Merrick Hanna had just turned 12 when he walked onto the America’s Got Talent stage. He told the judges he was going to dance for them.
When they asked who inspires his style, his answer made everyone smile. It was his grandma, who is 80 years old and still takes four dance classes a week 👵.
The judges see a lot of dancers on the show, so they asked what would make him different. Merrick explained that he would be impersonating a robot that is kind of broken and floppy.
Then the music started, and Merrick told a full story with his body. The song was about a boy who builds a little robot friend out of simple things, has fun with it, then leaves it alone and finds it broken when he comes back 🤖.
Every move was sharp, funny and sad at the same time. By the end, when the robot fizzled out, the audience was completely silent.
The first judge said it was honestly one of the best dance performances ever seen on the show. She called it smart, clever and current, and said she would put Merrick in a pop video in a heartbeat to tell the story of a song.
Howie admitted that when the robot died, he actually got emotional. Heidi added that many adults try to do what Merrick did, and at 12 years old, he did it better.
Then came the votes. Simon said he would show the video to his record label staff as something meaningful and new, Howie and Heidi joked that they would show it to their families, and it ended with four yeses for Merrick 🌟.
