Dance
High School Girls’ “Optical Illusion” Dance Has Crowd In Laughter
They know how to dazzle – and confuse a crowd.
Kathleen Shipman
05.27.20

If you’re looking for a talent show act that’ll impress a crowd, first you need a group of friends. Then, go grab yourselves some tights and prepare to leave everyone dazzled with this illusion dance!

A group of seniors from Queensland, Australia shuffled onto the stage at their school’s talent show dressed in black and white costumes. While the mere sight of them is a little head-scratching, it’s when they begin to move their legs that the real magic takes place.

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There are eight girls all in a row. But whose legs are whose?

With the song “Tanz” playing in the auditorium, the teens start shaking their hips and moving forwards and back. Although their moves aren’t extravagant – the crowd can’t help but crack up at the confusing sight. That’s because it’s almost hard to determine which leg belongs to which girl!

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All of their costumes consist of black tights, white tights, and matching shirts. It appears that their outfits are attached, which adds to the optical illusion.

Each move the group makes creates a fun and interesting sight. When the girls simply lift their legs it’s almost as if you need a moment to wrap your head around what you’re seeing… Are they sharing bodies, are there extra bodies? What is this madness?

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No, your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you.

While it’s a bizarre-looking act, it’s also mesmerizing too! The fact that a single head doesn’t appear to match up with a single body is quite comical – and it all has to do with the costumes and coordination.

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One viewer commented:

“Great act. I’ve been rolling on the floor laughing … Such precision.”

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It’s a popular talent show act that’s swept the internet.

The name of the act is called “Strumpfhosentanz,” which means “tights dance” in German. When covering a different version of this “optical illusion” routine, a Scientific American author explained:

“This illusion is remarkably resilient to our best cognitive efforts to assign the correct arms and legs to each of the dancers. Our visual system insists in grouping adjacent body parts by color (and congruent motion).”

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You don’t want to miss these high school girls’ performance. In fact, it even won them an award at the talent show!

According to YouTube user “crookedangle96,” who was part of the troupe, they came in third during the competition. However, they actually won the prize for “best group” that year! It’s not surprising, as it looks like a lot of teamwork went into their dance routine.

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There’s an art to the costumes.

Crookedangle96 explained in the comments that her mom is a seamstress and helped them with the shirts for the performance. When another viewer inquired about the costumes, she shared:

“…so one leg went into a black stocking and the other leg into white stockings and the person next but their leg into the other leg – we cut the side and then pinned them together and had our shirts over the top – we all wore bike shorts underneath”

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If you’re in need of a good chuckle or something to blow your mind a bit – you’ve come to the right place! While there are countless talent show ideas out there, this is one that’s entertaining in so many ways.

Press play on the video below to be dazzled by these eight students’ Strumpfhosentanz performance!

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