned the viral dance to Doja Catâs âSay So,â a process that took two to three days to perfect after watching other people do the dance âabout 50 times.â
âMy best friend made fun of me at first and now she uses it more than I do,â Parent said.
Making fun of the things young people do is a form of self-protection, said Clare Blackwood, a 32-year-old actor, comedian and writer from Toronto, via email. âTikTok has a reputation for being a silly thing that âthe kids are doing,â but we all secretly want to do it too, so when we actually join we have to pretend that weâre not happy about it.â
Justice would not provide an average age of TikTok users, saying the âcommunity is made up of users of all ages, from grandparents to college students alike.â He added that TikTok has experienced âan incredible increase in the diversity and level of creativityâ in content shared on the platform in the last few weeks.
âSavageâ challenge creator Wilson guessed the average age range on TikTok was 17 through 20 when she first joined in September.
But now, âthereâs actually a lot of older people and I love to see that because itâs not really just a kidsâ app,â Wilson said. âI see it more for everyone to come in and join and show off their dancing and their funniness.â
The Wilking sisters, who have 2.4 million followers on TikTok, said theyâve experienced âpeople talking not so great about the app,â Melanie said. âPeople get under the impression that itâs just these teen girls doing these silly dances, when really itâs so much deeper than that.â
Until being featured in the New York Times, Harmon struggled to get proper credit for her Renegade choreography after TikTok influencers, including DâAmelio, popularized the dance on the app. Since then, the Atlanta teen has performed the choreography on âThe Ellen Degeneres Showâ and the 2020 NBA-All Star Game.
Like other viral TikTok creators, she hopes to translate social media success into a professional dance and choreography career.
But many donât dream of being TikTok famous.
âItâs going to sound cheesy,â Unite said. âTikTok has given me the confidence to mess up and dance and be able to do that happily in front of people and not be judged for it.â
Posting on TikTok is a way to make friends smile during the pandemic, Blackwood said. âAny shame I possess about using an app made for people who are younger, richer and hotter than I will ever be is canceled out.â
She added: âThe second quarantine is over, I am deleting it. It is an addictive, time-sucking monstrosity that I like far too much for my own good.â
Fourteen-year-old Harmon weighed in on the age debate, saying age shouldnât matter on TikTok. âYouâre never too old to dance either,â she said. âIf itâs something you love, you can still do it. It doesnât matter how old you are. Itâs just all about having fun.â
From the Oscars to the Emmys.
Get the Envelope newsletter for exclusive awards season coverage, behind-the-scenes stories from the Envelope podcast and columnist Glenn Whippâs must-read analysis.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.