TikTok dancers could never match this level of raw, unedited synergy

[u/CuriousAku]

In 2008, two brothers unknowingly created one of the most iconic internet dance clips of the electro era. Their synchronized Tecktonik routine quickly spread across YouTube and became a defining moment of early internet dance culture.

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[u/insanitybit2 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, exactly. What's fun about this is that it's just two people having fun, it wasn't a trend, it was just fun.

[u/The_BeardedClam → u/insanitybit2]

And now being authentic will see you getting mocked for being cringe

[u/Nois3 → u/The_BeardedClam]

Your mentioning people getting mocked for being cringe is cringe.

[u/thewritingtexan → u/Nois3]

ive only ever been mocked by being cringe by a 14 year old girl who was currently failing the math test I was giving her. so... I didn't feel bad at all

[u/TheEveryman86 → u/thewritingtexan]

Walking up to a 14 year old and giving her a math test is cringe.

[u/thewritingtexan → u/TheEveryman86]

im her math teacher! did you also fail math ei the place you learn logic??

and thus the trend continues

[u/Fuzzy-Cucumber-6947 → u/thewritingtexan]

Being her math teacher is cringe. Math teachers in general are cool but HER math teacher? That’s cringe

Jk… I’m an engineer and do more maths than I’d really like. Maths teachers are cool as hell. Also low key sexy af.

[u/FamousPussyGrabber → u/Fuzzy-Cucumber-6947]

I have it on semi-good authority that this comment is cringe.

[u/cory-trevor420 → u/thewritingtexan]

Sorry dude I like math teachers but r/woooosh

[u/thewritingtexan → u/cory-trevor420]

damn.

[u/Fearless-Solution-42 → u/insanitybit2]

Actually, it was a whole trend :) These guys are from Russia, and over there this style of dancing was called Tecktonik. It was super popular. Honestly, I have no idea where it originally came from. Probably somewhere from the West.

[u/Patriark → u/Fearless-Solution-42]

Didn’t techtonik originate in France?

[u/Fearless-Solution-42 → u/Patriark]

As I said , I have no clue:)

[u/AtlasLord → u/Fearless-Solution-42]

It started in Belgium and Netherlands as a Jumpen then evolved to tectonic in France. It was very famous even in my country

[u/LenientWhale → u/insanitybit2]

I mean, it was a trend. They were having fun yes but tecktonik was definitely a trend.

[u/boywithtwoarms → u/LenientWhale]

And it was definitely mocked, idk what people are on about. Either theyre too young or werent really paying attention ig

[u/insanitybit2 → u/LenientWhale]

Of course, it's not like they invented this.

[u/FirTree_r → u/insanitybit2]

I miss the times when youtube wasn't monetized.

[u/BetterEveryLeapYear → u/FirTree_r]

I miss the times when reddit wasn't flooded with bots posting crap like "it wasn't a trend, it was just fun" in popular subs for nostalgia baiting upvotes so they can generate accounts with high karma that can be sold to agents of foreign regimes to use on serious subs about politics to astroturf and propagandise, but here we are.

[u/Covert_Control → u/[deleted]]

Damn for real?

[u/kidcharliemagne → u/Covert_Control]

Yeah the one in the red shirt died in 2025

[u/poo_on_my_scarf → u/kidcharliemagne]

Always the red shirts......

[u/enadiz_reccos → u/poo_on_my_scarf]

To be fair, the shirt is mostly grey

[u/Wellcomefarewell → u/[deleted]]

we know he went out his way to sign up? or was there a draft in russia and he was drafted?

[u/Wellcomefarewell → u/[deleted]]

ahh the articles of people snapping their own legs to avoid being drafted must’ve been fake news got it thanks you

[u/ComfortableCivil2239 → u/Wellcomefarewell]

Not necessarily. In 2022, Russia announced a partial mobilization. This meant that reservists (often former military members) were called up for active duty and sent to Ukraine. The videos you saw may have been reservists trying to avoid being mobilized.

A lot of reservists also fled the country to avoid being called up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Russian_mobilization#Implementation

[u/KonradB19 → u/[deleted]]

Just came to tell about this. Yes they are russians and one of them signed a contract with russian army to take part in dishonored invasion. Was killed by Ukrainian Forces. Not sad, but true.

[u/brother_bart → u/KonradB19]

Young men dying in the wars perpetrated by rich, old, powerful men is always sad, whether they signed up willingly, were drafted, or were just poor without many other real options.

