The phrase “barn dance” probably conjures up a very particular image. If you’re like most people, you probably think of an old-fashioned dance with a barn full of men in suspenders and women in long dresses.
You probably don’t think of a farmer grooving on his own to a pop song.
That’s exactly what one man shared with YouTube. A farmer named Jay uploaded a video of himself getting footloose and fancy-free to “There’s Nothing Holding Me Back” by Shawn Mendes.
While the cows looked on, Farmer Jay rocked, marched, and sashayed his way across the barn.
There was nothing but joy in his face as he busted those moves. He started out sweeping up some debris off the barn floor but as soon as the song got going, he cast his broom away and began to groove.
“Moving is always the best therapy for whatever is going on in your life,” he wrote in his YouTube description. “We have dance music in the barn for all of our Farm Tour Guests on the weekends just in case someone wants to bust a move like a Farmer. But in between our tours, I will do a little dancing just for fun, to relieve some stress and keep my back pain away. Happy Summer!!”
Jay runs a YouTube channel called The Dancing Farm.
Some of his videos offer views of new farm babies like calves and ducklings. Others include videos of daily life on the farm, like great horned owls trying to get inside or snapping turtles invading the grounds. There are even more frightening experiences of farm life, like encounters with rabid raccoons.
And others are videos of Jay dancing his heart out.
In his summer barn dance video, he just casts his broom away and spends the next three minutes dancing back and forth in one stretch of the barn. It isn’t a complicated routine, but it’s obviously from the heart.
He clearly loves the work he does.
The joy that goes into his dance routines shows it.
His barn dance video is a prime example of that. Jay isn’t choreographing anything. He is, very simply, just dancing his heart out. The cows watch him calmly. They are clearly used to seeing their caretaker bust a move as he goes about his work.
And his joy is infectious. Comments on his YouTube channel show that people love his simple happiness — and his amazing moves.
“When I’m feeling down, I just come and watch you dance and I feel better,” wrote one YouTube commenter.
By the way, Farmer Jay is clearly a Shawn Mendes fan. As he dances, he mouths along to the words and his energy builds along with the song. So, make a note: farmers don’t just listen to square dance music. Sometimes, they prefer to rock out to pop music as they take care of the cows.
Farmer Jay may not have complex choreography, but he has something much better — spirit and energy.
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