How to Do the Whip

Learning the Move

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. This stance should be comfortable, so don't worry to much about exactly how far apart your feet are. Bend your knees loosely so you're ready for the motions.

Bend your left knee while bringing it off of the ground. With your feet shoulder-width apart, bring your left foot off of the ground about 3–5 inches (7.6–12.7 cm). Bend your left knee comfortably as you bring your foot up. Keep your right foot on the ground with your right knee slightly bent as well.

Step to the left and bring your foot down in a stomp. Lean to the left and bring your left foot to the ground. When you put your foot down, create a stomp by bringing your foot down with force. Both of your knees will be slightly bent as you’re leaning to the left. When you do this with the music, your stomp will come down right on the word "whip."

Extend your fist out in front of you like you’re moving a steering wheel. Make your right hand into a fist. Practice bringing your fist from the side of your body out in front of you and to the left in one fluid, fast movement. Pretend your right hand is on a steering wheel and you’re moving the wheel to the left with one hand. Keep your hand in a fist the whole time. Your fist will be fully extended on the beat, right when the word “whip” is heard.

Practice stepping and moving your arm at the same time. Once you’ve mastered the footwork and arm movement, put them both together. Create the left-leaning stomp at the same time you whip your right arm to the left, so that they both happen on the same beat. It may help you to sing the song in your head so that you can practice stomping and extending your arm on the word “whip.” Practice the movements faster each time until you can do it to the beat of the song.

Turn on music to do the whip to the beat. Once you’ve practiced the movements without music, turn on Silento’s song “Watch Me” to do the whip to the words. Rewind or start the song over as many times as needed until you’ve learned to do the dance along with the beat. If you haven’t purchased the song, look it up on YouTube to listen to it. There are also online tutorials that will show you how to do each step of the dance.

Doing the Nae Nae

Bend your knees while standing with your feet spread out. Your legs should be about shoulder-width apart, though you can stretch them out more if you'd like. The bend in your knees doesn't need to be severe, just bend them enough so you're in a comfortable stance. If you do stretch your legs out farther, you'll end up bending your knees less.

Stick your hand up in the air. It doesn't matter which hand you use, as you can switch hands later on in the song. Raise one of your arms up in the air so that your arm is slightly bent, spreading your fingers out naturally towards the sky.

Step side to side on the beat. Keep your knees slightly bent and pick each foot up off the ground slightly as you step from side to side. Put your foot down on the beat, placing most of your weight on the balls of your feet. You can move your hips while doing this too, helping your movements look natural.

Move your shoulders to give your body more rhythm. Roll your shoulders slightly as you're stepping so that your movement looks less rigid. Do each shoulder one at a time on the beat, switching back and forth naturally. Once you're comfortable with the steps, your shoulders will likely start moving naturally to the rhythm.

Adding Style Elements

Switch positions and practice using the right foot and left arm. If you’ve gotten the hang of doing the whip to the left, practice doing it to the right. Your left hand will be the fist that’s moving to the right while you stomp with your right foot. Lean to the right as opposed to the left when you switch sides.

Lean to each side with your whole body. After you’ve mastered the moves, start emphasizing your body language when you whip (or lean) to each side. Instead of just using your legs to lean, move your upper body to the side as well while also tilting your head. For example, when whipping left, lean on your left leg, move your right arm to the left while leaning with your upper body, and tilt your head to the left on the beat.

Bounce lightly with your legs. After you’ve stomped and moved your arm out in front of you, bounce up and down lightly by bending your knees and keeping your feet flat on the ground. Bounce to the beat a few times to keep your movements going.

Do the moves with lots of energy. Loosen up your body so that you’re not doing the movements stiffly, and really exaggerate each motion. This will make your dance moves look much better and show that you’re confident with the motions. For example, instead of just stepping to the left and moving your arm out in front of you, create a hard stomp while bending your knees and moving your fist to the left super precisely.