Remembering US Patent 5,255,452

“A system for allowing a shoe wearer to lean forwardly beyond his center of gravity by virtue of wearing a specially designed pair of shoes which will engage with a hitch member movably projectable through a stage surface. The shoes have a specially designed heel slot which can be detachably engaged with the hitch member by simply sliding the shoe wearer’s foot forward, thereby engaging the hitch member.”

Better known as the shoes that through this:

let you do this:

so Michael Jackson could do this:

as made famous in this music video (dance starts at 6:40, “the lean” is at 7:15):

And thanks to Google Patents, here’s the original: Method and Means for Creating Anti-Gravity Illusion. Be sure to note who the first named inventor is.

(Thanks to Idolator for the scoop)