SEATTLE -- He went. He saw. He danced. And in the process he became, in his words, a "quasi-famous" Internet sensation.

Matt Harding is no ballerina. Rather, he is "a 30-year-old deadbeat from Connecticut who used to think that all he ever wanted to do in life was make and play video games," according to his Web site.

But that all changed one day five years ago, when he discovered he had been walking through life wearing dancing shoes.

"I was on a trip around the world. I quit my job and I was wandering around the planet," said Harding. "And a guy that I traveled with, he knew that I did this dance."

Harding's travel companion suggested that Harding do "that stupid dance" so that he could film it.

And "that stupid dance," Harding says, is hardly a dance. In full action, the feet are very busy, there is some slapping of the hands and, when Harding's very excited, the elbows swing up very high, this way and that.

"Yeah. Like, come on," he said of his own dance.

But nevertheless Harding danced his dance in front of the camera.

"And I liked the way it turned out, so I kept doing it everywhere I went," he said.

And he really does mean everywhere -- in the middle of a busy Beijing market in China, atop the Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and deep underwater in Micronesia.

Sometimes the locals stared with a slightly annoyed look, other times they chuckled. And on good days, they even joined in, trying to imitate his dance.

When Harding finally returned home, he did what most young people do these days with a funny home video.

"Put it up on the Internet," he said.

Edited to a traditional folk song of the Solomon Islands, Harding's video became an Internet sensation and people started watching him.

"I put this video up, a couple million people downloaded it," he said.

In fact, so many people began watching that a sponsor decided to pay for Harding's next trip around the world.

At the end of 2005, Harding left on a 6-month trip during which he covered 9 countries on all 7 continents. But for the record: Harding didn't sell out.

"No. They let me do what I want to do, and they let me go where I want to go," he said.

And so began the second round of Harding's globetrotting, which involved the same dance but in different places like Peru, Botswana, Italy and also Palau, Norway and Jordan -- the list goes on.

"I dance badly all around the world," he said.

Shortly after Harding's second trip he set out for his third, which he finished Friday morning and returned to Seattle.

When asked about his most memorable destination, Harding said, "Antarctica maybe, comes to mind. I got to do for this video, I got to go up into zero gravity, did a weightless flight, and tried dancing without any gravity."

Imagine. What better way for a dancer to be light on his feet?

"I managed to hold down my lunch," he said.

After another lap around the world, the dancing globetrotter says he plans to stay put for a while.

"Looking forward to sleep," he said.

But there is one last thing he wants to do first -- dance his last dance of the tour in the company of fellow Seattleites.

Harding will dance his final dance at 3 p.m. on Saturday at Gasworks Park. Anyone who wishes to join is welcome to do so.

The video of his latest dance tour is expected to be posted on his Web site on June 21.