Meet Tre Little, The Creator Behind the Viral Line Dance 'Boots on the Ground'

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Tre Little

You may or may not know this, but one of our very own, Tre Little, is the choreographer behind the viral line dance Boots on the Ground. Yes, a black gay man did that!

Despite the dancer’s how-to video racking up millions of views on TikTok, a string of celebrity cosigns from icons like former FLOTUS Michelle Obama, and nationally syndicated features of the choreography taught by other influencers on shows like Good Morning America, Tre stays grateful and grounded, even if spaces outside the community aren’t checking the receipts.

As much as we hate to say it, Tre’s experience isn’t an isolated one. In fact, viral dances and many other artistic contributions rooted in Black or Queer expression haven’t often been acknowledged with care. 

Creators like City Boy J, for instance, took to Instagram in 2021 after being left out of Mooski’s official video for Track Star, the very song that exploded online thanks to his choreography going viral on TikTok.

“Nope I’m not in the video jus because some one don’t wanna work with me because of who I am,” City Boy J wrote in an IG post. That level of transparency resulted in supporters spamming the Tiktoker’s comments section with encouraging messages, saying if it weren’t for him the song wouldn’t have been as popular.

Gaye Magazine had a chance to chat exclusively with the Boots on the Ground choreographer, and Tre’s perspective added a refreshing take to the narrative. While he’s not defeated by his contributions being somewhat overshadowed, he shared that his respect in the line-dancing and trail riding community has actually been overwhelmingly supportive. Especially from 803Fresh, the artist behind Boots on the Ground, whom Tre calls a big brother. 

In the interview, 803Fresh is described as protective, collaborative, and someone who didn’t hesitate to bring Tre on for the official music video for Boots on the Ground (soon to be released). 

“803Fresh is like my big brother. I was just with him two weeks ago when we shot the music video for Boots on the Ground.

Tre Little & 803Fresh

"He paid for me to come out there and he’ll text me every now and then to ask, 'Hey are you booked this weekend? Can you come out with me?' So we’ll both reach out to each other when we have a booking in each other’s cities. We'll be together this Friday performing. We conversate here and there."

It’s no stretch to say Tre’s choreography played a key role in the success of Boots on the Ground. His creativity and consistency helped build the song’s momentum, ultimately carrying it to the #25 spot on the Billboard charts in March 2025.

Tre’s authenticity and support he’s received from the community– especially from 803Fresh, speaks volumes about what it means to be seen even if the credit doesn’t always land where it should.

Check out what Tre shared about his journey, his take on LGBTQ+ acceptance in the trail riding community, and what he’s up to next. 

Editor’s Note: Portions of the conversation may have been edited to improve clarity, flow, and readability. For the full interview, click here.

What’s life been like since you’ve gone viral? 

Tre: “Life now: my phone is always on zero percent. I get messages every day, all day. “Look who's doing your dance.” “You need to come here!” “Can we book you for this?” So literally, I line-dance or I’m talking about Boots on the Ground every day, all day.

I do work my 9 to 5, working at the cancer hospital and they’ve been a great help through this transition for me. Also every little chance I have open is when I'm taking calls, I'm answering emails, pricing, trying to do what all I can do. And then once I’m off at like 4:30 to 5, that's when I go to perform. 

I have to make my outfits for my events, work on my merch. And basically, I really get no sleep. I get three hours, and I'm good.”

I've always loved dancing and dancing is just soothing to my soul. That's what calms me down. Anytime I'm working or doing anything, my feet are always moving.

Tell us about yourself, where you’re from, and how you got into dance. 

Tre: “I was born in Portsmouth, Virginia. Then we moved closer to my mother's side of the family in Greensburg, Georgia for a little minute. Now we reside in Newnan, Georgia. So we’re right outside Atlanta in the metro area. 

I've always loved dancing! Dancing is just soothing to my soul. That's what calms me down. Anytime I'm working or doing anything, my feet are always moving. So that's just like my stress reliever throughout the day, just coming up with a dance or just dancing in general. 

I recently switched over to the trail ride / country side of dancing. July will make a year for me. And then, you know, it’s just been going from there."

Image Source: 11Alive

Let's get into a little bit of like the dance itself. What's you're choreography process like? The fan work is serious, okay! Is that something that you usually incorporate when you're thinking about line dances? Or was it just something you felt was on par for the song?

Tre: "I would say yes! So I work backwards. I find a piece of the song that I like or if I'm feeling a certain piece of a song and I want a certain mood to go with that, I would start from there. And then I will work backward. So like with Boots on the Ground, I started with the end part, popping the fan. I just had to work my way backward to see how I get the dance to where I want it to be.

It does take me a little minute to do that, but with Boots on the Ground, it took me like 30 minutes to make that dance. And it wasn't performed, it wasn't rehearsed. I just [started dancing]. The first time I recorded, I recorded like three times. The first time, it did not look nothing like what it looks like now. The second time, I was like, "okay, I'm feeling this or whatever."

So after that, like everything just came together. But other songs have taken me a lot longer."

11Alive

Did you expect your dance to blow up like that? What was your approach when posting it?  

