How To Learn The Marvellous Mrs Maisel Pink Shoelaces Dance (And Other TikTok Trends)

If there’s one thing we can all agree on about TikTok it’s that we love the loony dance trends. It started with the Crazy Frog dance right at the beginning. When TikTok was first born; before it had a rebrand. Back then it was still going by the tough-to-pronounce name of Musical.ly but it had something no other social media platform had; viral sounds and dance routines that anyone could join in on. 

It’s the thing that made TikTok what it is today, and while the platform has evolved since to become what all social media eventually becomes (a place of commerce and business), at its heart it still rewards charismatic creators who share short, fun, funny content. Some of it’s still lip syncing and dance trends, some of it’s transitions and tips. It’s a great platform for businesses and influencers alike, and the dance trends are a great way for both to catch attention.

Any aspiring influencer or marketeer on the platform is well aware how many views and followers can be gained by doing one simple thing: jumping on the latest dance trend.

The Marvellous Mrs Maisel Pink Shoelaces Dance Trend

This week that’s The Marvellous Mrs Maisel’s Pink Shoelaces Challenge. Much like the spectacularly popular Wednesday Addams dance that did the rounds a few months ago, the routine is taken from a scene from a TV show, in this case, Marvel’s The Marvellous Mrs Maisel.

I must confess, despite being a huge Marvel fan (and a DC fanatic before anyone crucifies me for favouritism), I’ve yet to watch Mrs Maisel. 

I have, however, seen the dance trend flood my feed over the last few days. Which inspired me out of a bit of a rut. 

I’ve been focusing on creating a lot of behind the scenes content for Rebel Wolf recently (new SEO course dropping soon, plus the actual website…as opposed to the very simple blog feed that is all I currently have live). Because of that focus I’ve not really started my content marketing for Rebel Wolf in earnest yet. There are some blogs up, and I’ve done some sporadic posting on social media (including my own version of the Wednesday Addams dance!), but the consistent weekly content strategy I have planned hasn’t yet begun.

And it’s been bugging me!

Part of my brain knows getting everything else finished means holding off on that side of things for a few more weeks. Another part tells me there’s no point posting on social media in the interim. Not when I know I won’t be consistent about it. 

Why bother? Just wait.

Except, I’ve been rationalising my lack of content going out for weeks now with exactly that justification, and it got old.

Super old.

It’s also bullshit.

The truth – unfiltered and unvarnished – is that I’ve grown comfortable doing behind the scenes stuff. Staying behind the camera and not stepping in front of it. 

Between client work, writing or designing the new site, and writing the new course, I’ve not had to put myself out there for a while. It caused me to backslide into my natural comfort zone and I’ve been disinclined to leave.

The thought of doing it again is nerve wrecking. It bothers me. It makes me self-conscious. 

I’ve always had a hang up about my weight when it comes to filming content. If you go back and look at my earliest videos for The Write Copy Girl (which I think were filmed in 2016) you’ll hear me say I was pissed at myself. Because I had wanted to launch my own vlog for a couple of years at that point, and kept delaying because I was too fat, my hair hadn’t grown back after falling out (the joys of bipolar meds on both counts). I finally got around to it and realised my weight had nothing to do with it. Nor did it impact my success.

That vlog tripled my income in a few short months.

I know how successful video marketing is, yet here I am again, 8 years later, and I’ve been delaying launching a new vlog for exactly the same reasons.

Self Consciousness. Lack of confidence. Feeling fat. 

I needed something to make me want to make an absolute tit of myself and not care about the outcome. 

Because honestly, that is the key to TikTok; that is how you jump on any TikTok trend, no matter how ridiculous it makes you feel or look. 

Just do it, zero fucks given. 

@rebelwolfmarketing And the girl with absoluteky no rhythm or moves returns to prove anyone can jump on these dance trends… even a ???? ???????? #themarvelousmrsmaisel #pinkshoelaces #marvelousmrsmaisel #pslchallenge ♬ original sound – nicole 😉

Why You Should Try TikTok Dance Trends

I know, it’s not that easy. Trust me, I’m well aware. But the beautiful thing about TikTok trends is that everyone looks equally ridiculous while doing them. And yet, in that ridiculousness, there is a high level of awesome. 

Some people perform TikTok dance trends flawlessly. Others are comically bad at them. It doesn’t matter; they gain equal attention and are equally entertaining for different reasons. 

If you can do them perfectly, go for it, but the truth is that as long as you have fun with it, and give it your best shot, they’re worth doing. 

They’re authentic.

They’re fun.

They show you’re happy to engage with the community on their terms. This can be really tough for businesses who usually share content that talks about what they do. Even high value and super useful tips that are perfectly relevant can give the impression that you’re a little detached if it’s all you ever share. If you never relax, cut loose, and join in with the fun, you’re missing a trick.

And it’s honestly THE biggest trick about using TikTok trends to promote your business: don’t overthink, just do it.

Are you on board now? Ready to film yourself, your team, even your clients doing the latest dance number?

Great.

Now. How the hell are you supposed to learn these things?

