--- title: Viral Gorilla Dances in Pool to Flashdance, Maniac in video description: A gorilla at the Dallas Zoo has won the hearts of the Internet when its joyful dancing in a pool was set to Flashdance's "Maniac." canonical: https://time.com/4830335/viral-gorilla-dances-flashdance/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-23T17:11:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:44:50.241Z og:title: This Gorilla Dancer Unanimously Won All the Internet Hearts og:description: What a feeling! og:url: https://time.com/4830335/viral-gorilla-dances-flashdance/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb16c927d0af29866/6988d30a4ee262625d30ddad/gorilla-dances-to-flashdance.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: SWITZERLAND-ANIMAL-BIRTHDAY og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Gorilla Dancer Unanimously Won All the Internet Hearts twitter:description: What a feeling! twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb16c927d0af29866/6988d30a4ee262625d30ddad/gorilla-dances-to-flashdance.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Intrepid Gorilla Dancer Unanimously Won the Hearts of the Internet  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jun 23, 2017 5:11 PM UTC  Zurich's zoo gorilla N'Gola looks on, on June 21, 2017, on its 40th anniversary in Zurich. The silverback male gorilla was born on June 21, 1977 on the Channel Island of Jersey and has lived in Zurich since 1984\. / AFP PHOTO / Fabrice COFFRINI (Photo credit should read FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images) Zurich's zoo gorilla N'Gola looks on, on June 21, 2017, on its 40th anniversary in Zurich. The silverback male gorilla was born on June 21, 1977 on the Channel Island of Jersey and has lived in Zurich since 1984\. / AFP PHOTO / Fabrice COFFRINI (Photo credit should read FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images)FABRICE COFFRINI—AFP/Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jun 23, 2017 5:11 PM UTC Zola, [an intrepid gorilla](http://time.com/4464435/harambe-the-gorilla/) at the Dallas Zoo, unanimously won the hearts of the Internet after a video of him joyfully dancing and twirling in a large tub of water went viral. As many people online noted, Zola’s splashy dance performance bore a striking resemblance to welder-by-day, dancer-by-night Alex Owens’ [famous water dance routine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z39mhyAt9g) from [the classic ’80s dance movie, _Flashdance_](http://entertainment.time.com/2013/04/15/what-a-feeling-10-legacies-of-flashdance/). So really, it was only a matter of time before someone synced the theme song “[Flashdance…What a Feeling” by Irene Cara](http://entertainment.time.com/2011/02/24/the-25-best-movie-sound-tracks/slide/flashdance-1983/) to Zola’s memorable dance routine, in what might be one of the most fitting pairings on the web. However, Twitter user @BobHagh took it one step further by pairing Zola’s hot moves with Michael Sembello’s “Maniac,” a song that plays an integral part in the movie. > [](https://twitter.com/BobHagh/status/877920282710859776) What a feeling, indeed! ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4830335/viral-gorilla-dances-flashdance/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4830335/viral-gorilla-dances-flashdance/"},"headline":"This Intrepid Gorilla Dancer Unanimously Won the Hearts of the Internet","datePublished":"2017-06-23T17:11:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:44:50.241Z","description":"What a feeling!","url":"https://time.com/4830335/viral-gorilla-dances-flashdance/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb16c927d0af29866/6988d30a4ee262625d30ddad/gorilla-dances-to-flashdance.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb16c927d0af29866/6988d30a4ee262625d30ddad/gorilla-dances-to-flashdance.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"SWITZERLAND-ANIMAL-BIRTHDAY","caption":"SWITZERLAND-ANIMAL-BIRTHDAY","creditText":"FABRICE COFFRINI—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4830335/viral-gorilla-dances-flashdance/","name":"This Intrepid Gorilla Dancer Unanimously Won the Hearts of the Internet"}}]}] ```