A jolt of joy.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t you think we all need a bit of it right now? I know I\u2019ve been feeling the need\u00a0 lately for an extra-tall shot of unadulterated optimism. \u00a0Frankly, watching the twisted spectacle of one of our political parties (c\u2019mon, we all know who I\u2019m talking about) warmly\u2014and cynically\u2014wrapping itself in the flag while ripping apart the fabric of our democratic traditions (voter fraud, who are they kidding?) has left me feeling, well, a bit low.<\/p>\n

The medicine I needed, however, came just in time.\u00a0 It came in the guise of an ordinary guy pulling together something extraordinary.\u00a0 That would be Matt Harding, a self-professed \u201cthirty-five-year-old deadbeat from Westport, Connecticut\u201d who has stitched together an internet sensation that deserves to be watched by anyone craving their own fix of optimism. The elixir is called, \u201cWhere the Hell Is Matt, 2012?\u201d<\/p>\n

In this, his fourth and most accomplished video, Matt gleefully dances his way across four hemispheres\u2014end even below one of them\u2014with ordinary people hailing from more than thirty-eight countries as his dance partners.\u00a0 Performing sometimes in his own ad hoc style but more often mimicking the traditional dance movements of the peoples of the far-flung places he\u2019s visiting, Matt gives us some much-needed belly laughs as he dons the native dress of the countries he\u2019s dropped into. In quite a few segments, Matt cavorts with the gleeful cooperation of a crowd of locals in his own infectiously exuberant style of mob choreography.<\/p>\n

Just take a look at Matt dancing plain silly in Saudi Arabia with a group of men decked out in their stiff white thawbs <\/em>and keffiyehs<\/em>. Or Matt boogying on a South African stone beach with one very hip compatriot. Or choreographing signalmen on board an American naval destroyer.\u00a0 I challenge anyone to try to hold back a smile as you watch Matt dancing to the embarrassed giggles of astonished guests at a Korean wedding party.\u00a0 And who among us is so insensitive as to not feel a jolt of recognition straight to the solar plexus when you see Matt in a chorus line with young Syrian women in full hip-hop mode and then suddenly realizing that the women\u2019s faces have been obscured to protect their identities?<\/p>\n