Dance challenge ideas: 25 easy ones to film at home

Good dance challenge ideas are small rules that make 15 seconds worth watching: dance only with your hands, dance while making breakfast, dance at half speed, or dance in silence while people guess the song. You need no lessons, only a clear patch of floor and a phone you can prop up.

Here are 25 ideas by type, each with a line on how to film it. The twelve names in quotation marks are real dares from Vibnelo’s Dance world.

Easy dance challenge ideas for home, no skills needed

• “Kitchen dance”: dance while you make breakfast, every stir on the beat. Film it: phone on the counter at hip height, moves away from the stove and knives.
• “Hands only”: dance with your hands; nothing else moves. Film it: chest up, in a plain dark top, so your hands stand out.
• “Dance the hook”: your own moves for the hook of the day. Film it: one move per sung line; acting out a word counts.
• Chair dance: stay seated and move everything above the seat. Film it: a sturdy chair without wheels, framed from the knees up.
• Feet only: just your shoes, tapping and crossing on the beat. Film it: phone on the floor, a metre away.
• Inside the square: tape a doormat-sized square on the floor and never step out of it. Film it: phone higher than usual, tilted down.
• Outfit on the beat: start in pyjamas, jump on a big beat and land dressed to go out. Film it: two takes from the same spot, cut together mid-jump.

Dance challenges for two, and with your pet

• “Dance for two”: grab someone and dance it together. Film it: step back further than feels right, so both of you fit, feet too.
• Mirror: face each other and copy every move like a reflection. Film it: side-on, so both faces show.
• The echo: one leads and the other copies a beat late. Film it: one behind the other, offset so both bodies show.
• Eight and swap: eight counts each, then you hand over the floor. Film it: tape a spot in front of the phone, so you both land in frame.
• The deadpan partner: one dances all out, the other keeps reading without a flicker. Film it: the still one closer to the camera.
• “With your pet”: your pet joins the dance. Gently. Film it: at its eye level, treats ready, volume low.
• The audience: you dance for your cat or dog, and its indifference is the joke. Film it: the pet sharp in front, you behind.

Let animals choose: never lift a pet that doesn’t like it or move its paws for it, and stop as soon as it walks away, flattens its ears or tucks its tail.

One-take, slow-motion and surprise dance challenges

• “First take”: no rehearsal; press record and go. Film it: set the frame first, then keep the wobbles.
• “Random song”: spin for a song you’ve never heard and dance to it. Film it: start on the first beat you catch.
• “Dance in silence”: no music, and others guess the song. Film it: exaggerate the moves that belong to it, in a quiet room.
• “Slow motion”: every move at half speed, perfectly on the beat. Film it: at 120 BPM a beat lasts half a second, so give each move two beats and hold your balance.
• “One move, ten ways”: repeat one move and change it every beat: bigger, lower, turned, with a face. Film it: keep the phone still, so the only change is you.
• Freeze on the drop: dance, then stop dead when the beat drops. Film it: hold the freeze for two full seconds.
• “The strangest place”: dance somewhere nobody would expect, like a lift or a launderette. Stay safe. Film it: ask first in shops, and keep the way clear.

Retro dance challenges, decade by decade

Give each decade one signature move and put it on the strongest beat.

• The 60s twist: knees soft, hips and heels swivelling. Film it: from a low angle.
• The 70s disco point: one arm up to the corner of the ceiling, then down across your body. Film it: leave room above your head.
• “Retro moves”: dance it like it’s the 80s, with the running man, aerobics grapevines and straight arms. Film it: a headband or leg warmers say “80s” faster than a costume.
• The 90s Macarena: the arm sequence, one move per beat. Film it: front-on, so every arm reads.

How to film a dance video at home

• Frame the whole body, feet included, with space above your head. Prop the phone upright at waist height, two to three metres away.
• Own the first second. Start in your first pose and hit the first beat; walking into frame loses people.
• Face the window. Light from the front or side shows your moves, and a window behind you makes a silhouette. Switch off the ceiling light so the colours don’t mix, as in phone photography.
• Keep the phone still. A friend who films braces their elbows and follows your waist, not your hands.
• Clear the background. A plain wall beats a busy room; wear clothes that contrast with it.
• Watch it back once on mute. If the dance reads without sound, it will read with it.

How to pick the music and stay safe

Use a song you’re allowed to post, and choose a part with a beat you can clap to without thinking. Count it in eights, as dancers do. At 120 BPM, 15 seconds holds 30 beats, almost four eight-counts; at 90 BPM, about three. Plan one change per eight.

Look for a moment: a drop, a break or a line you can act out. Songs around 120 to 130 BPM suit energy; slower ones suit slow motion and hands only. For two, try NENO’s “Pleši sa mnom” (“Dance with me”): its hook asks you not to look at your feet.

• Clear the floor two steps around you, and check that the rug doesn’t slide.
• Mind your feet. Socks slide on wood and tiles, so dance barefoot or in trainers.
• Warm up for a minute. Freezes and slow motion need more balance than they look.
• Outside, never on roads, rails, roofs or ledges, and film no one who hasn’t agreed; Vibnelo asks you to confirm that everyone in your video agrees.
• In a flat, keep the jumps for the daytime.

For a reason to film one every day, try Vibnelo’s Dance world: one dare and one song of the day for everyone, 15 seconds each. Record in the app and the song plays while you dance and becomes your video’s sound. Your dance then goes into blind battles, where people pick the better of two without seeing names (here’s why our battles are blind). Voting needs no account; posting takes a free one, from 16. Fans can send real gifts on any dance from your first post, with no follower minimum: if ten fans each send a Guitar, that’s €10 for you, and payouts to your bank start at €20, from age 18 (how real gifts work).