How Washington group hopes to go viral with ‘Jerusalema dance challenge’ video set to be premiered this week

Members of the Washington community want to showcase the town with their unique take on the viral ‘Jerusalema dance challenge’, which has become popular online.

The viral challenge involves performing a dance reel to the song Jerusalema, a gospel influenced house track by South African producer Master KG and performed by singer-songwriter Nocembo.

Inspired by videos from people performing the challenge around the world, the group wanted to use their video to showcase Washington and Wearside, shooting at areas like Penshaw Monument and Washington Village.

After three months of rehearsing and filming the group are now getting ready to release the video via Youtube, with an invite only premiere taking place at The Cross Keys Pub on Thursday, June 24.

Julia Burke, who is involved with the group, said: “Famous Jerusalema efforts have come from all over the world, starting in Africa and spreading to Vietnam, Switzerland, Ireland, Austria, Morocco - even Jerusalem itself. So we are hoping that the most famous Jerusalema challenge is going to be the Washington version.

“In March this year I thought it would be a great idea to get our community here in Washington dancing. With help from Mark at We are Washington and Alan Gibson, we set up a Facebook page, got people involved and put on a dancing schedule to learn the steps.

“The video is deliberately showcasing some of the main locations in our town and incorporates people from across the town's spectrum. We now want the whole community to get behind us and make this go viral.”

Following the premiere of the video at The Cross Keys Pub, where group members will see their work come together for the first time, the video will be released on Youtube for all to see.After months of lockdown, being involved with the challenge has provided some much needed community spirit, according to Julia.

She added: “I've loved being involved, it's been such a great laugh. We have really come together as a community post pandemic and lots of long lasting new friendships have formed.”

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