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American Bandstand's 50th...A Celebration! - Taping Day 2

Source: Michael Caulfield Archive / Getty

Who remembers Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” video?
Do you remember the lean in his performance with the matrix style move that was labeled the “gravity-defying lean”?
Well, that lean was originally performed using string, but Michael knew that the string just wasn’t good enough for the tour so he came up with a more brilliant idea…
MJ invented Anti-Gravity shoes which he had patented with the United States Government… he was a genius!
The shoes have a “stiff” ankle brace and a notch in the heel where he would slide into a hitch on the stage. This hitch allowed he and his dancers lock and load for their gravity defying move.
The patent reads:

“A system for allowing a shoe wearer to lean forwardly beyond his center of gravity by virtue of wearing a specifically designed pair of shoes which will engage with a hitch member movably projectable through a stage surface. The shoes have a specially designed heel slot which can be detachably engaged with the hitch member by simply sliding the shoe wearer’s foot forward, thereby engaging with the hitch member.
Michael Jackson never seems to fail to amaze people… His 6 year death anniversary is coming up June 25th too.