Interlude finds national spotlight

When Interlude creators Ian Goldsmith, Tyler Wright and Scott Connerley were first asked to do the Interlude dance at a "Let's Move!" rally, all they knew was they would be teaching the dance to a bunch of middle-school students and the first lady would be in attendance.

Then, a few hours before they were set to take the stage, they found out Obama would for sure be on stage with them — doing the Interlude.

"I would say Thursday (Feb. 9) was one of the most amazing and surreal days of my entire life," said Goldsmith, the student body vice president of the University of Northern Iowa. "… We didn't know a lot of the details before we got there, and even throughout the whole process, we were still kind of unsure, and they just kept tacking on a bunch of ‘Oh, by the ways,' like ‘Oh, by the way, the first lady is going to be on the stage with you.'"

Goldsmith, Wright (a senior at UNI) and Connerley (a UNI alumnus) taught the dance to about 14,000 middle school students at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines on Feb. 9. The dance was part of the Let's Move Birthday Tour, which celebrated the second anniversary of Obama's "Let's Move!" initiative.

Other local and national celebrities, including Iowa governor Terry Branstad; Bob Harper, the trainer from "The Biggest Loser"; Tamika Catchings, the current WNBA MVP; Carl Edwards, the current NASCAR champion; Michelle Kwan, an Olympic figure skater; and Shawn Johnson, an Olympic gymnast, joined Obama in doing the Interlude.

"It was just unbelievable — like surreal," said Wright, who is currently student teaching at Union High School. "It didn't really feel real while we were there. It felt very undeserved. It was just weird that Ian and myself (and Connerley) got included in something like that — for something as simple as dancing like a couple of goons, we got recognized along with famous athletes and Michelle Obama."

Goldsmith also said he "felt very humbled and very, very blessed by the entire experience."

According to Goldsmith, after the national anthem, they "kicked-off" the event by teaching everyone how to do the Interlude. They then went offstage, while the other celebrities spoke to the audience. After Branstad introduced Obama and she spoke, she invited them back onstage.

"So we led all the celebrities and the kids in the dance — it was kind of like the grand finale," Goldsmith said. " They (the kids) loved it. I would say maybe about right around one-fourth of them already seemed to know it. We got them all up, and we were trying to get them excited, and you could tell they were — even when we were going through the steps — they were like ‘Aw yeah!'"

According to an article from the Associated Press, Obama started the Let's Move Birthday Tour in Iowa because of Iowa's Healthiest State Initiative. The tour also included stops at the Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas, where she announced a new program to improve the meals on military bases; Fort Worth, Texas, where she went to Olive Garden with eight parents to discuss ideas for raising healthy kids; and ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World in Florida, where children did physical activities and learned "The Platypus Walk" dance.

The "Let's Move!" initiative is "dedicated to solving the problem of obesity within a generation," according to its website. It focuses on five pillars: creating a healthy start for children, empowering parents and caregivers, providing healthy food in school, improving access to healthy, affordable food and increasing physical activity.

Goldsmith said he feels this event "has been like an extra big boost" for UNI.

"The thing with the Interlude dance as a whole, is that, in terms of UNI, it has given UNI a lot of positive exposure," Goldsmith said, "and that's nothing I can take credit for … It's just kind of the way how UNI and the students and everybody has just embraced it as their own, which I think is totally cool and totally awesome for the school. So I really have to give credit to the school and to the students.

"It's just nice knowing that the dance can still fuel that school pride and passion," Goldsmith added, "which, I think, is the important part of the dance, in terms of UNI."