JUMP TO: Katy Perry put on an unforgettable show at State Farm Stadium during the halftime show at Super Bowl 49. She rode in on a giant mechanical lion singing "Roar," performed with Lenny Kravitz and Mi sy Elliott and finished with "Firework" during her 12-minute performance. But the lasting memory from the show came at the end of her "Teenage Dream" performance, right before the transition into her popsicle-melting rendition of "California Gurls." It wasn't anything that the singer herself did. It had everything to do with a mistake made by one of her backup dancers, who was clad in a shark costume. The dancer who became known simply as "Left Shark" appeared to forget the choreography during the song. The slip-up went viral and is now one of the best-known Super Bowl halftime moments of all time. Here's a look back at the iconic mi step that will forever be remembered in Super Bowl lore. MORE: Why is Left Shark famous? Left Shark is famous for forgetting the choreography of the "Teenage Dream" number in Katy Perry's Super Bowl 49 halftime show. At the beginning of the song, the two sharks dubbed Left Shark and Right Shark were dancing lockstep with one another. So too were the large, anthropomorphic beachballs with which Perry was singing. But as the number went on, Left Shark appeared to increasingly lose track of where he (yes, he; read on) was in the dance. The result? He appeared to be more than a bit off-beat and flailed around in an effort to get back on track, as you can see at about the 3-minute mark in the video below. Left shark. Right shark. All awesome. 's iconic XLIX Halftime Show! NFL (@NFL) Or for a quick look at Left Shark's most iconic moves, see the GIF below: Every time I get sad about the I will turn to left shark. Lookout Landing (@LookoutLanding) Naturally, those watching the Super Bowl were delighted, amused and eventually enthralled by Left Shark. His blunders on the NFL's biggest stage ultimately made the shark a viral sensation on social media and helped to make Perry's halftime show the most watched of all time. MORE: Left Shark meme Left Shark's online notoriety grew rapidly, and that spawned a series of jokes. Shortly after Perry's performance, rapper Snoop Dogg jokingly claimed on Twitter that he was the one in the Left Shark costume. If you were wondering that was me in tha Shark costume !! Snoop Dogg (@SnoopDogg) Several other celebrities did the same, while Buzzfeed slapped together an instant-cla sic quiz entitled The quiz had you pick artists as Super Bowl MVPs, a famous shark and your favorite Katy Perry song, among other prompts, to give you your answer. Then, of course, came the memes. Countle s tweets and social media posts involving Left Shark were created with people using it to poke fun at Ben Nikkel Jersey anything and everything, from XXX to a depre sing Nationwide commercial that aired during the Super Bowl. The shark on the left had just seen the Nationwide commercial Lauren Comitor (@laurencomitor) these shark meme's are too much kel (@kellwh) When you catch your roomate eating the last cookie Boogie2988 (@Boogie2988) Katy: Did you forget your routine again, Left Shark? Left Shark: no Katy: don't lie to me Left Shark. Left Shark: yes Knipples (@StevieKnip) Night' KATY PERRY (@katyperry) But the most comical memes were those that made fun of the Seahawks' decision to throw the ball on the goal-line rather than run it with Marshawn Lynch. The two bests were still images of the shark with superimposed text that read as follows: " ." " ." Indeed, the creators of the memes had a point. It was, however, serendipitous that Pete Carroll's major blunder wasn't the only one that occurred on the Super Bowl stage that night. MORE: What does 'Be the Left Shark' mean? "Be the Left Shark" is a phrase that was popularized by a graduation speech given byNBC television reporter and host Meredith Vieira at Boston University's 2015 graduation. Vieira used Left Shark to encourage students not to "strive for somebody elses notion of perfection," which she cla sified as unattainable, . Remember last Super Bowl, when the won? You may be thinking of Tom Bradys deflated balls right now, but Im thinking of Katy Perrys halftime performance. She was on stage dancing with two sharks. The shark on the right knew every dance move and performed perfectly. But it was the left shark, the one who went rogue and danced to his own crazy beat, who stole the show. So dont ever be a conformist for convenience sake. Or as Mark Twain put it, Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, its time to pause and reflect. Be the left shark. So, in e sence, "Be the Left Shark" means be yourself, march to the beat of your own drum and don't be afraid to break from the pack. Just like Left Shark, it's OK to do things a bit differently. MORE: Where is Left Shark now? The person who played Left Shark's name is Bryan Gaw. He revealed a few years later that he was behind the viral dance. Gaw spent five years as a part of Perry's touring ensemble, per an NPR interview published Jan. 31, 2018. He explained that he had left that role a year prior to the interview to become a stylist in Los Angeles. He told that he has embraced Left Shark and even lists it on his rsum. "Actually I don't get any negative feedback from it," he said about the viral moment. "If anything, people are, like, 'Whoa, that's so cool!' " Gaw hasn't spoken to any notable media outlets since but appears to still be working as a hairstylist as of 2023, per his account. He also lists dancer and artist as his primary work there along with some of the photography work he does. He has his own website as well. MORE: Was Left Shark planned? Yes and no. As Gaw explained to NPR, he and the other backup dancers were allowed to improvise choreography for part of the song. "So there's a set choreography," he said. "There's also what's called free-style choreography, or, like, you get to move around or play your character as a dancer. ... I'm in a 7-foot blue shark costume. There's no cool in that. So what's the other option? Well, I'm gonna play a different character." Gaw envisioned his character as an imperfect, everyday person, so he rehearsed his freestyle movements with that in mind. As such, Gaw was planning to be a bit goofy with his dance moves. That said, he admitted that he took it to another level at the Super Bowl. "Totally," Gaw said when asked about taking his goofine s to the max. "I'm on a maximum stage!" That proce s is what led to Left Shark's fame. But while Gaw's dance moves may have been intentional, there's no way he could have predicted that he would become the biggest meme to come out of Super Bowl 49. MORE: | Brian Robinson Jr. Jersey