Dancer’s video huge hit on web
In March, Erik Cavanaugh recorded a video of himself dancing in 4-inch heels at Miss Beverly’s School of Dance in Bethel Park.
By the end of July, it had been viewed more than 70 million times — made into a meme on the Facebook page Scary Mommy, with the header “When You Have the House to Yourself.”
Mr. Cavanaugh, 25, has a build that he said is often compared to a football player, rather than the traditional frame of a dancer. He’s built a career in dance despite his size, studying dance at Pittsburgh CAPA and majoring in it at Slippery Rock University.
“I’m very proud of him for really pursuing what he loves to do, and finding his own path that maybe doesn’t fit into everybody else’s mode,” said Rene Polanco, his dance teacher at CAPA and chair of the dance department. “He’s forging ahead and not letting anything stop him.”
He was working at Beto’s Pizza in the spring of 2016 when his first viral video hit. That one was shared on the Instagram page of world wide dance, and then picked up by the New York Post, Buzzfeed and other national websites. In total, said Mr. Cavanaugh, he’s heard that it was viewed more than 90 million times across all platforms.
That video, which used the hashtag #dancerscomeinallsizes, launched his dancing career. He’s starred in two music videos, been in Oprah Magazine and shown briefly on “America’s Got Talent.”
One person who saw it, Fergie of the band Black Eyed Peas, spoke to Mr. Cavanaugh on FaceTime and told him that the video moved her to tears.
Through Fergie, Mr. Cavanaugh was also noticed by choreographer Fatima Robinson and Emmy-winning director and producer Michael Jurkovac — leading eventually to a Dodge Ram commercial that Mr. Cavanaugh said at one point was slated to air during the 2018 Super Bowl.
After his first viral video, Mr. Cavanaugh began working with the company Storyful, which licenses videos that he regularly posts to his Instagram page and makes them available for purchase by other websites. The Scary Mommy Facebook page, which bills itself as “millions of unique women, united by motherhood,” licensed the video and added the “When You Have the House to Yourself” header. Turns out the moms loved it.
The video was first posted in April, and got more than 8 million views. It was posted again July 23, and truly caught fire. As of Thursday, it had 65 million more views in less than two weeks.
“I thought, ‘ OK, this might get some views,’ “said Mr. Cavanaugh, when he heard what site it was posted on. “I didn’t think it would get 60 million. It’s not like a mommy-type thing.”
He is just happy, however, that his message of body positivity and dance for all body types is getting out there.
Mr. Cavanaugh began studying dance at CAPA, starting in the theater department there and later switching to dance. “The way he moves is just very fluid — it gives you a sense of pleasure as you’re watching that,” Ms. Polanco said. “When he did his senior solo it was that same quality of movement.”
Mr. Cavanaugh first started dancing in heels about a year ago, inspired by the videos of French dancer Yanis Marshall. The heels that he is wearing in the Scary Mommy video are about 4 inches, he said, but he has since upgraded to a 6.5-inch pair.
He trains as a dancer two to three hours a day, he said, and makes a living through income from the commercial and music videos, licensing his own videos and teaching dance classes.
“I’m able to sustain myself as a full-time dancer,” he said. “It’s amazing.”