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The Choreographers Behind Famous TikTok Dances—and Who Made Them Go Viral

The performer who popularizes a TikTok dance may not be its choreographer. Trace the creators behind the Renegade and Savage, and learn what credit does—and does not—mean.
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The person who makes a TikTok dance recognizable is not always the person who choreographed it. Jalaiah Harmon created the Renegade, later strongly associated with Charli D’Amelio; Keara Wilson created the Savage dance. Their stories show how a routine can travel far while its originator’s name falls away—and why social credit is not the same as copyright ownership or permission to use choreography.

Who made the Renegade dance?

Jalaiah Harmon created the choreography for the Renegade. As the routine spread to TikTok, it circulated without its original context or clear credit, while Charli D’Amelio became one of the performers most strongly associated with popularizing it. The distinction matters: a prominent performance can help a dance reach a vast audience without making that performer its choreographer. The Atlantic’s 2020 account describes Harmon’s emergence as the dance’s creator and the recognition and media and commercial opportunities that followed.

The Atlantic reported that Harmon later worked with Samsung and American Eagle and appeared in television and music-video projects. Those opportunities followed recognition of her role; they do not establish that every creator whose routine goes viral receives comparable opportunities or income.

Who choreographed the Savage dance?

Keara Wilson created the Savage dance. TIME’s 2023 reporting places her story within a recurring pattern: Black creators can struggle to be recognized for dances that spread widely online. In that same 2023 report, TIME said videos using the Savage dance hashtag had accumulated more than 3.2 billion views. That is a historical figure reported in 2023, not a current view count. TIME’s coverage identifies Wilson and discusses the recognition problem.

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A separate example appears in Logitech’s July 2021 announcement about its collaboration with choreographer JaQuel Knight: it names Young Deji as creator of The Woah, Mya Johnson and Chris Cotter as creators of the Up dance, and the Nae Nae Twins as creators of the Savage Remix. The company said the initiative would support BIPOC creators pursuing choreography protection. Its announcement describes an effort, not proof that every named creator obtained copyright registration or that the broader challenges of recognition and compensation were solved.

Why does a dance creator’s name get lost?

Short-form dance trends are often encountered as performances detached from the circumstances in which their choreography was made. A routine can be copied, adapted, reposted, or performed by someone with a much larger audience. As it travels, viewers may remember the familiar performer or sound rather than the person who originated the movements.

In a 2021 Washington Law Review comment, Ali Johnson examined how original dance creators—often young women of color—can miss out on credit and the opportunities recognition can bring. Johnson also noted a tension: copyright might offer some creators a way to assert rights, but stronger control could chill the broad sharing that helps dances become trends. This is scholarly analysis, not a court ruling or a guarantee about the legal status of any particular routine. Johnson’s comment, “Copyrighting TikTok Dances: Choreography in the Internet Age,” explores that problem.

Who gets credit for a TikTok dance?

Credit is a matter of visible attribution: naming the person who originated a routine, ideally in a way that viewers can trace back to their work. TikTok announced creator-credit tools on May 18, 2022. Its newsroom described ways to tag, mention, and credit a video in a description, plus prompts and Creator Portal guidance intended to help people credit creators and find a trend’s originator. The announcement said users could select a liked, favorited, posted, or same-sound video from a video-tag page. TikTok’s announcement records what the platform offered at that time; it does not guarantee the same labels, options, or availability in every region or in the current app.

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Attribution can help preserve a creator’s name as a dance circulates, but a tag is not proof that the tagged person originated every movement, nor does a credit feature establish how often dances receive proper credit or what financial value that credit produces. The sources available here do not establish either measure.

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Does giving credit mean you have permission to use someone’s choreography?

No. Attribution and permission answer different questions. Credit acknowledges a creator; it does not, by itself, grant a license to use choreography or settle who owns rights in it.

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TikTok’s Intellectual Property Policy, effective April 26, 2025, says copyright protects original expression rather than underlying ideas or facts, and notes that local legal exceptions may apply. The policy also says unauthorized use may violate platform rules and describes reporting channels and possible removal. What qualifies as protectable choreography, who owns any rights, and whether a particular use is permitted can depend on the work, the facts, and the jurisdiction. Read TikTok’s Intellectual Property Policy for the platform’s current stated rules; it is not a substitute for legal advice about a specific use.

A routine’s popularity alone does not answer those legal questions. Johnson’s 2021 analysis discusses the possibility that some TikTok dances may qualify for protection, while also raising concerns about how stronger control might affect sharing. That argument should not be mistaken for a rule that every viral sequence is automatically protected—or that none is.

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