Alfonso Ribeiro explains the origin of his 'Carlton' dance
Alfonso Ribeiro opened up about on of the most iconic parts of the whole series: the Carlton dance.
Alfonso Ribeiro was writing for Variety and reminiscing about his days on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air when he decided to open up about possibly the most iconic part of the whole series: the Carlton dance.
“The Carlton Dance was created when it said in the script: ‘Carlton dances.’ It was never even intended to be funny; it was just that he was dancing,” Ribeiro said. “The dance is ultimately Courteney Cox in the Bruce Springsteen video‘Dancing in the Dark.’ That’s the basis. Or in Eddie Murphy’s ‘Delirious’ video,’The White Man Dance,’ as he called it.”
“And I said, ‘That is the corniest dance on the planet that I know of, so why don’t I do that?”
So, he busted out his best imitation moves to Tom Jones’ “It’s Not Unusual,” and it was an instant hit.
The Carlton dance has endured in popularity for so long that it even helped Ribeiro take home the mirror ball trophy on Dancing with the Stars. While his ballroom dance moves were not nearly as corny as the Carlton dance, he did bust out those signature moves on the dance floor once more before the season was over.
Of course, the crowd ate it up.