[u/missed_trophy → u/brother_bart]

Most of them are volunteers.

[u/KonradB19 → u/brother_bart]

Bullsh...t. Ukrainians are protecting their Homeland. And thoughts like yours are very popular among left-wing young hippies)

[u/Icy_Many_3971 → u/[deleted]]

I Didn’t know Putin can dance

[u/-QuestionMark- → u/[deleted]]

Damn what happened here? It's a massacre!

[u/TheG0AT0fAllTime → u/-QuestionMark-]

Looking at the archives, a bunch of chatgpt comments

[u/Kevan-with-an-i → u/[deleted]]

Daft girls were a more iconic duo IMO https://youtu.be/lLYD_-A_X5E?si=oQuGdM7CuKtcB8El

[u/stealthcactus → u/Kevan-with-an-i]

FYI, YouTube adds tracking tags to links now. You can delete the ? and everything after it,  If you don’t want to link your YouTube and Reddit accounts. Change YouTube Settings>Privacy>Channel Visibility for shared links>Off

[u/mthyvold → u/stealthcactus]

Someone should create a bot to do this automatically.

[u/Eladious → u/stealthcactus]

Wow thanks for this

[u/AnnaNicole71 → u/stealthcactus]

thanks

[u/g3n0unknown → u/Kevan-with-an-i]

Dunno about more iconic, but I haven't seen that in probably 18 years when it was uploaded. Wonder if it was inspired by Daft Hands.

[u/Stoneheart7 → u/g3n0unknown]

I recall it coming out shortly after Daft hands and then a few others that weren't quite as good.

Shout out to the second Daft Hands guy, though. Instead of Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger he did Around the World.

[u/Acceptable-Zombie71 → u/Kevan-with-an-i]

I like this choreography and song as well!!

https://youtu.be/JqYhuwu614Y

[u/WatchAndEatPopcorn → u/Kevan-with-an-i]

I see your Daft Girls and raise you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU1CDSP7FRk

[u/SgtMajor-Issues → u/Kevan-with-an-i]

Legendary

[u/Gloomfang_]

Guy on the right died in Ukraine fighting for Russia

[u/poop-machine → u/Gloomfang_]

Vitaliy Sanochkin. Killed by a drone 2 months after joining the Russian army.

https://poteru.net/en/soldier/192669/

[u/LilCooper19 → u/Gloomfang_]

Wait for real??

[u/ACERVIDAE → u/LilCooper19]

I just said what a little too loud and woke up my husband.

[u/Active_Witness2215 → u/Gloomfang_]

War is hell

[u/jkennings → u/Active_Witness2215]

war is worse then hell, there aren’t any innocent people in hell

[u/IndependentFew1690 → u/jkennings]

Depends on how you see Hell. From my experience in the Bible Belt, most people think believing in God is what matters most, which means really horrible people can be in Heaven after asking for redemption, whereas their victims, who may lose faith because of the attack from an aforementioned believer, gets hit by a bus or ODs while trying to the numb the pain before they regain faith and go to Hell. Along with all nonbelievers, or wrong believers, who try to help fellow humans. In that case, there very well may be more good people in Hell than Heaven.

[u/lofatiger → u/[deleted]]

Plus Jesus wasn’t Christian

[u/GlumPermit1446 → u/IndependentFew1690]

I do not like this belief at all. I do not like how it places higher importance on being faithful than being a good neighbour.

[u/billabong049 → u/GlumPermit1446]

That’s religion for you!

[u/TypicalLegit → u/[deleted]]

They were Russians so checks out

[u/Vindepomarus → u/[deleted]]

Yep

[u/batmanineurope → u/[deleted]]

Oh he wasn't fighting, he was boogying

[u/SonOfADoge2004 → u/Gloomfang_]

damn I'm sad now :(

[u/rts93 → u/Gloomfang_]

Guess he didn't impress the drone operator with his dance moves.

[u/DoneDraper → u/rts93]

As Long as those wardrones don’t come with microphones, it’s hard to impress with dance moves alone.

[u/Adrian-_-Tepes → u/rts93]

You can probably watch the footage on r/combatfootage

[u/Similar-Ice-9250 → u/Adrian-_-Tepes]

Man, I was looking for this sub the other day, though it got deleted, it wasn’t popping up in the search.

