Panama Dance craze hits M'sia
PETALING JAYA: The Panama Dance challenge, which is performed to a catchy 2013 pop song by Romanian artist Matteo, has become the latest viral craze among Malaysians.
Many Malaysians are uploading videos of themselves dancing to the tune in groups, resembling a flash mob, The Star reported.
On Friday (March 11), a video shared on the Raja Lepak Facebook page featuring a group of girls clad in Baju Kurung and canvas sneakers garnered over two million views and more than 3,400 shares.
Last week, another video of Perlis Road Transport Department (JPJ) personnel taking on the challenge also went viral on social media, with over 2.5 milion views and 51,000 shares.
The dance video starts with a staff member saluting a senior officer and then takes centre stage, leading the dance while other JPJ staff perform moves choreographed to the catchy reggae and dancehall song Panama at the Perlis JPJ headquarters. Some staff also took the opportunity to show off their superbikes in the video.
Not to be outdone, the Gua Musang Fire and Rescue Department also decided to show off the fire in their dance moves.
The video garnered over 631,000 views and over 9,000 shares.
The Panama Dance challenge has even “infected” the medical fraternity with the Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah, Selayang Hospital, KPJ Penang, Hulu Selangor Health Department releasing their own version of the dance.
Malaysian authorities have been known to show their lighter side with the Fire and Rescue Department and Royal Malaysian Police Force previously taking part in viral dance trends like 2016’s Running Man challenge and in 2013, when Psy’s Gangnam Style was at the height of its popularity.
Netizens have praised civil servants for taking on the dance challenge, with many saying it can even boost workplace productivity.
The trend is believed to have originated from Chinese video sharing app DouYou, where clips of people dancing to the tune can be found dated as far back as September last year.