Fortnite Default Dance

2017Video game emote / dance meme / remix seriessemi-active

Also known as: Dance Moves · Default Dance

Fortnite Default Dance is a 2017 viral meme centered on the game's default character emote, featuring characteristic hip thrusts and arm swings synced to "Poison" by Bell Biv DeVoe, spawning countless remixes and parodies.

The Fortnite Default Dance is the default emote dance move available to all players in the game Fortnite, which became a massive meme and remix series starting in 2017. The dance's moves were borrowed from a 2006 episode of the TV show Scrubs, where the character Turk performed a similar routine to "Poison" by Bell Biv DeVoe3. As Fortnite exploded in popularity through 2018, the Default Dance became one of the most recognizable and parodied video game animations on the internet.

fortnite memesdance memesgamingvideo game emote memes2018 memes

Overview

The Fortnite Default Dance is the free emote that every Fortnite player starts with. Unlike the game's premium emotes, this one costs nothing and is available from the first match. The dance involves a series of rhythmic arm swings and hip movements performed in a loop, set to a short musical cue. Because every new player had access to it, the Default Dance became the most commonly seen emote in the game and a universal symbol of Fortnite culture3.

The dance's appeal as a meme comes from its simplicity and ubiquity. It's easy to replicate in real life, easy to edit onto other characters, and impossible to escape if you played Fortnite during its peak. The dance spawned a massive remix series, with creators setting the animation to different songs, applying it to characters from other franchises, and filming real-life recreations3.

The roots of the Default Dance go back to February 7, 2006, when the Scrubs episode "My Half-Acre" aired during the show's fifth season2. In the episode, the character Turk, played by Donald Faison, performs an enthusiastic dance to "Poison" by Bell Biv DeVoe3. The dance was a comedic highlight of the episode and stuck with fans of the show.

Over a decade later, on July 25, 2017, Epic Games released Fortnite in Early Access1. The game shipped with a default dance emote that closely mimicked Turk's moves from that Scrubs episode3. Epic Games had been developing Fortnite since its announcement in 2011, and the game went through multiple iterations before landing on its final form1. The default emote was just one small piece of the game's launch, but it would become one of its most culturally significant elements.

Origin & Background

Platform
Fortnite (game), YouTube (viral spread)
Key People
Epic Games, Donald Faison
Date
2017

The roots of the Default Dance go back to February 7, 2006, when the Scrubs episode "My Half-Acre" aired during the show's fifth season. In the episode, the character Turk, played by Donald Faison, performs an enthusiastic dance to "Poison" by Bell Biv DeVoe. The dance was a comedic highlight of the episode and stuck with fans of the show.

Over a decade later, on July 25, 2017, Epic Games released Fortnite in Early Access. The game shipped with a default dance emote that closely mimicked Turk's moves from that Scrubs episode. Epic Games had been developing Fortnite since its announcement in 2011, and the game went through multiple iterations before landing on its final form. The default emote was just one small piece of the game's launch, but it would become one of its most culturally significant elements.

How It Spread

The connection between Fortnite's dance and the Scrubs scene didn't go unnoticed for long. On September 25, 2017, YouTuber Sparky Thunder uploaded a video called "Fortnite Dance Reference To Scrubs," which pulled in over 1.4 million views within 11 months. The video made the lineage clear, and fans of both properties latched onto it.

Three months later, YouTuber A_Rival Planetskill posted a side-by-side comparison syncing the Fortnite emote with the original Scrubs clip. That video racked up more than 5.4 million views in under a year. As Fortnite Battle Royale surged through late 2017 and into 2018, the Default Dance traveled with it.

By February 2018, real-life recreations were appearing on YouTube. TerificTaylor 10 posted a video of someone performing the dance, picking up over 2,100 views in six months. The dance had jumped from screen to schoolyard. Kids were doing it at sporting events, in classrooms, and on playgrounds across the world.

The meme also spread through fan animation and crossover content. On August 27, 2018, the Twitter account @ForkKnifeEmotes, which specialized in editing Fortnite dances onto characters from other media, posted the character Tamamo no Mae performing the Default Dance. The post earned more than 200 retweets and 485 likes within a day. This type of content, applying the Default Dance to anime characters, movie villains, and video game mascots, became its own thriving genre.

The dance peaked during the broader Fortnite cultural moment of 2018, when the game was pulling in tens of millions of players and its emotes were showing up everywhere from NFL touchdown celebrations to talk show appearances.

Platforms

YouTubeRedditTwitter

Timeline

2019-01-01

Meme still see steady use

2020-01-01

Fortnite Default Dance reached mainstream popularity and media coverage

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

The Default Dance works as a meme in several formats:

People typically film themselves or others performing the dance in real life, often in unexpected or inappropriate settings for comedic effect. The humor comes from the contrast between the setting and the goofy, looping dance.

