Email

First lady, Ellen DeGeneres get groove on to “Uptown Funk”

In this photo released by Warner Bros., talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, second right, dances with first lady Michelle Obama's as she takes part in Obama's #GimmeFive Challenge in honor of the 5th Anniversary of "Let's Move!" Initiative, during a taping of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" on Thursday, March 12, 2015 at the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, Calif. This episode of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" will air on Monday, March 16. (AP Photo/Warner Bros., Mike Rozman)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Michelle Obama has brought the funk to Ellen DeGeneres’ daytime talk show.

In this photo released by Warner Bros., talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, second right, dances with first lady Michelle Obama’s as she takes part in Obama’s #GimmeFive Challenge in honor of the 5th Anniversary of “Let’s Move!” Initiative, during a taping of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” on Thursday, March 12, 2015 at the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, Calif. This episode of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” will air on Monday, March 16. (AP Photo/Warner Bros., Mike Rozman)

In a taped appearance scheduled to air Monday, the first lady announced that she and dancers from the So You Think You Can Dance All Stars will team up at the April 6 White House Easter Egg Roll to teach everyone the GimmeFive dance. The dance is performed to Uptown Funk, the hit song by English producer Mark Ronson and American recording artist Bruno Mars.

Mrs. Obama makes her fourth appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show to mark the fifth anniversary of her anti-childhood obesity initiative.

As part of the celebration, the first lady has been asking everyone from celebrities to everyday people to tell her about five things they are doing to lead a healthy life, using (hashtag)GimmeFive on social media.

Beyonce gave me five, and Ryan Seacrest and Nick Jonas and even the astronauts on the space shuttle, the International Space Shuttle, got involved, Mrs. Obama says on the show. The latter was a reference to the International Space Station.

The show’s producers on Friday released video of the segment, which includes Mrs. Obama and DeGeneres performing the high-energy dance with a troupe of backup dancers.

There is some hip thrusting, the first lady says after the microphone battery pack clipped to the waist of her flowing white pants comes undone as they begin the routine. There’s a lot of it.

Mrs. Obama taped the appearance on Thursday at the show’s studio in Burbank, California. Her office had not previously announced that she would be in California on Thursday, and her aides did not respond Friday to questions about the trip.

President Barack Obama was in California separately on Thursday to tape an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, which aired that night, and headline a Democratic Party fundraiser. He was appearing in Phoenix on Friday.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz, who was traveling with Obama on Friday, said Mrs. Obama did not accompany the president on his flight to California because their schedules were not in sync. The first lady was back in Washington on Friday, Schultz said.

___

Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

___

Online:

Michelle Obama on Ellen DeGeneres: http://ellentube.com/videos/0-1dby5jst/

Related posts

Columbia University protests look increasingly like those in 1968 as police storm campuses nationwide

Nearly 2,200 people have been arrested during pro-Palestinian protests on US college campuses

A look at the protests about the war in Gaza that have emerged on US college campuses