How To Lean TikTok Dance Trends – We’ll Start With The Marvellous Mrs Maisel

Honestly this is the biggest barrier my clients have to doing TikTok trends; the thought of being embarrassed doesn’t really bother them. Or at least, it doesn’t bother them nearly as much as the thought of trying to learn the dance. Most people (particularly if they’re not dancers) are utterly paralysed at the thought of having to learn a dance routine. 

And I get it. Trying to figure out what you’re supposed to do while watching someone do it brilliantly is bloody difficult. Particularly when it’s a complicated one. Mrs Maisel’s Pink Shoelaces dance is complex. It’s got a lot of moves, requires a lot of coordination, and it’s fast. It’s so hard when you’re watching people do it to figure out how to move in the same way.

It’s not like we can all watch Strictly Come Dancing and end the evening performing each routine we watched perfectly. 

Nope. Not that simple. Dancing takes practice, training, physical fitness. 

The good thing about most TikTok dance trends is that you can learn how to do them relatively quickly, as long as you’re watching a video that teaches you the dance, and not just scrolling TikTok watching fifteen thousand different people so the same two minute bit at full speed.

Last night I learned how to do The Marvellous Mrs Maisel’s Pink Shoelaces dance. When I was done I sat down and wrote this blog. This morning I came into the office full of excitement, spent about 15 minutes practising what I’d learned last night, recorded my TikTok, and scheduled both it and this blog post for later in the day. 

I’ll be honest learning it last night took me about an hour, but I’m physically quite unfit at the moment and lacking in all the coordination I used to have when I did yoga all the time and ran every day. It was a good workout (which is an added bonus to doing this stuff; it’s a genuinely fun way to get in a workout. AND you’re multitasking by creating content at the same time). 

So, if you have an hour or so (less if you’re healthier than me!) all you need is practice and one other key thing: a tutorial video.

Find A Tutorial That Breaks Down The Dance Trend Into Easy Chunks

Get off TikTok. 

Seriously, the tutorial videos on there for this dance and most others are too short to be anything but stressful. 

Get yourself on YouTube and simply search ‘how to do the Marvellous Mrs Maisel’s Pink Shoelaces dance’.

Depending on when you’re reading this, we may be way past the point Mrs Maisel’s dance is trending, in which case just swap out the name for the latest dance trend you’re looking to learn. 

I came across this gem of a tutorial which made learning the pink shoelaces dance super easy.

Find something which breaks the whole thing down into easy chunks, teaches you one chunk at a time, and helps you put them all together. In no time you’ve got the whole routine down. 

It’s also helpful to look for someone who has divided their video into a timestamps for each chunk they teach, so it’s super easy for you to skip back and forth on the tutorial and go over things again. 

I watched this video a couple of times last night, going back and forth where needed. Some of the moves I picked up in one watch, a couple I needed to do more than once. I then did the full dance run through a few times to make sure I could do it from start to finish. I did this again this morning to practice before I filmed. 

Trust me, having those time stamps to skip back to the one little bit you didn’t catch will save you hours. 

Don’t Panic Post

As soon as your video is done you’re likely to want to post it immediately. Resist the urge. Unless immediately also happens to be the time of day your audience is most online and most engaged, wait. Posting anything during the daytime is a complete waste of time for me. I’m better off waiting until after 5pm, and tend to aim for around 8pm. 

What your best time to post is will depend on your audience, location and niche. 

If you’re not a regular poster or haven’t posted much, you may not be able to determine an optimal time for this one based on your own data. If you don’t already have a reasonable idea of the best time to post, do a little sneaky research. Have a look at a competitor and see if you can figure out what time they post. That’s usually a good time to start. If you have analytics to tell you optimal posting time go off that. 

Just don’t panic post you dance routine video the second you’ve finished. Take a breath. Decide on the best time. Schedule it if you can, or set a reminder on your phone to post later. In the interim save it to your drafts. 

The other benefit of not posting instantly is that you can check it later when you’re not so close to it. Things like your caption can easily end up with mistakes when you rush. Please learn from me on this one, I may not have rushed to post but I was rushing to get a lot done today and didn’t double check my caption before posting. There is, of course, a typo as a result! 

A few hours away from it and you will notice mistakes more easily. At least, you will if you take the time to check for them.

Which you should do.

Because you’re not a moron like me.

And that doesn’t just go for your caption – if the video itself contains anything you really wouldn’t want making public (from embarrassing mistakes to the fact you forgot to top and tail it to remove the parts where you’re setting up and talking to yourself!), you can edit. 

A Few More Tips For Filming TikTok Dance Trends

When it comes to the actual filming part, rather than the dancing part, here are a few other pointers to help:

Get A Good Setup

You can film on your phone directly on TikTok, or you can use a camera to film and add the sound later. I prefer to do that latter, as it lets me fully edit the video. It’s not actually necessary to do this, but it has advantages, the main one being you don’t miss the start of your dance while you’re getting into position.

