Moonwalk ('dance' move)

[Bert]

I know that Michael Jackson did not invent the moonwalk, that it can be performed in slightly different ways, and that the move was known by other names in past times. But what I'd like to know is, why it is called 'the moonwalk'? It bears no resemblance to what Neil Armstrong et al did on the moon. Nobody (so far as I know) has glided backwards on the moon. The Wikipedia article does not cite the first use of the word, but one reference goes to November 1969, which was shortly after the first real moonwalk. I would be grateful for an earliest reference to the origin of the name. Perhaps this would explain why it was called the moonwalk. If it does not, any suggestions would be interesting, at least, to read.

[sinderella]

it is called the moonwalk because it refers to the appearance of walking in a low gravity environment.i.e. the moon!

[Mattk]

The 'moonwalk' can actually be traced back to the late 1920's/early 1930's.

[MarkRae]

Indeed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRByZlHS6GE

[jno]

the idea, I guess, is that you'd have heavily weighted boots on the moon to counter the effects of low/no gravity (otherwise you'd fly away), and this is what walking in such boots would look like *on earth*.

[MarkRae]

There is gravity on the moon, jno - no chance of flying away, per se...

[Bert]

I don't see that the 'moonwalk' as performed in the video link (thanks) or as performed by MJ shows any appearance of walking in a low gravity environment. Also, it is almost always performed going backwards, which isn't explained by being on the moon. Has anyone got access to the OED inline to find the date of the first use as the name of the dance movement?

[MarkRae]

> I don't see that the 'moonwalk' as performed in the video link

You didn't watch all if it, then...

[Bert]

Oh, I did watch all of it, Mark. The 'moonwalk' was at the very end. I was saying it didn't look like walking in a low gravity environment. And why would you walk backwards in low gravity. It's just a way of going backwards that looks as if you are gliding - which is presumably the reason it was called (by some) the backglide.