--- title: Michelle Obama and Ellen DeGeneres Dance to "Uptown Funk" description: First Lady Michelle Obama and Ellen DeGeneres Dance to Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson on The Ellen Show to promote Lets Move and Gimme Five canonical: https://time.com/3744326/michelle-obama-uptown-funk-dance-ellen-degeneres/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-13T17:08:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:47:53.952Z og:title: Watch Michelle Obama Get Down to 'Uptown Funk' With Ellen og:description: First Lady Michelle Obama and Ellen DeGeneres Dance to Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson on The Ellen Show to promote Lets Move and Gimme Five og:url: https://time.com/3744326/michelle-obama-uptown-funk-dance-ellen-degeneres/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Michelle Obama Get Down to 'Uptown Funk' With Ellen twitter:description: First Lady Michelle Obama and Ellen DeGeneres Dance to Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson on The Ellen Show to promote Lets Move and Gimme Five twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch Michelle Obama Get Down to 'Uptown Funk' With Ellen DeGeneres ## Video: How a High Schooler Made it to the State of the Union [Watch (HLS stream): How a High Schooler Made it to the State of the Union](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qUSRyg7S.m3u8) (9:57)  _Published 2015-01-20. This week, Michelle Obama was joined by a handful of people to watch the President’s State of the Union address in person. In 2013, Estiven Rodriguez was one of them. Follow the high-school senior's journey to the State of the Union_  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 13, 2015 5:08 PM CUT  by [Olivia B. Waxman](/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 13, 2015 5:08 PM CUT A preview clip released Thursday for an upcoming episode of _The Ellen DeGeneres Show_ shows Michelle Obama and the comedian dancing to “Uptown Funk,” the Mark Ronson song featuring Bruno Mars that has become a very popular tune to [spoof on the Internet](http://time.com/3683229/uptown-funk-dallas-high-school-teacher-dance/ "undefined"). The dance party starts at the 3:13 mark in the clip above. In fact, the First Lady was so excited to start dancing that her mic fell off. “Is it going to stay? Because there is some hip-thrusting, so. There’s a lot of it, so…” The dance-off was prompted by Obama’s “#GimmeFive” challenge, which celebrates the fifth anniversary of the First Lady’s “Let’s Move” campaign to raise awareness about active, healthy living and combat obesity in the United States. The full episode premieres March 16\. So far, it does not look like the First Lady’s appearance ends in a push-up contest like that one time. _Read next:_ [_Watch Michelle Obama Slow Dance With Big Bird_](http://time.com/3711825/michelle-obama-big-bird-billy-on-the-street/?iid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") ### See Photos of Barack Obama in College  Chance Encounter In 1980, when Obama was a freshman at Occidental College in Los Angeles, he was approached by an aspiring photographer named Lisa Jack, who asked him if he would be willing to pose for some black and white photographs that she could use in her portfolio. Lisa Jack  Handsome Of her first meeting (in a campus eatery) with Obama, Jack remembers only that "He was really cute. But what else does a 20-year-old girl remember?" Lisa Jack  Styled In the photos, Jack says, "You can see he is just posing, initially, but as the shoot goes on, he starts to come out. He was very charismatic even then." Lisa Jack  Prop Jack never realized her dream of becoming a photographer and is now a psychologist. Lisa Jack  Pose Jack and Obama would see each other only a few more times while students. But in 2005, while on a tour, she spotted Obama on Capitol Hill and yelled hello. "He knew exactly who I was after all this time," Jack says. "I was amazed." Lisa Jack  Doubt On a dare from a skeptical friend, Jack decided to track down her negatives from the shoot. Lisa Jack  Searcher Initially, before she dug the film out from her basement, Jack never thought her pictures would have much life beyond her own darkroom. Lisa Jack  Smile When she found them, the images of Obama "blew me away," she says. "I had no idea I'd taken a whole roll of film." Lisa Jack  Charm For a while, Jack put the negatives in a safety-deposit box, so that they could not be used until after the election, when there would be no chance they could be used for a political purpose.  Thoughtful Today, Jack says, she hopes the photos reveal a "spirit of fun and thoughtfulness." Lisa Jack  The Man Who Would Be President "I'm not political," Jack says, "(But) these are historic photos and they should be shared." 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