Make sure you have good lighting. You can use natural light if you’re in a well lit, sunny area. Outside works well, particularly when you’re not planning on using your own sound so you don’t need to worry about sound quality. In front of a large window can also be a good spot, just be aware of the direction of the light – you don’t want it shining behind you as you film. Ideally, your light source should be coming from behind your camera, so it shines on you but doesn’t shine into the lens. If you don’t have enough natural light, use a ring light or photography light for an extra boost.

X Marks The Spot

Check your position before you start filming. Setup your phone or camera on a tripod to keep it steady, go to where you plan to stand and film a quick practice. Mark the position your feet start in by making a cross on the floor with two pieces of sellotape. Watch the practice run back and check you are actually in the best position:

Can you see your full body, including your feet? If you’re too close you’ll chop parts of you off. 

Is there tons of empty space around you? If you’re too far away you’ll be lost in the frame. You can zoom in when you edit to fix this but doing so costs you quality on your recording. You’re best off making sure you have the ideal frame before you film. 

If you need to adjust your position be sure to move the tape on the floor to where your feet now are at the start; you’re likely going to want to do a couple of takes and you don’t want to have to re-find the perfect spot every time!

Resist Your Inner Perfectionist

Film a few takes, but not too many. You need to get it right, so you’re happy with it. But you can also massively overthink and become a complete perfectionist about it. Make sure you save each take don’t just delete and keep refilming; at some point you’ll realise the last one was ‘the one’ but you’ve already deleted it????‍♀️

I wasn’t completely happy with mine when I stopped, but I knew it was as good as it was going to get without me spending another few days regularly practising it. Reality won’t allow that; i’ve got a business to run, so I couldn’t dedicate that much time to it. I didn’t want to wait that long before posting in case I missed the window when it was trending. And in all honesty no matter how good it got I’d never have been completely happy with it, so waiting for ‘perfect’ was pointless.

Be Patient With Yourself

While you don’t want to spend a ton of time trying to get every nuance of this thing completely perfect, you do need to get to a point you can actually do the dance. Be patient with yourself until you get there. Practice it a few times, start to finish, until you’re confident you’ve got it down.

Particularly when doing complicated dances, you’re going to hit a point where you keep going wrong, and feel like you’re never going to get it. Remember I said I learned Mrs Maisel’s dance last night, then did a practice and recorded it in 15 minutes today? Well, I did. But what I failed to mention is that when I first tried it this morning – having absolutely nailed it last night – it kept going wrong. I had forgotten two of the moves and even once I remembered them I couldn’t coordinate my arms and legs to do different things at once.

It was SO frustrating. I tried a couple of times and just felt like an idiot. Worse, I felt I’d wasted all that time. But then I remembered I’d not eaten anything yet, and I was tired from not getting a good night’s sleep. So I took myself to the kitchen, made a cup of coffee and a salad, ate those, wrote a couple of blogs for a client while I digested and tried again.

The first time I went wrong again, the second time I got it, the third time I was actually slightly pleased with it. If I’d given up after ten minutes of frustration this morning, I’d never have completed it. Even though all it needed was 5 more minutes of practice and fuelling my body with energy!

Hoard Your B Roll

Keep the takes you don’t use and any footage of you setting up or in between takes. This can be used to create outtakes (with any funny bits) and B Roll for other videos. (B Roll is just footage of you bodding about doing what you do).

Do It Your Way

Ignore the voice in your head telling you that you can’t learn the dance. Even if you can’t learn to do it exactly as your favourite influencer did it, you can put your own spin on it. Don’t be afraid to modify it slightly if you can’t get your body to move in a certain way, or there is a particular bit you keep getting wrong. My version ended up lacking a lot of the hand and head gestures. I almost didn’t post it, thinking, ‘I’ll practice some more tomorrow and refilm it’, but that was just my procrastination talking. 

Go At Your Own Speed

Remember, footage can be sped up or slowed down. As long as you keep the beat consistent, you can match the speed of the sound when you edit. If your beat is off this won’t work, but keep a steady count in your head for each move and you’ll be fine. Tutorials usually teach you to a beat anyway, so this is normally how you’ll learn the dance, not an extra thing to try and remember!

Remember, You Don’t HAVE To Do Them

Have fun with it. If you’re not having fun doing these dance trends, if you hate every second and it’s literal torture, don’t do them. You don’t HAVE to do them to be successful on TikTok. They’re a great way to boost your reach and engagement. But there are other ways you can do that. If dance trends really aren’t for you, don’t do them. 

That’s not an excuse to chicken out and not try. But they should be fun. If you’re finding it stressful, physically too difficult, or you feel you’re so bad at it that sharing would be mortifying, then don’t. 

Just don’t let it put you off trying others in future. It could be the dance trends just aren’t for you. Or it could just be that this specific one wasn’t a good fit. The Pink Shoelace dance, for example, is a very complicated dance. If you really can’t figure it out, it doesn’t mean you’ll never be able to do a dance trend; just that this one was too complicated. 

And if you’ve no idea how you’re supposed to know what the latest dance trend is, be sure to follow Rebel Wolf on TikTok; despite my complete lack of coordination and grace, I shall persist in demonstrating that anyone can jump on TikTok dance trends and get a load of great engagement from them.