The new tiktok trend brings nostalgia to the internet as people regain the iconic 90s dance.
People set in the rapper dokiy song “Anxiety” have recreated the moment from “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” between Will Smith and Ashley Banks.
In recent weeks, even celebrities, including Smith and Dokiy, have jumped at this trend and caught millions of eye.
Psychotherapist and today’s columnist Nilo Feliciano says this trend helps normalize anxiety, and by revealing it, people can feel more control over their symptoms.
“People often feel paralyzed by anxiety and its effects, and dance shows that we are not,” Feliciano tells Today.com. “It gives us something to do, and even dancing on its own helps us overcome some of our symptoms.”
Here’s what you need to know about dance trends that take over Tiktok:
What are Tiktok’s “anxiety” dance trends?
In the popular video, the two recreate the scene from “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” and when will Ashley chock up the music with her Walkman? At first, Ashley doesn’t notice Will and he starts copying all the dance moves. Ashley turned around and she came across her intense movements.
The video has attracted so much attention that Will Smith shared the original clip of Tiktok’s show, but set a much newer “anxiety” for thunder.
“I’ve seen y’all, and all the videos are better than the end!! I love that track @doecchii. @Tatyana Ali,” wrote Smith, tagging both the rapper and his previous co-stars.
Reacting to her singing and dancing going viral, Dokii also jumped on Tiktok to clear how the song turned out.
Dokiy explained that in “a few years ago,” she recorded a remix of “The One I Know,” and entitled the track “Anxiety.” Then, in 2023, rapper Three Hello sampled her song on his track, also known as “anxiety.”
With the sound’s popularity soaring, Dokii said he’s returned to the studio so he can release his version. The track fell on March 5th, with over 22 million streams on Spotify.
On Tiktok, over 725,000 videos have been posted using songs, and many have incorporated the dance from “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.”
Doechii himself has joined the trend, as well as celebrities like Demi Lovato.
“I felt anxious, I might delete it later…” Lovato captioned her tiktok as she danced with her peers.
Influencer Brett Manrock took on trends that included a large number of chickens instead of a singular dance partner.
“Me and the girls,” Rock wrote in the caption of the post.
The advantages of “anxiety” dance trends
According to Mayo Clinic, certain anxiety disorders can cause severe, excessive worry or fear about everyday situations, and can include fear or fear panic attacks or repeated sudden episodes that peak within minutes.
Feliciano has explained in her research that creative expression can help you overcome uneasy thoughts and feelings, so she loves dancing being combined with “anxiety.”
“Dance has to give our brain a different focus and run multiple areas of the brain,” she says. “When we dance, song, or do something creative, it’s almost impossible to feel anxious when we do something that requires a lot of physiological processes.”
A 2021 study from UCLA Health, which discovered conscious dance, provided mental health benefits among the majority of participants with a history of depression, anxiety, or trauma.
“We know that, like any exercise, dance also boosts the mood of hormones such as serotonin and endorphins,” says Feliciano.
So if you’re hoping to try out the “anxious” ticoch dance, it’s not just fun. You may feel better later too.
