Theresa May Dances

Three frames in one border

The picture consists of three vertical panels placed side by side. In each, a woman with short light hair, in a dark jacket and trousers, and wearing shoes with small heels. The background changes: blue and white-and-red blocks, light panels and part of large letters on a screen. These are different moments of one movement, captured with a small pause between them.

The collage is assembled to emphasize the angularity of the steps and gestures. It looks more like an energetic but stiff walk than a polished dance, and that is the whole point of the joke. Judging by the staging, the shot was not taken in a school classroom, but the picture alone does not tell us with certainty what event it was taken at.

The 2018 African tour

According to reports, in late August 2018, during a trip to African countries, Theresa May visited a school in Cape Town, where the pupils greeted her with singing and dancing, and she joined in. Video of these movements spread online, and it is this footage that is often named as the start of the meme. The exact dates and the name of the school vary across publications.

Not every picture of May relates to this event: other frames from her appearances on stage were also used. That is why it is necessary to separate the school episode itself from later compilations and collages, which include this picture.

How Maybot appeared

The name Maybot appeared even earlier: in 2017, the press began using it for the politician's habit of speaking in rehearsed phrases, as if her voice were programmed. The word matched how her movements looked on stage, and the two storylines merged into one.

Users began overlaying the videos onto different songs and showing the angular steps in broader contexts. The chain here is typical for memes: first a short episode, then a nickname, then a set of versions, and each stage adds a new reason for a caption.

There is also another appearance that is often remembered alongside it: at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham in early October 2018, May walked onto the stage to the ABBA song “Dancing Queen.” The two moments are usually mentioned together, so the three-frame collage is easy to mistake for either of them.

Caption examples

“When they announced a team party on Monday.” The caption sets up a cheerful expectation, while the angular steps in the frame show there is less enthusiasm than was announced. The match between form and meaning is what makes the caption funny.

“My answer to how the week went.” Here the three frames work as three states of a single day. The change of movement becomes the story, and no long caption is needed.

“Trying to look confident in a meeting.” The caption describes an intention, while the picture shows the result. The gap between the effort and the outcome is the main source of the laugh.

What to keep in mind

The meme is about the movement style of a public politician, not about her as a person. Her reactions to such jokes should not be cited: reliable information about her is scarce, and invented comments would be fabrication.

It is useful to separate what is visible in the frame from what is known about the event: the frame shows movement, while the story of the school and the conference rests on published retellings. Captions are better built on the situation and the gesture, without judgments about health, appearance or private life. That keeps the template recognizable and keeps the joke from turning into mockery of a person.