Invisible Box Challenge: Pantomime makes a comeback with step-up (and over) illusion

The oft derided art of pantomime is making a wholly unexpected comeback with the Invisible Box Challenge, in which participants attempt to step on top and over an imaginary platform.

When done correctly, the challenge is a sight to behold, due to that which can’t be beholden…

Dontez Hines, a football player for the Anderson University Ravens, kicked off the Invisible Box Challenge as a meme with a video that was retweeted tens of thousands of times.

challenge accepted pic.twitter.com/QQ1JWbkXx0

— ariel (@arielo1220) December 2, 2017

But the challenge went truly viral after telegenic Manvel, Texas high school cheerleader Ariel Oliver posted a video of herself performing the stunt on the sideline at a football game.

but wait, there's a pt 2 pic.twitter.com/b8JBgeRZdh

— ariel (@arielo1220) December 2, 2017

With the help of one her fellow cheerleaders, Oliver even took the challenge a step farther (or step less?).

In Antoinette Portis’ award-winning children’s book Not a Box, she writes, “A box is just a box… unless it’s not a box.” That contention is ably demonstrated in the compilation shown below of myriad challengers strutting their invisible-box stuff to music.

While it remains to be seen if the Invisible Box Challenge will ultimately rank when compared to earlier fads — see: Ice Bucket Challenge, Harlem Shake, Running Man Challenge, and Mannequin Challenge — for now it is defying gravity one step at a time.