Creators also commonly edit the dance animation onto characters from other franchises, syncing the movements to different music or placing them in dramatic scenes. The format follows a simple pattern: take a recognizable character, make them do the Default Dance, and let the absurdity do the work.

The remix series format involves taking the Default Dance's musical cue and either remixing it or replacing it with other songs while keeping the animation. Some creators go the other direction, keeping the original music but applying it to footage of real people or animals that happen to be moving in a similar rhythm.

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

The Fortnite Default Dance became a flashpoint in the broader conversation about dance moves and intellectual property in video games. Donald Faison, who originated the dance as Turk on Scrubs, publicly commented on Epic Games using his moves without credit or compensation, joining a wave of performers and choreographers who raised similar concerns about Fortnite's emote system.

The dance was part of a larger cultural moment where Fortnite emotes crossed over into mainstream awareness. During 2018, the Default Dance and other Fortnite dances were performed by professional athletes, referenced on late-night TV, and became a common sight at schools. The simplicity of the Default Dance made it especially easy to replicate, and it became shorthand for "that Fortnite thing" among people who had never played the game.

Epic Games had originally pitched Fortnite as a cooperative building game, describing it as "Pixar meets The Walking Dead". The fact that the game's cultural footprint ended up being defined as much by its dance emotes as by its gameplay was something nobody at Epic anticipated during those early development years.

Fun Facts

Fortnite was first announced in 2011 at the Video Game Awards but didn't launch until 2017, making it one of the longest development cycles for a game that became a cultural force.

The Scrubs dance that inspired the emote was performed to "Poison" by Bell Biv DeVoe, a 1990 hit, giving the Default Dance a lineage stretching back over three decades.

Epic Games originally positioned Fortnite as a cooperative PvE game with paid early access bundles ranging from $39.99 to $149.99, before the free-to-play Battle Royale mode changed everything.

The Default Dance is free for all players, which is exactly why it became so widespread. Every single Fortnite player had access to it from day one.

Derivatives & Variations

Fortnite Default Dance Variations

Different takes on the Fortnite Default Dance format with modified content

(2018)

Fortnite Default Dance Mashups

Combinations of Fortnite Default Dance with other popular memes

(2019)

Fortnite Default Dance Remixes

Updated versions with current events and references

(2019)

Frequently Asked Questions

Fortnite Default Dance

2017Video game emote / dance meme / remix seriessemi-active

Also known as: Dance Moves · Default Dance

Fortnite Default Dance is a 2017 viral meme centered on the game's default character emote, featuring characteristic hip thrusts and arm swings synced to "Poison" by Bell Biv DeVoe, spawning countless remixes and parodies.

The Fortnite Default Dance is the default emote dance move available to all players in the game Fortnite, which became a massive meme and remix series starting in 2017. The dance's moves were borrowed from a 2006 episode of the TV show Scrubs, where the character Turk performed a similar routine to "Poison" by Bell Biv DeVoe. As Fortnite exploded in popularity through 2018, the Default Dance became one of the most recognizable and parodied video game animations on the internet.

fortnite memes dance memes gaming video game emote memes 2018 memes

Overview

The Fortnite Default Dance is the free emote that every Fortnite player starts with. Unlike the game's premium emotes, this one costs nothing and is available from the first match. The dance involves a series of rhythmic arm swings and hip movements performed in a loop, set to a short musical cue. Because every new player had access to it, the Default Dance became the most commonly seen emote in the game and a universal symbol of Fortnite culture.

The dance's appeal as a meme comes from its simplicity and ubiquity. It's easy to replicate in real life, easy to edit onto other characters, and impossible to escape if you played Fortnite during its peak. The dance spawned a massive remix series, with creators setting the animation to different songs, applying it to characters from other franchises, and filming real-life recreations.

The roots of the Default Dance go back to February 7, 2006, when the Scrubs episode "My Half-Acre" aired during the show's fifth season. In the episode, the character Turk, played by Donald Faison, performs an enthusiastic dance to "Poison" by Bell Biv DeVoe. The dance was a comedic highlight of the episode and stuck with fans of the show.

Over a decade later, on July 25, 2017, Epic Games released Fortnite in Early Access. The game shipped with a default dance emote that closely mimicked Turk's moves from that Scrubs episode. Epic Games had been developing Fortnite since its announcement in 2011, and the game went through multiple iterations before landing on its final form. The default emote was just one small piece of the game's launch, but it would become one of its most culturally significant elements.

Origin & Background

Platform
Fortnite (game), YouTube (viral spread)
Key People
Epic Games, Donald Faison
Date
2017

The roots of the Default Dance go back to February 7, 2006, when the Scrubs episode "My Half-Acre" aired during the show's fifth season. In the episode, the character Turk, played by Donald Faison, performs an enthusiastic dance to "Poison" by Bell Biv DeVoe. The dance was a comedic highlight of the episode and stuck with fans of the show.

