What is the Smooth Criminal dance trend?
The Smooth Criminal dance trend is a short TikTok routine, about 15 seconds, set to Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal”: sharp arm swings, side glides, kicks and a spin to finish. It started as a solo dance and turned into a duo and friends challenge.
It isn’t the choreography from Michael Jackson’s own Smooth Criminal film. It’s a new street-style routine by TikTok dancers, which is why tutorials and “dc” (dance credit) captions point to them rather than to the film.
Who started the Smooth Criminal dance trend?
The dancer @carlowrush made the take everyone copies. Here’s how it spread, with view counts as of November 6, 2026.
July 12, 2025
The dancer @charliewakey_ posts his own “Smooth Criminal” choreography on TikTok (339,600 views).
June 10, 2026
@carlowrush posts “SMOOTH CRIMINAL” with two other dancers at night (4.6 million views). Copies credit him with “dc @carlowrush”.
August 16, 2026
@larosi.222 posts a duo take (5.3 million views), and the trend turns into a duo and friends challenge.
September 13, 2026
@carlowrush posts a duo take with Ryan Hoffmann (4.3 million views, 739,900 likes).
Smooth Criminal dance TikTok videos
The take most copies credit, and the duo version that made it a challenge.
The Smooth Criminal dance trend song
The song is “Smooth Criminal”, Michael Jackson’s 1988 single from the album Bad. @carlowrush’s June take uses the 2012 remaster; many later takes, including his September duo, use an “original sound” posted by Cadel and Mia.
How to do the Smooth Criminal dance (easy way)
1. Learn it slowed down
Play the routine at half speed, mirrored, and learn it a few counts at a time. It only lasts about 15 seconds.
2. Dress for it
Baggy trousers and a dark hoodie, as in the viral takes, or a white suit and fedora for the Michael Jackson look.
3. Film head to shoes
Prop the phone at hip height so your whole body and the kicks stay in frame, and find good light.
If you dance it as a duo, decide who is on the left before you start and keep the same spacing all the way through, so the kicks and the spin land together.
The Smooth Criminal lean: how Michael Jackson did it
The most famous moment in the Smooth Criminal video is the lean: Michael Jackson and his dancers tip far forward with straight bodies and come back up. It isn’t part of the TikTok routine, but it’s what most people mean by the Smooth Criminal lean.
In the film, wires held the dancers. On stage, Jackson used shoes he patented with two co-inventors in 1993, US patent 5,255,452, “Method and means for creating anti-gravity illusion”: a slot in the heel hooked onto a peg that rose through the stage floor, so he could lean without falling. So the lean is an illusion, not a balance trick you can copy.
Smooth Criminal AI dance: making it from one photo
What AI can do
Image-to-video tools such as Seedance or Kling can make the person in one photo dance, and some can copy the moves of a real dance clip. Fast spins and kicks are the hard part, so expect a few tries before the hands and feet look right.
Which photos work
Use one sharp photo of yourself, or of an adult who agreed, standing and in full view from head to shoes. Never use a celebrity, a stranger or a child.
Smooth Criminal AI dance prompt
Add one full-body photo as the reference image, then start from this prompt. We wrote it from the viral takes and haven’t tested it, so adjust it for your tool. Add the music yourself when you post.
Vertical 9:16, about 10 seconds, realistic phone footage. Use the person in the reference image and keep their face, hair, body and clothes the same in every frame. They stand alone in a lit parking garage at night, filmed head to shoes from hip height with a steady phone. They do a sharp, high-energy Michael Jackson style street dance: a flick at an imaginary hat brim, quick arm swings, side glides, two kicks and a fast spin, then freeze facing the camera. Smooth, on-beat movement with no extra limbs or warped hands. No text and no music.