There are so many reasons why A Charlie Brown Christmas remains a beloved holiday watch, no matter what age you are. Between the nostalgic animation, the charming characters, the jaunty jazz score, the treeeeeeee… there’s just so much for everyone to enjoy.
But one of the most smile-inducing elements is, of course, the dance. Each character has their own signature moves, including foot shuffles, head bobs, fist pumps, and arm swings, as Schroeder, Pig-Pen, and Snoopy bring the house down with piano, upright bass, and jaw harp.
It’s silly. It’s exuberant. It’s everything.
A new generation found the dance too
And to show that it’s also timeless, there’s a whole slew of new fans on TikTok recreating these moves.
Here’s one below, where a solo dancer named ID SAM dances along with “the whole gang.” Watch and feel the happiness course through your body.
Now there’s no wondering what these moves would look like on a real person.
But wait, there’s more! Here’s an entire friend group that managed to pull off the scenes in one go:
I mean, that is just peak content right there. They even had a real piano player!
But even more importantly, you can feel the joy being shared among the squad. As one viewer astutely wrote, “now this is real community.”
“This deserves a Nobel Peace Prize,” added another.
And just in case you find yourself wondering, “but can I take these moves to the club?” TikToker @itisjamarmar and his mega-viral video prove the answer is a resounding yes.
“I haven’t been to a club in years, but I would go just to watch a Charlie Brown dance off!” quipped one viewer.
Okay, so this guy isn’t recreating the dance moves, but his rating of them is pretty darn hilarious:
Earlier this year, Micah Revelli, Charlie Brown creator Charles M. Schulz’s 17-year-old great-grandson, also got in on the fun by giving a tutorial for the “Snoopy Stomp.”
The music makes it even better
Of course, beyond the fabulous choreography, part of what makes the scene so unforgettable is the music of Vince Guaraldi, who composed “Linus and Lucy,” later colloquially known as the “Peanuts theme,” along with all the other music for the Christmas special.
Guaraldi and Schulz’s collaboration seemed like a match made in heaven. Just as Schulz used actual kids rather than trained actors, giving the characters an authentic quality, so too did Guaraldi’s sometimes out-of-tune children’s choir lend a perfectly lived-in feel to the songs, almost like being at an actual recital.
Guaraldi also expertly delved into the more downtrodden, and certainly less commercial, elements of Schulz’s multifaceted story. “O Tannenbaum” alone perfectly captures the “mix of anticipation, peace, melancholy, and less easily expressible feelings which tends to hang over the holidays,” GQ writer Josiah Gogarty wrote.
Why this special still hits different
Many Christmas movies attempt to strike this balance between the pure joy and wistfulness that permeate this time of year, not to mention a message of anti-consumerism that actually rings true. But none have done it the way that Charlie Brown has. It’s lovely to see that its magic still resonates with the young folk. Hopefully they come for the TikTok-able dance moves and stay for the other wholesome goodies.
This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.
