Here’s how Houston Dynamo favorite Will Bruin made fan lore almost five years ago. On April 29, 2011, the then-rookie scored a hat trick against D.C. United in a 4-1 home win. He celebrated his opening goal with a celebration dubbed “The Dancing Bear.”
Brad Davis assisted on Bruin’s second goal of the night, and in the post-goal celebration, he himself mastered the bear move despite seeing it just the one time. The Dynamo then themselves memorialized it in this video, and “the Dancing Bear” became one of the enduring memories of the team’s last season at Robertson Stadium.
Now, teammates have joked with him about a return to that glory for the 2016 season. “They’re trying to get me to bring ‘the Dancing Bear’ back,” Bruin admits, laughing. “We’ll see how that goes, but I’m kind of more however I’m feeling at the moment. I haven’t done it since my rookie year. I think we might take the dancing out of it, and just make it ‘the Bear.’”
Eddie Robinson, Bruin’s Dynamo teammate from the 2011 season, remembers witnessing the inaugural celebration from the bench that night. “I wondered, ‘What is he doing? Is he climbing a ladder or something?’”
“Strikers have a different kind of personality,” Robinson adds, of Bruin. “You’ll never find a great one that doesn’t have a hint of ego, and goal celebrations are part of how that comes out."
