Matt Harding
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Matthew "Matt (Mathias)" Harding (born September 27, 1976) is an American video game developer and Internet celebrity known as Dancing Matt for his viral videos that show him dancing in front of landmarks and street scenes in various international locations. Harding has since achieved notoriety through widespread coverage of his travel exploits in major print and broadcast media outlets.[1][2][3][4]
Originally from Westport, Connecticut, Harding worked in the video game industry in Los Angeles and then Brisbane, Australia.
Harding claims that a sarcastic joke of his about the popularity of shoot 'em up games led Pandemic Studios to develop the game Destroy All Humans!, on which he received a conceptual credit. Saying he "didn't want to spend two years of my life writing a game about killing everyone", he quit his job and began traveling, leading to the production of his first video.[5] Harding has subsequently moved to Seattle and continues to work on video games.
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[edit] Dancing Matt video
Harding was known for a particular dance, and while videotaping each other in Vietnam, his traveling companion suggested he add the dance. The videos were uploaded to his website for friends and family to enjoy. Later, Harding edited together 15 dance scenes, all with him center frame, with the background music "Sweet Lullaby (Nature's Dancing 7" Mix)", a 1992 world music song by Deep Forest that uses lyrics from a dying Solomon Islands language.
(The original "Sweet Lullaby" music video, which was nominated by MTV for music video of the year, consists of a little girl riding a tricycle in front of iconic scenes from around the globe. The same clip was used as a station identification for the SBS television network.)
The video was passed around by e-mail and eventually became "viral", with his server getting 20,000 or more hits a day as it was discovered, generally country by country due to language barriers, before the launch of major video upload sites.
Harding created a second version of the video in 2006, with additional dancing scenes from subsequent travels, called "Dancing 2006". At the request of Stride, a gum brand, he accepted sponsorship[6] of this video, since he usually travels on a limited budget.
His videos are viewable on YouTube, Google Video, and his own site wherethehellismatt.com. His second video has been watched 6,116,102 times on YouTube as of March 30, 2007 and Harding's YouTube channel is ranked "#30 - Most Viewed (All Time) - Directors" as of March 25, 2007.[7]
[edit] Major media coverage
Matt's 15 minutes of fame included screening the video clip on television shows including:
- The Screen Savers (March 17, 2005)
- MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann (August 18, 2005)
- Inside Edition (August 19, 2005)
- The Ellen DeGeneres Show (October 10, 2005)
Matt was bumped from Good Morning America on September 8, 2005, due to coverage of Hurricane Katrina, but appeared May 31, 2006, dancing outside the GMA studio in Times Square with footage from his videos displayed on the Panasonic Astro Vision screen on One Times Square.
In November 2006, Harding was invited to lecture at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont about the experience of making the video and subsequent fame. He also was filmed dancing with students from the college.[8]
[edit] Videogame development credits
Harding's development credits include:[9]
- Destroy All Humans!
- Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
- Army Men RTS
- Dark Reign 2
- Battlezone II: Combat Commander
- Battlezone
- Zork: Grand Inquisitor
[edit] Quotes
- I'm not the guy in the video.
- The only wrong way to dance badly is to do it well.
[edit] References
- ^ Benji Lanyado. "Dance, dance, wherever you may be", The Guardian, December 23, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-12-28.
- ^ Andrea Sachs. "The Guy Who Danced Around the Globe", Washington Post, October 22, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-12-28.
- ^ James Gilden. "Amateurs' talent: Giving us a local perspective on the world", Los Angeles Times, September 3, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-12-28.
- ^ Kristin Jackson. "Dancing around the world (and Web)", Seattle Times, October 5, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-12-28.
- ^ Jordan Smith. "Dancing Matt coming to town", Austin Chronicle, August 26, 2005. Retrieved on [[2006-12-16]].
- ^ Meet Matt. Stride gum. Retrieved on 2006-12-16.
- ^ mattharding2718 Channel. YouTube. Retrieved on 2007-03-15.
- ^ Jill Fahy. "Globe-trotting dancing fool visits Champlain College", Burlington Free Press, November 10, 2006. Retrieved on [[2006-12-16]].
- ^ MobyGames.com
