Metro Mess Creates a New Dance Craze: The 'Ballston Shuffle' [VIDEO]

It's a new dance that's sweeping Northern Virginia, even though no one wants to do it.

Locals are calling it the "Ballston Shuffle," and along with long waits and crowded trains, it's one of the consequences of the Metro Safetrack "Surge" entering its third weekday on the Orange and Silver lines today.

Adam Tuss of NBC Washington posted video of the "Ballston Shuffle" online, as seen above, and you can also watch it happen in another person's video below. What is it? It's when Metro riders suddenly realize they're on the wrong platform, because all trains -- both east and westbound -- are using the same platform, leaving one totally out of service, although there doesn't appear to be any signage indicating that. As the train pulls into the station, they suddenly spring into a mad dash up the escalators to try to get to the other side.

If they're not fast enough, it's another 18-minute wait for the next train.

Metro is in the middle of a year-long "Safetrack" plan to fix chronic problems throughout the rail system, including constant issues with smoke and fire along the tracks that led to the death of a woman at L'Enfant Plaza last year. Included in that plan are 15 "Surges" when trains single-track -- or are even shut down entirely in some cases -- for weeks at a time. The tracks between East Falls Church and Ballston were chosen to be the first of those "Surges."