'I created it myself': The boy behind the viral 'aura farming' boat racing dance

BBC News

2 days ago

It's a dance, a viral meme, and now a trend among elite athletes. Over the last few weeks, social media feeds all over the world have been flooded with videos of a sunglass-wearing young boy in Indonesia, balancing on the tip of a long racing boat and doing what is possibly the world's coolest dance. It's being seen as the ultimate representation of "aura farming" - an internet phrase for the act of looking cool and building one's "aura" (another word for charisma, or rizz).The moves, full of swag and easy to follow, are now being copied across the world with big sporting names like American Football player Travis Kelce, F1 driver Alex Albon, the Paris Saint-Germain football team all jumping on the trend. And behind it all is eleven-year-old Rayyan Arkan Dikha, who told the BBC that the viral moves came to him on the spur of the moment. "I came up with the dance myself," he told BBC Indonesia on Thursday. "It was just spontaneous."The 5th-grader from a village in Kuantan Singingi Regency was making his debut at the national Pacu Jalur boat race. "Pacu" means race and "Jalur" refers to the long canoe-like boats that are raced.Dikha is the Togak Luan - the dancer at the tip of the boat whose role is to energise the crew.In the widely shared video, he wears a traditional outfit known as a Teluk Belanga with a Malay Riau headcloth. Standing on the prow of the speeding race boat which is being rowed by at least 11 adults, he blows kisses to his left and right before rhythmically moving his arms - all without much facial expression. In one dance sequence, he reaches one hand forward at chest level while sweeping the other underneath, then rolls both fists like a wheel as he transitions from left to right. In another sequence, he stretches one arm forward and the other backward, striking a balanced pose.Videos featuring various sound tracks under hashtags like "aura farming kid on boat" and "boat race kid aura" have racked up millions of views on TikTok since late June. And Dikha himself has now been given a nickname, "The Reaper"."He's known as 'the reaper' because he never loses," reads one top-liked comment under a clip that has got 1.1 million likes."Bro taking out opps[opponents] while aura farming is crazy," says another.Many online users have been trying to copy his moves, posting videos of themselves, or their friends, recreating the dance.Sports teams are taking notice too. On 1 July, the French football club Paris Saint-Germain uploaded a TikTok clip attempting the boat racing dance, with the caption: "His aura made it all the way to Paris." The video has been watched more than 7 millions in just 10 days.The next day, Travis Kelce, NFL player and boyfriend of pop icon Taylor Swift, posted his own version, which has since garnered over 14 million views.
"Dancing at the tip of the boat is not easy," Indonesia's minister of culture Fadli Zon told reporters at an event meant to fete Rayyan on Wednesday. "Maintaining balance as a dancer who motivates the Pacu Jalur rowing team is truly not simple. Perhaps that's why children are chosen instead of adults - because it's easier for them to keep balance."The concern is real, Dikha's mother Rani Ridawati told BBC Indonesia. "The main concern is that he might fall," she said, but added that he was a strong swimmer."Sometimes if he falls accidentally or suddenly, I worry he might get hit by the paddles. "But if he falls, there's already a rescue team. The rescue team is in place," she said.
Although Dikha doesn't recognise any of the celebrities who've copied his dance - he first says he knows Travis Kelce before admitting he doesn't -he's quickly becoming one himself - especially in his home country.Last week, he was named a cultural ambassador by the governor of Riau, the province he comes from.This week, he and his mother were invited to the capital, Jakarta, to meet with the country's ministers of culture and tourism, and to appear on national television.He says he's "happy" his dance is being noticed around the world. "Every time my friends see me, they say 'you're viral'," he says, beaming with a shy smile.While his dream is to become a police officer, he has one tip for anyone who wants to follow in his footsteps:"Stay healthy, friends, so you can become like me."