We’ve all done it. When no one is looking, we’ve definitely busted a move to celebrate something. Dancing is one of the most fun ways to rejoice after something awesome has happened. It’s why so many sports teams choose to stage creative dance routines after they score. While sports teams are an exception to the rule, most of us aren’t being watched by millions of people while we showcase our celebratory dance moves.
For a lot of us, we are probably glad that this is the case. Some might even say that if a fly was in the room to witness the dance, that was one too many witnesses. For Kayallah Jones from Atlanta, Georgia, her private celebration dance after being offered a job in October 2020 became insanely popular after her boss saw it and posted it to social media.
Most of us have interviewed for a job we really needed or wanted. If you’ve ever done it, you know it can be an anxiety-provoking experience. Every fiber of your being wants that job, and you really want to impress your prospective employer with your experience and attitude. You go into the interview hoping that you’ll perform well enough to be the person that the employer hires. Sometimes you can want a job so much it impacts your sleep and appetite.
When Jones, the young woman in the video, walked into The Spot Sports Bar and Grill in Atlanta, she had those same hopes and probably, the same anxiety. In the end, she wasn’t any different from any other person who interviews for a position they really want.
Little did Jones know that she was going to have an interview that would go on to make her famous or at least a pretty well-known viral sensation.
According to PEOPLE, Jones had been struggling to find jobs due to the pandemic. As it turns out, Jones absolutely crushed her job interview at the restaurant. The manager, a woman by the name of Dakara Spence, was so impressed with her that she offered her the job almost immediately, reported ABC News.
Most of us don’t expect to get offered a position right after the interview, so it was probably a pretty euphoric feeling for the young woman. She went from wanting the job to getting the job in a matter of minutes. Additionally, ABC News reported that the manager wasn’t aware that Kayallah had been homeless for the last two years. This makes her victory dance even more meaningful.
Speaking about Jones, Spence said, “She had like a great energy, I felt it when she walked in, she seemed really positive.” This initial impression worked in Jones’ favor when she was offered the job.
It is an incredible feeling when you know you did something really well, which was also the case with Jones. When she left the restaurant after the interview, she didn’t realize that she was being recorded by surveillance cameras. In this video, you could see her walk quickly out into the parking lot. Suddenly, she stopped and looked both ways. It was clear she was wondering if anyone was watching her.
When she thought no one was around, she started breaking out in a dance. She picked her knees up and moved her arms from side to side. The actual dance itself looked like a release of anxiety, joy and excitement, all coming out in one big movement. With flailing arms and lots of bounce, this young woman made sure she really enjoyed her moment.
This celebration had the restaurant manager so amused that she had to share the video on her Instagram account. In her description, she stated the video was a young woman’s reaction to her job proposal. Even Spence couldn’t have predicted how popular the video would become, but the video had moved her enough to offer Jones the job. “I called her phone and I said, ‘I’m going to hire you and I saw your happy dance, so you can continue dancing’ and she was just screaming through the phone. It was a beautiful moment for me,” Spence recalled.
Pretty soon, the video had millions of views and was even shared on Tik Tok. Comments flooded in with appreciation for this young lady’s celebratory spirit. Eventually, word got around to the actual subject of the video! She had a good sense of humor about being caught in her joy, stating that silly dances were part of her life but that this had been the first time she had been recorded! “I was excited. When I got outside, I didn’t know that the cameras caught me,” Jones told her local news station.
Jones was also really grateful for the opportunity that was extended to her. “Ms. Dakara didn’t know but I was going through so much, and at that point, when she gave me this chance and this opportunity, I was elated, excited and so overwhelmed to the point where no one understood how happy and accomplished I felt at that moment,” she said. At moments like this, it’s only natural to want to start dancing.
After going through difficult circumstances for so long, we are glad to see Kayallah Jones get the job that she wanted. Journalist Jamie Kennedy also interviewed Jones and asked her to teach people the dance. She was then asked when people should do the dance, to which she replied, “Anytime they’re happy, anytime you get a blessing, anytime you had a great opportunity and you have something that you were working towards for years or months, or praying for.” This is a sentiment we can certainly get behind.
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This video reminds us that it is OK to really enjoy the exciting moments in our life! For every opportunity and blessing we receive, being grateful for it in our own way helps multiply the positivity we are feeling. It’s also a good reminder about how to roll with the punches when you get caught doing something silly. After all, Jones’ little dance made thousands of people’s day, as so many viewers could relate to the joy she felt. We wish Kayallah Jones all the best for her future, as well as others who may have reasons to celebrate with their own happy dance!
