The dancing globetrotter

Matt Harding was a game developer at Activision who got tired of his work, so he decided to do what many of us dream of but never get around to. He simply quit his job and traveled around the world.

Somewhere along the itinerary, in Hanoi to be more precise, a travel companion got the idea of filming Matt doing a small dance. This led to even more dance locations during 2003-2004 and they all finally got assembled into Where the Hell is Matt? (2005), which became a viral video on YouTube in 2005. It shows Matt dancing on a lot of places to the soundtrack of Sweet Lullaby by Deep Forest.

The concept was a success and he was sponsored by Stride to make another journey, Where the Hell is Matt? (2006), featuring 39 countries during six months (including hilarious outtakes).

He was recently noticed by the Swedish traveling agency Ving who used him in a commercial for a new service, consisting of old clips as well as a few new ones, such as dancing with fifty Turkish men wearing traditional folk dancing costumes on a rooftop overlooking the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

Want to know more about Matt? Have a look at his blog or view the interview where he mentions topics such as the first dance in Hanoi and deodorants on a bus in Africa.

Update: He’s made a 2008 version and a lecture on how he did it.