Almost anywhere in the world, the “6-7” hand gesture and the dab are simply nonsensical relics of internet culture. But in public squares and university courtyards across Latin America, these moves are the weapons of choice among teenagers and college students in a new type of contest: aura farming battles.
“Aura farming”— internet slang for the act of cultivating clout by doing something that seems effortlessly cool—first gained traction in 2024 following a viral video of Rayyan Arkan Dikha, an 11-year-old Indonesian boy dancing atop a boat. Now it’s gaining traction as something of a spectator sport.
What is an aura farming battle?
Set up similarly to early-2000s dance battles, a crowd gathers while circling a couple of participants, each taking turns to show off their own “moves” (such as they are) in the hopes of earning the crowd’s loudest roar.
The repeated short moves and dances are farcical by design, and would in any other context not register as “cool.” And yet, by tapping into Gen Z’s absurd humor, the battles have skyrocketed in popularity, popping up in cities across Mexico, Brazil, and Costa Rica in just a week.
The battles have no clear objective besides earning attention from the crowd. And while some winners have earned small monetary prizes, the battles are often just done for the love of the game, with one common thread tying the battles together: the more bizarre, the better.
What happens at the battles?
In one case at the Instituto Tecnológico university in Monterrey, Mexico, one young man throws himself on the floor to do the worm. His competitor responds by repeatedly squatting and jumping.
In another battle hosted at the Universidad Panamericana in Mexico City, one participant smashes an egg on his forehead, another dressed as Ghostface from the Scream horror franchise joins in to dance, and another man dabs while using crutches.
To make the phenomenon even stranger, in a battle hosted at Parque Mexico in Mexico City, singer Rosalía showed up to watch.
While these gatherings try to take absurdity to the next level, they aren’t the first bizarre internet trend to sweep through Latin America.
In 2008, the event now dubbed the “Punk vs. Emo Battle” took over one of Mexico City’s busiest intersections, where members of the punk and emo internet subcultures gathered in person as a physical manifestation of online tensions between the groups. Notably, the nearby police were unable to control the mob once a physical altercation began, with the “battle” only ending as members of the Hare Krishna movement intervened.
Still, despite being somewhat used to strange gatherings of the kind, many in the comments section, although amused, don’t seem to be impressed by the aura farming tournaments.
“The insults in the future will be: Your dad used to farm aura,” one user commented on an aura farming battle video posted to TikTok. Another added: “At least they are not doing drugs.”