The Pond, an Octopz blog on communication, collaboration and coworking online.

It all began innocently enough in 2003, when Matt Harding (aka Dancing Matt) left his job as a video game developer to travel the world. Almost as an afterthought, he began videotaping himself (with the help of others) doing his own particular dance jig in front of different landmarks.

Harding then shared the clips on his website with family and friends who wanted to keep up with his worldly adventures. On his return, he created a compilation video, Where the Hell WAS Matt?, of 15 dance scenes, set to catchy background world music.

Word of the strange, hypnotic dance video spread virally by email and eventually landed a sponsorship for Harding. This allowed him to take a second trip around the world, and in turn make another travel/dancing video, Where the Hell is Matt?, in 2006. By this time, video sharing sites like YouTube were online and on the rise, garnering Harding an even bigger audience and a steady stream of emails and tribute videos from around the world.

In 2007 Harding announced that he would do another world dancing trip. He used the internet and his website to coordinate dance meetups with fans and fellow dancers around the world; fourteen months and 42 countries later, he released the video above, Where the Hell is Matt? (2008).

So one guy shared a simple and slightly crazy idea with family and friends and then went on to dance with thousands and entertain millions. Don’t you just love it when the virtual and the real world come together like this?

Update: The New York Times reports on the Matt Harding travel/dance videos.

Previously on The Pond: Just for fun, All together now . . .