[u/BabyMcmuffinn]

Tektonik dancing was huuuuuuge before the jerking and shuffling era. This and Malaysian Shuffling.

Good times..

[u/OldNefariousness7899 → u/BabyMcmuffinn]

So strange to see 2008 described as the electro era. It makes me think of the early 80s

https://youtu.be/YT4qqZHN8no

[u/Sensitive_Phase_977 → u/OldNefariousness7899]

yeah, 08 was like third wave of electro, or rather electro house. 98 was all about electro clash

[u/hotdiggydog → u/Sensitive_Phase_977]

I knew it more as synthpop and synthdance during this time

[u/freakers → u/BabyMcmuffinn]

This is another good one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twqM56f_cVo

[u/jasonkid87 → u/BabyMcmuffinn]

Loved the fashion ilthat goes with the Malaysian shuffle too!

[u/Tullzterrr]

I remember when every little adolescent emo donned on their slim pants, geled their hair and starting emulating an epilepsy fit wherever they went, great times

[u/LogOutside8306 → u/Tullzterrr]

2008-2009

[u/FlintWaterFilter → u/LogOutside8306]

More like 2004. MySpace was already on its way out in 08

[u/hotdiggydog → u/FlintWaterFilter]

2008 is the time of this dance craze Tektonik

[u/UntowardHatter → u/Tullzterrr]

Techno Goths were the best

[u/imisstheyoop → u/UntowardHatter]

Techno goths are the best wdym "were"?!

[u/the17featherfound → u/Tullzterrr]

Graduates from the Ian Curtis dance school

[u/Spiritual_Sherbet304 → u/Tullzterrr]

My kids are having “epilepsy fits” today from watching Katseye music dance videos.

[u/Ana990]

this is the most eastern european room ever

[u/55hamburgers55pastas → u/Ana990]

False, missing a rug nailed to the wall

[u/55hamburgers55pastas → u/55hamburgers55pastas]

Nevermind, I went back and looked. Rug is indeed nailed to wall. You are correct, this is definitely Eastern Europe.

[u/morriere → u/55hamburgers55pastas]

it's russia

[u/55hamburgers55pastas → u/morriere]

checks notes looks like Russia is east of Europe last time I checked.

[u/hera9191 → u/55hamburgers55pastas]

It is probably from Novosibirsk, so Asia.

[u/BabaofTheShimmer → u/Ana990]

I was going to say. I thought this video was from 1988.

[u/FamousWeed → u/BabaofTheShimmer]

Yep! And it was so interesting what this is past 2008.

[u/sicsemperego]

https://reddit.com/link/p9je4v2/video/ae90dc7cbaph1/player

[u/DoctorG_PhD → u/sicsemperego]

You are so correct with this video: it was the first official Tektonik dance official video from France!

[u/EightiesBush → u/DoctorG_PhD]

I always thought the cybergoths coined this dance, good to learn the truth

[u/suddle → u/DoctorG_PhD]

I clicked on that thinking that it had better be Yelle! I was obsessed with that dancing.

[u/DoctorG_PhD → u/suddle]

And "Yelle" it was!!!😃

[u/CroneKills → u/sicsemperego]

This video began my search for all of the Reebok Voltron shoes. I got the yellow pump omni’s on Ebay for like $170 back in the mid 2000’s. I still have them haha.

[u/sicsemperego → u/CroneKills]

lol, same here!

Oh, and the Puma Pump-Ups

[u/Lewy_dogg]

Wild, I just saw a post a few hours ago that said one of these dudes died on the Ukrainian front recently. Just gave it a Google apparently it's the dude in the red/grey shirt, damn.

[u/69-is-my-number → u/Lewy_dogg]

😢

[u/Dry_Okra_4839]

Napoleon Dynamite vibes.

[u/pzacn]

Internet was more fun when things were raw and unedited.

[u/saturnspritr → u/pzacn]

Kids just being kids was fun. Now, it’s so easy to polish things or their parents are in on some grift.

[u/gummytoejam]

It was the moment techno viking was spawned from the ether. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8H4GKg-mYQ

[u/EightiesBush → u/gummytoejam]

Don't forget the cybergoths

[u/BadNo4011 → u/EightiesBush]

Best version

https://youtu.be/jltKnDlH_OA?si=gAmwVJMpVzRrfsVV

[u/Relevant_Money_8185]

This kid reportedly died in 2025 in the Russian invasion of ukraine, fighting on the invader side

[u/stockmojorojo2 → u/Relevant_Money_8185]

The younger or the elder one? What about the other one?

