--- title: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Video Came From This Trend description: A recently discovered video of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dancing in college was actually inspired by a viral Internet trend. canonical: https://time.com/5493430/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-dancing-video/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-01-03T21:25:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:11.079Z og:title: The Story Behind Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Dancing Video og:description: Here's what you need to know og:url: https://time.com/5493430/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-dancing-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte284ce5e1673ea38/698942a0ab6d7752d76b48d9/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-dancing-video.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: House Of Representatives Convenes For First Session Of 2019 To Elect Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) As Speaker Of The House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Story Behind Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Dancing Video twitter:description: Here's what you need to know twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte284ce5e1673ea38/698942a0ab6d7752d76b48d9/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-dancing-video.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's the Viral Internet Trend that Inspired that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Dancing Video > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=ec6e2e02-983e-4f07-8cc8-a03d4f0c95b2&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: How Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Pulled Off the Biggest Upset of 2018 [Watch (HLS stream): How Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Pulled Off the Biggest Upset of 2018](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4EBaH0mm.m3u8) (2:22)  _Published 2018-06-27. In the biggest upset of the 2018 elections so far, the chair of the House Democratic caucus lost his primary race on Tuesday to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old activist who rode an insurgent campaign to an unlikely victory._  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jan 3, 2019 9:25 PM UTC  WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 03: Member elect Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) talks to fellow members of Congress during the first session of the 116th Congress at the U.S. Capitol January 03, 2019 in Washington, DC. Under the cloud of a partial federal government shutdown, Speaker designate Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will reclaim her former title as speaker and her fellow Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives for the second time in eight years. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 03: Member elect Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) talks to fellow members of Congress during the first session of the 116th Congress at the U.S. Capitol January 03, 2019 in Washington, DC. Under the cloud of a partial federal government shutdown, Speaker designate Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will reclaim her former title as speaker and her fellow Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives for the second time in eight years. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) Win McNamee—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jan 3, 2019 9:25 PM UTC A recently rediscovered video featuring Democratic New York representative [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez](http://time.com/5456871/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-memes/) dancing has gone viral after being posted by a Twitter user on Tuesday. In the video, which was made during Ocasio-Cortez’s time as a student at Boston University, the politician and other students dance to Phoenix’s undeniably catchy song, “Lisztomania,” in the style of the epic group dancing scene from _The Breakfast Club_. The video appears to be inspired by [a watershed remix video from 2009](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtE-xnPKj28) that set clips from Brat Pack movies, including that memorable _Breakfast Club_ scene, to “Lisztomania,” which was then [recreated for a widespread YouTube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1ywFh2AZLg) and presumably, many others, including Ocasio-Cortez and her Boston University peers. As might be expected the Internet had plenty of thoughts about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s dancing video and took to social media to sound off on the clip. While the Twitter user who shared the clip initially seemingly did so [to “expose” or shock Ocasio-Cortez and her supporters](https://theslot.jezebel.com/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-exposed-as-extremely-corny-in-1831466351), her supporters were charmed by the dancing video. See the full video and responses below. > [](https://twitter.com/mirandacgreen/status/1080912905988702208) > [](https://twitter.com/Nicole%5FCliffe/status/1080909707726938112) > [](https://twitter.com/xor/status/1080909782071066628) ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] [00:04] [ MUSIC ] [00:08] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [00:12] [ MUSIC [00:16] PLAYING ]. [00:20] [ MUSIC ] [00:24] [ MUSIC ] [00:28] [ MUSIC ] [00:32] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5493430/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-dancing-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5493430/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-dancing-video/"},"headline":"Here's the Viral Internet Trend that Inspired that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Dancing Video","datePublished":"2019-01-03T21:25:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:11.079Z","description":"Here's what you need to know","url":"https://time.com/5493430/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-dancing-video/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte284ce5e1673ea38/698942a0ab6d7752d76b48d9/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-dancing-video.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/blte284ce5e1673ea38/698942a0ab6d7752d76b48d9/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-dancing-video.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"House Of Representatives Convenes For First Session Of 2019 To Elect Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) As Speaker Of The House","caption":"House Of Representatives Convenes For First Session Of 2019 To Elect Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) As Speaker Of The House","creditText":"Win McNamee—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/5493430/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-dancing-video/","name":"Here's the Viral Internet Trend that Inspired that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Dancing Video"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Pulled Off the Biggest Upset of 2018","description":"In the biggest upset of the 2018 elections so far, the chair of the House Democratic caucus lost his primary race on Tuesday to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old activist who rode an insurgent campaign to an unlikely victory.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/4EBaH0mm/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-06-27T14:04:55.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4EBaH0mm.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5493430/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-dancing-video/","duration":"PT2M22S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5493430/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-dancing-video/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```