If you thought the dab died in June 2016, guess again.

The once-global dance meme is alive and well in Myanmar following the viral popularity of a photo showing supporters of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) attempting to hit ‘Myanmar’s biggest dab’ on March 5.

The USDP, which held a majority in the Myanmar parliament between 2010 and 2015, is the direct successor to the political party formed by Myanmar’s military junta in the 1990s. The USDP was crushed in the 2015 elections by the NLD, which had boycotted the 2010 elections.

Myanmar Pressphoto Agency photographer Myat Thu Kyaw snapped and shared the photo on his Facebook feed yesterday, and it has since been shared over 4,500 times and gained just as many reactions.

Myat Thu Kyaw told Coconuts Yangon that the USDP members and supporters were gathered in Naypyidaw yesterday to pay respect to former president and general Thein Sein.

A couple days before the event, one party member proposed on Facebook that they use the opportunity to hit the country’s biggest dab. The member’s of the military-affiliated apparently party loved the idea.

Myat Thu Kyaw said the great Myanmar dab happened while the party supporters were waiting for the former president to arrive.

Some commenters on Facebook have critiqued the USDP’s technique:

While others have compared the USDP dab to other historic dabs:

The photo quickly made its way into the massively influential Facebook group Shitposting in Asia Ironically, where one commenter pointed out: “They don’t look down when doing the dab. I guess the only time they look down is when they’re making sure the Rohingya they shot and mutilated multiple times is dead.”

The political history of the dab

The dab was conceived by the rap group Migos and other Atlanta-based artists before being launched to global fame by NFL star Cam Newton, who used to hit the dab after scoring touchdowns.

The origin of the phrase “hit the dab” is thought to be related to the motion’s similarity to one method of marijuana consumption.

The dab reached the peak of its glory when Squidward hit it at the request of a fan in early 2016.

But the destiny of the dab has always been intertwined with politics, and this may have contributed to its downfall.

In January 2016, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton got a dabbing lesson on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. The dab’s future was from then on linked to a loser.

This happened again when Loretta Sanchez, a candidate for a US Senate seat in California, hit an undignified dab during a televised debate against an unimpressed Kamala Harris. Harris would later win the seat.

After months of ungraceful appropriations, Migos member and dab pioneer Quavo declared the death of the dab in June 2016, telling TMZ: “You got to give everybody a new trend, a new wave or something new… Everybody was copying it, and now it’s time to switch lanes.”

But that didn’t stop politicians from continuing to hit it. UK Labour MP Tom Watson hit a cheeky dab late last month, apparently in support of a speech in which Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn hit out at Prime Minister Theresa May. 

And it also hasn’t stopped this guy:

If Myanmar’s biggest dab teaches us anything, it’s that if you want to win elections, don’t dab.