Tre: “I did not, because at the time I had probably about 28 followers. And I'd say like 20 of those were family. So I usually would've had my little six views or whatever and I would have been satisfied...I recorded the video, and I went to sleep. When I woke up, it was like 100K [views]. 

And so 803fresh had reshared it and then DJ Pay Me out of South Carolina had reshared it. So after those two reposted it, it was like, everybody was just so in love with it. They was resharing, resharing, resharing. Everybody was coming in and they was like, I need a tutorial!”

I'm going run through a few people and platforms. I want to know what your honest reaction was when you saw these people doing your dance. Michelle Obama with Tina Knowles?

Tre: “10 out of 10. Highly recommend, okay? When I tell you, I love Michelle Obama! Oh my God. Like, this girl, like every time I see her, she inspires me.

To see my idol doing my dance, oh my God, like I screamed. Like, it put me in a chokehold. Now Tina, she got a little bit more work to do, but I love her.

Good Morning America? What did you think when you saw it on daytime tv?

"Good Morning America that was my first time of seeing my dance on TV. Like they were the first one to broadcast it on their news station. And I was happy that, you know, it was getting put out there and that we was represented well by doing it, but I would have preferred if I was up there, you know what I'm saying? Like, come on now, you gotta give the credit when it's due. Hey I made the dance, but, I just love that it was still just being broadcasted."

There’s been a pattern of queer choreographers and artists being left out the spotlight, even when their work goes viral or plays a big role in a song’s success. How do you feel about that, especially in your own case where you weren’t initially credited for a dance that clearly took off because of your choreography? 

Tre:

“I'm going to say I did feel a certain type of way. Not just from the simple fact that they left me off. They just didn't give the credit or actually say like, "Hey, this was created by Tre Little."

Or that "This was created by such and such and he's located here." Like, say we wasn't able to get him on or at least show a picture or something or like a video of me actually doing it or performing it or breaking it down to the people.

I would have been glad to get the reference just to show people who made it. I literally got people in my comment section like, “How are you going around lying? You didn't make this dance!” 

But at one point I was like, it's going to come with the fame or whatever. So for the time being, I just let them people comment because I get paid regardless if you comment or not. So you know, I just let them go with the flow. Y'all go ahead and say what you gotta say.”

Tell us more about the trail ride culture. What inspired the shift to line dancing or what you describe as the “country side” of dance? 

Tre: “It was after I got out of college. I was just looking for something to do. So I was on TikTok one day and I saw some people on there line dancing to this song.

And I was like, “Oh my God! I love this song. I love the dance. I got to learn it.” So I finally learned the dance to the song. And then I was like, where can I go to perform this? So I got on TikTok again, just scrolling, and saw more people doing it. And I found out they go trail riding for this. I thought, “This is what we do.” The line dancing, the riding horses, the chasing goats, hunting them down, barrel racing. That's just what I love because I grew up on the farm and that was our everyday life. 

So I decided to go out and give it a try. I took my friends and we all loaded up and went down there. Had a great time. Everybody was just friendly. They have all the Southern soul. Nobody's a stranger.

Like, right now, literally everybody calls me their nephew and I don't even know half of the people personally and they don't know me, but hey, everybody is just like that. Depending on your age, you’re either our cousin, auntie, nephew, somebody to somebody. And, they're just so welcoming. People cook, you don't have to worry about fixing a plate and literally everybody has my number now.”

Would you say the trail riding community is inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community? 

Tre: “Yes, actually!

Personally, when I'm out there, I don't feel any discrimination. Like even the guys, call me their little bro. They make sure I'm straight. I haven't had any issues or ran into anybody where they just weren't open or willing to accept you because you are a part of LGBTQ community.

Everybody's just literally your brother and your cousin and it’s also probably because I'm not going out there with intentions on dating anyone. I know what I'm there to do. I'm going to have a time with my family and friends. Not everyone is trying to hit on people. I am who I am and we just here to party.”

Have you ever felt pressure to tone down your identity in these spaces? How have people responded to your authenticity?

Tre: “So I'm known for my one-legged jeans, because that's what I wear all the time, or I wear shredded-up jeans. So you usually see skin from the belly button all the way down. That’s who I am. Like, everybody loves when I wear my jeans.

"When I switched it up and I tried to wear some stacked jeans, no holes, people chewed me up. When I tell you they were like, 'why you ain't got your legs out?' They was like, “uh-uh, go change.” They even offered me a pair of scissors to go cut my pants. So I can say they have encouraged me." 

'I wasn't as confident when I first started, but once I started wearing it, everybody encouraged me. They was like, 'Trey, we love this side of you.'"

"We want you to come as you are and we're gonna support you 100%. So everybody has been very supportive and they hate when I wear regular jeans. I wanted to switch it up every once in a while, but they love the one leg.”

So we are getting a Boots on the Ground music video? Is it including you as lead choreographer?

Tre: “We are getting a music video. We actually already filmed it. We're just waiting for it to drop from the editor. I don't know if it's going to hit directly on me or not. But I did do some clips with him and different pieces with the... I can't say too much.”

Are there any new songs you’ve got your eye on that you’re already thinking about choreographing to? 

Tre: “I actually have seven songs that have been sent to me that they want me to make a line dance to.

I love it. I just really feel every song does not need a line dance. Like certain ones you gotta just vibe to. