One of the greatest entertainment figures of all time, a legendary pop singer and dancer, made an iconic anti-gravity lean in his video clip “Smooth Criminal” from Bad album, 1987. Afterwards, Michael Jackson repeated it many times in his live concerts, too. He even patented the anti-gravity lean’s shoes in 1993. But, a few people in the West know that this magical stunt had been performed long before the King of Pop did it.

Soviet fairy tale Maria the Wonderful Weaver, released in 1959, has had a scene, where the retinue of an evil underwater king perform the anti-gravity lean. They have been told by their master to devise a ruse against good guys, so this stunt apparently was their way to enhance mental faculties. Actually, the Soviets paid a little attention to the anti-gravity lean. So, it had passed largely unnoticed by their audience. Until the King of Pop, willingly or unwillingly, imitated it.