Over a decade later, on July 25, 2017, Epic Games released Fortnite in Early Access. The game shipped with a default dance emote that closely mimicked Turk's moves from that Scrubs episode. Epic Games had been developing Fortnite since its announcement in 2011, and the game went through multiple iterations before landing on its final form. The default emote was just one small piece of the game's launch, but it would become one of its most culturally significant elements.

How It Spread

The connection between Fortnite's dance and the Scrubs scene didn't go unnoticed for long. On September 25, 2017, YouTuber Sparky Thunder uploaded a video called "Fortnite Dance Reference To Scrubs," which pulled in over 1.4 million views within 11 months. The video made the lineage clear, and fans of both properties latched onto it.

Three months later, YouTuber A_Rival Planetskill posted a side-by-side comparison syncing the Fortnite emote with the original Scrubs clip. That video racked up more than 5.4 million views in under a year. As Fortnite Battle Royale surged through late 2017 and into 2018, the Default Dance traveled with it.

By February 2018, real-life recreations were appearing on YouTube. TerificTaylor 10 posted a video of someone performing the dance, picking up over 2,100 views in six months. The dance had jumped from screen to schoolyard. Kids were doing it at sporting events, in classrooms, and on playgrounds across the world.

The meme also spread through fan animation and crossover content. On August 27, 2018, the Twitter account @ForkKnifeEmotes, which specialized in editing Fortnite dances onto characters from other media, posted the character Tamamo no Mae performing the Default Dance. The post earned more than 200 retweets and 485 likes within a day. This type of content, applying the Default Dance to anime characters, movie villains, and video game mascots, became its own thriving genre.

The dance peaked during the broader Fortnite cultural moment of 2018, when the game was pulling in tens of millions of players and its emotes were showing up everywhere from NFL touchdown celebrations to talk show appearances.

Platforms

YouTubeRedditTwitter

Timeline

2019-01-01

Meme still see steady use

2020-01-01

Fortnite Default Dance reached mainstream popularity and media coverage

View on Google Trends

How to Use This Meme

The Default Dance works as a meme in several formats:

People typically film themselves or others performing the dance in real life, often in unexpected or inappropriate settings for comedic effect. The humor comes from the contrast between the setting and the goofy, looping dance.

Creators also commonly edit the dance animation onto characters from other franchises, syncing the movements to different music or placing them in dramatic scenes. The format follows a simple pattern: take a recognizable character, make them do the Default Dance, and let the absurdity do the work.

The remix series format involves taking the Default Dance's musical cue and either remixing it or replacing it with other songs while keeping the animation. Some creators go the other direction, keeping the original music but applying it to footage of real people or animals that happen to be moving in a similar rhythm.

Create Your Own

Cultural Impact

The Fortnite Default Dance became a flashpoint in the broader conversation about dance moves and intellectual property in video games. Donald Faison, who originated the dance as Turk on Scrubs, publicly commented on Epic Games using his moves without credit or compensation, joining a wave of performers and choreographers who raised similar concerns about Fortnite's emote system.

The dance was part of a larger cultural moment where Fortnite emotes crossed over into mainstream awareness. During 2018, the Default Dance and other Fortnite dances were performed by professional athletes, referenced on late-night TV, and became a common sight at schools. The simplicity of the Default Dance made it especially easy to replicate, and it became shorthand for "that Fortnite thing" among people who had never played the game.

Epic Games had originally pitched Fortnite as a cooperative building game, describing it as "Pixar meets The Walking Dead". The fact that the game's cultural footprint ended up being defined as much by its dance emotes as by its gameplay was something nobody at Epic anticipated during those early development years.

Fun Facts

Fortnite was first announced in 2011 at the Video Game Awards but didn't launch until 2017, making it one of the longest development cycles for a game that became a cultural force.

The Scrubs dance that inspired the emote was performed to "Poison" by Bell Biv DeVoe, a 1990 hit, giving the Default Dance a lineage stretching back over three decades.

Epic Games originally positioned Fortnite as a cooperative PvE game with paid early access bundles ranging from $39.99 to $149.99, before the free-to-play Battle Royale mode changed everything.

The Default Dance is free for all players, which is exactly why it became so widespread. Every single Fortnite player had access to it from day one.

Derivatives & Variations

Fortnite Default Dance Variations

Different takes on the Fortnite Default Dance format with modified content

(2018)

Fortnite Default Dance Mashups

Combinations of Fortnite Default Dance with other popular memes

(2019)

Fortnite Default Dance Remixes

Updated versions with current events and references

(2019)

Frequently Asked Questions