You know that feeling when your song comes on — the one that makes your whole body light up, no matter where you are? That’s exactly what happened to Andrew Wilcox on an ordinary Tuesday afternoon. One second, he was hammering down shingles under the hot sun. The next? He was dancing like the world was his stage.
Andrew, a 36-year-old contractor from Kentucky, had spent the entire day repairing an old garden shed for a retired couple. His work was steady, the kind that demanded precision, patience — and a decent radio station to keep things moving. But then it happened.
“Bailando” by Enrique Iglesias blared through the tinny old radio perched on the porch railing.
What followed was nothing short of magic.
Andrew didn’t just bob his head. He didn’t just tap his boot. He let go. Up on that roof, in a neon safety vest and scuffed work boots, Andrew danced. Arms out, hips loose, spinning like the shingles were a dance floor and he’d been waiting all his life for this song. He salsa-stepped between toolboxes, twirled around a paint can, and even dipped under a hanging tarp like it was a spotlight curtain.
Unbeknownst to him, the homeowner’s teenage granddaughter had been watching from her bedroom window — and filming.
The video, later posted with the caption “Roof work or rooftop concert?” took off overnight. But it wasn’t just the dancing that won people over — it was the joy. Raw, uninhibited, absolutely contagious joy. Someone edited it so Andrew appeared to teleport between rooftops in sync with the beat, and by morning, millions had watched.
And no, Andrew isn’t a professional dancer. Far from it. “My rhythm’s all elbows and optimism,” he joked in a local interview. But behind those clumsy moves is something deeper.
He’d spent years working alongside Latino communities in Arizona, doing volunteer construction and outreach. “I wasn’t just building houses,” he said. “I was learning culture, laughter, connection. That music reminds me of people who welcomed me like family.”
Andrew’s dancing might not win any ballroom competitions — but it’s doing something far more powerful: lifting spirits.
Now, construction companies across the state are tagging their own rooftop dancers, calling it the #WilcoxShuffle. People write that it made their day, gave them a reason to smile, or reminded them to turn the radio up in the middle of their own routines.
Because that’s the thing about music — when it hits, it doesn’t care where you are.
And sometimes, when you least expect it, a song comes on and reminds you how to feel alive.