On March 25, 1983, Michael Jackson took one small, backwards step onto a television stage — and one giant leap into dancefloor history. The thin, angular pop star was only 24 years old when he took an obscure break-dancing move and transformed it into of the most recognizable routines of all time. Jackson debuted the Moonwalk during his performance of “Billie Jean” during the ABC television special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever and the heavy rotation that the song’s music video enjoyed on MTV injected it into America’s pop cultural consciousness
