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The iconic Wednesday Addams dance gets a cultural twist from Asian TikTok creators

The dance, which was performed in the new Netflix series "Wednesday," has sparked different interpretations on TikTok including Indian and Polynesian dances.
Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams.
Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams.Neflix

Netflix’s new series “Wednesday” has taken over For You pages on TikTok with a dance that many creators have made their own, including two users who’ve gone viral for their Asian and Pacific Islander twist.

"Wednesday," a comedy horror show and the latest “Addams Family” spinoff, was released on the streaming service last week. It follows daughter Wednesday Addams, played by Jenna Ortega, as she navigates Nevermore Academy, her psychic abilities and a murder mystery.

The dance scene, which shows Wednesday ghoulishly grooving at Nevermore Academy’s annual Rave’N dance, has mesmerized thousands on the app. The original scene, which Ortega says she choreographed, uses the song “Goo Goo Muck” by The Cramps.

The audio, which is from a fan edit and has been used over 475,000 times, shows people doing the same dance or a similar version; @raasibomma and @llalouu_ on TikTok used the viral moment to show off their own cultural moves.

Dancer and lifestyle creator @raasibomma, whose video garnered over 5 million views, showed her dressed all in black with braids performing her version of the dance in Kuchipudi — a dance style of India. Kuchipudi is a dance-drama that combines music, dancing and acting in a scene from Hindu scripture or legend.

“Wednesday’s dance but make it ✨kuchipudi✨,” her caption on the video, which was posted on Wednesday said.

TikTok users were raving about her performances in the comments.

“[T]his concept is immaculate” one user commented. “I can’t stop watching this,” another said.

@llalouu_, who is also a dancer and whose video gained over 3.5 million views, performed a blend of Polynesian dances to the audio. She was also dressed in all black with a Polynesian dancing belt called a hip hei and her hair in a braided crown.

Commentators on the video were also in awe of her performance.

“I can imagine Polynesian Wednesday being exactly like this god I love this,” one wrote.

“ATE. SLAYED. DEVOURED,” another user said.

Ortega, who choreographed the moves, thanked the choreographer Bob Fosse, Lisa Loring (the actress who played Wednesday on the original "Addams Family" TV show), “goths dancing in clubs in the 80’s” and others on Twitter last week for the dance’s inspiration.

The Addams Family consists of mother and father Gomez and Morticia; children Pugsley and Wednesday; butler Lurch; and extended family members Uncle Fester and Grandmama. The family is considered a parody of the American family, where the macabre yet zany unit is seemingly unaware that they frighten “normal” people.

“Wednesday” is another television adaptation in the lore of the family, which began as a single cartoon in 1938 and later developed into a television show, an animated series, a comic book and six movies across eight decades.