Since the passing of Michael Jackson, I have been listening to his songs, as I am sure lots of people are doing. I have also been looking up his old videos on YouTUbe.
One of the them was Smooth Criminal, which I loved as much as Thriller.

What I always remembered was the part of the dance when they lean over incredibly far and then keep dancing. It was so amazing. What I didn’t know until recently was that he filed a patent for the mechanism he (and others) created for the effect. The pictures look super cool(as patent filing pictures go):


They had a bolt that was pneumatically actuated to rise up from the floor and it locked into the heel of a specially constructed Shoe. That locked the feet in place. The shoe had a ton of ankle support, like rollerblades but flexible, which allowed them to bend over. It is neat to see something I thought was magical as a kid and now know not only how they did it, but understand the mechanics of building it. Makes the magic feel kinda attainable. Which is a good feeling to have.