Wedding films, unless you’re reliving your personal memories, may be quite boring. However, in October 2016, Mikayla and Cody Phillips of Utah defied convention by creating a viral dance video that has received an astounding 41.4 MILLION views on YouTube!
Twenty-five-year-old bride Mikayla has dance training. Groom Cody was introduced as dance partners with his future wife at Brigham Young University’s International Folk Dance Ensemble. They say the rest is history, but their wedding made them famous on the internet!
Mikayla included her father, Nathan Ellison, in the hijinks as she organized a lavish surprise for her bridal party of 400 guests. Instead of doing a traditional father-daughter dance that adheres to archaic ballroom customs, Mikayla and Nathan astounded the audience with an incredible four-minute mash-up of Top 40 singles that was expertly choreographed with contemporary, addicting techniques.
For a brief moment, Mikayla and Nathan played tricks on everyone in the room by starting their slow-motion daddy-daughter dance to “Butterfly Kisses” by Bob Carlisle. The sound system started playing MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This” and the record started scratching like a hip-hop remix. This caused the wedding party to erupt in cheers and yells, and Nathan and Mikayla, dressed in matching sunglasses, started dancing.
The crowd went crazy with their absurd Gangnam-style cowboy motions when the song changed to Sugarhill Gang’s “Apache (Jump On It).” Their synchronized “running man” dance was amazing. After a humorous street dance and arm waves, LMFAO’s upbeat “Party Rock Anthem” transformed into a contemporary disco-ballroom routine set to the music of Peaches & Herb’s “Shake Your Groove Thing.”
Along with expertly executed Bollywood movements, Tom Jones lip-sync impersonation, and a nasty drop into Dawin’s hypermodern hip-hop single “Dessert,” Mikayla and Nathan’s absurd routine had other amusing elements. The father Nathan, however, stole the show, killing the dancing movements as if he were a dance pro like his daughter, even though Mikayla’s veil gracefully tore from her hair.
Later, Mikayla revealed to ABC News that Nathan is actually a salesperson, saying, “I’ve danced my whole life but my dad hasn’t.” Before the big day, the couple just had a week to prepare and practice their amazing dance routine. They chose songs with deep personal significance and sent their selection to their soon-to-be husband Cody to remix into a four-minute song.
Since Mikayla is Nathan’s only child and eldest, this wedding marked their one chance to have a unique father-daughter dance. For that reason, the dance was especially special. “He has talked about doing that for years and he finally convinced me,” Mikayla said in her ABC interview. “We’d run through it a few times every night [in the week] before the wedding,” she continued. I believe it was really simple for it to come together because we had been talking about it for years.