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AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

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The GW Hatchet

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D.C. band Wheelie invites you to take your pants off and break a world record

This post was written by Hatchet staff writer Kelsey Renz

Wheelie – the band set to break a back-up dancing record. Courtesy photo by Lisa Helfert
Wheelie – the band set to break a back-up dancing record. Courtesy photo by Lisa Helfert

Michael Moon and Eduardo Santana make up Wheelie, a band known for tracks that Moon described as “danceable, psychedelic indie rock.”

On Saturday night, the band will shoot a music video for their single, The Underwear Song, in an official attempt to break the world record for most background dancers in a song.

Participants of all ages are invited to Stroga in Adams Morgan to perform in the video and help break the record.

The catch?

All dancers are required to wear the tighty-whities that come with each ticket.

“It’s dance that everyone’ll feel good doing and that everybody can do. And that sort of goes with the deeper meaning of why, which is why we’re doing this. Which is self acceptance, it’s celebration of ourselves and it’s a positive monument,” Moon said.

Choreographers and dance coaches will teach participants on Saturday afternoon and perform with the crowd during taping.

The number to beat is 546 dancers, “who performed a routine for the singer Heather Small at an event organised by Pro-Excel (UK) at Twickenham Stadium, Twickenham, UK” in April 2011, Guinness World Records spokesperson Sara Wilcox said in an email.

The band intended to establish the record for most backup dancers dressed in only tighty-whities, but learned they would also have to break the record for most people gathered in underwear. (Yes, it exists. The record belongs to 2,270 people who gathered in Salt Lake City in 2011, Wilcox said.)

Two members of the rock group, Tia Nina, choreographed the dance – Moon’s partner, Leah Curran Moon, and Ilana Silverstein, a GW graduate student.

“There’s some butt shaking moments wearing the tighty-whities, so I think those are fun and silly because you know, you can’t take yourself too seriously when you’re running around in tighty-whities. We had to work with that, integrate that, just really make it a fun time,” Curran Moon, a GW alum and former professorial lecturer of women’s studies, said.

General admission is $15 while VIP tickets are $50, including additional screen-time and catered dinner. General ticketholders must visit Stroga on Friday between 5 and 10 p.m. to pick up costumes.

GW students who use the code RAISEHIGH will receive a 10 percent discount.

“Me personally, I’m finishing graduate school right now and just taking a break to dance in underwear with 500 people sounds like a lot of fun,” Silverstein said. “Great stress relief, you know?”

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