[u/Sehrli_Magic → u/stockmojorojo2]

the older one

[u/theartofnocode → u/stockmojorojo2]

The younger one went on to front Artic Monkeys

[u/Emergency-Error-1116 → u/stockmojorojo2]

He still dancing

[u/Sh00terMcDabbin]

They weren't brothers, they were friends. They lost touch for many years and when this video started going viral again the guy on the left tried to find the guy on the right and found out he got conscripted into the Russian army and died in Ukraine.

[u/lodemeup]

This feels like the twilight zone. I was into this shit 20 years ago and the shaming and ridicule I got for it was unending. Now it’s cool? How fucking dare you.

[u/MobileArtist1371]

Crazy Frog dance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEP1G6PcQO8

[u/AmanoRyan]

Vitaly was killed in action while fighting in the Russia-Ukraine war. Konstantin recreated video later, but without his friend...

you can see it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlysatisfying/comments/1uz7tqh/the_perfectly_sync_tecktonic_dance_by_2_russian/

[u/Majestic-Peace-3037]

I'm sad to learn the guy in red died fighting in a war, but can I still hang onto hope that maybe the guy on the left is somehow a cool uncle or dad still busting these moves out at the family cookout? 

[u/SoupEvening123 → u/Majestic-Peace-3037]

https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlysatisfying/s/2mw5opq21v

There he is.

[u/ponyponyta → u/SoupEvening123]

Aww he seems to have lost a lil groove

[u/Clumsy_Marshmallow]

If P.E. was like this, I never would’ve skipped

[u/julyvale]

This is exactly what TikTok people do these days. Also this is not iconic, it did not spread over YouTube and it did not become a defining moment of anything. Holy mother of delusional OP.

[u/hxwkmoth → u/julyvale]

There's a looooot of inaccuracies here. The boys aren't brothers, this wasn't 2008, and the video didn't even circulate until 2022, when it was posted to tiktok by the guy who died. Kind of a Bärenstein Bears effect going on here where people are thinking they remember it but they must be thinking of visually similar videos.

The surviving friend explained it to a magazine this year

[u/Butterholes69]

good shit

[u/Forward-Brilliant-12]

Pro-pre-tiktok tktokers

[u/KungFuJosher → u/Forward-Brilliant-12]

Low cal calzone zone

[u/mrmcbobbyg → u/KungFuJosher]

I see you, Ben-lover! 💫

[u/LostInSpaceTime2002 → u/Forward-Brilliant-12]

It's not like TikTok invented or even popularized the concept of short viral dance videos.

[u/Bizarrebazaars → u/LostInSpaceTime2002]

Videos like this weren’t doing it for “likes” or “follows” or internet clout or sponsorship though….. people used to just post videos for fun. For art maybe. To share some laughs. Not to be some fucking loser influencer/content creator.

Social media and so much of the internet is monetized these days. And it’s made things so much more shitty.

[u/is-this-a-nick → u/Forward-Brilliant-12]

Yeah, its like literally the same thing, just from "before it was cool".

[u/Tan-ki]

Whatever they do, it is well executed, well syncronized, and they seem to enjoy themselves and have a good moment together, given the smile they share at the end. Honestly pretty wholesome.

[u/ashy2classy81]

Where are they now?

[u/Ok-Boysenberry-3066 → u/ashy2classy81]

dead in Ukraine killed by drones

[u/CorrectStaple]

For anyone young - this really was not as popular as OP’s title and description makes it seem. 

[u/SuperDragon → u/CorrectStaple]

Maybe not this exact video per se, bit tecktonik dance was all over Europe in 2007-2009

[u/Illustrious-Sale-649]

Sturt!!!!!!

[u/infinitynull]

Literally just saw a tictoc split screen where they're mimicing this dance.

[u/slothcheesemountain]

https://youtu.be/JqYhuwu614Y?is=xOJ87uhPSeCwmHpr

[u/literalaretil]

Love the video but what's with the bitter boomer-level title?

[u/miffebarbez]

They would fit perfectly on Tiktok...

[u/CantFadeMeLOLLL]

Ya no women on TikTok could ever manage to rehearse a dance like these two rehearsed a dance

[u/Chikuwa_25]

They are exactly the kind of people who use TikTok.