Julia Louis-Dreyfus Was Embarrassed By Elaine’s ‘Seinfeld’ Dance

Among the many embarrassing things Julia Louis-Dreyfus did on Seinfeld was her infamous jerky dance in the eighth season. And although she attempted a Marlon Brando impersonation in one episode and a sex phone operator in another, none came close to the quirky number in “The Little Kicks.”

The memorable episode was named after Elaine’s act, which the actress did not enjoy doing. “She was very nervous about this because, as much of a trooper as she is to look foolish and being funny, she was a little worried about it being foolish and not being funny,” the episode director, Andy Ackerman, explained.

Julia did not fancy being laughed at

Although she was a seasoned comedian, Julia never got used to being the center of a joke. Most times, the humor came from her, unlike George, who was often the butt of the mockery. This time, it was Julia’s turn to be the object of entertainment, making it uncomfortable for her.

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“It was actually sort of hard to do, because I knew it was an instance in which I had to kind of give in to making a fool of myself in order to get the joke,” she admitted during a BTS interview. She added that she found it “humiliating in a real kind of way.”

She had to do the dance more than once

Worse still, the already uneasy actress had to repeat the moment more than once. For the first attempt, the creative team had planned to set the dance to music, but changed their minds. “We had to cut the music out and then put it in post, because I couldn’t do that jerky movement with music playing because you want to sort of go with the beat of the music,” Julia added.

Long after the series was over, the actress still encountered fans teasing her about the dance, nudging her about entertaining them with a little repeat performance. “In my own life, people will come up to me and they’ll say, ‘Oh, are you gonna dance?’” she added.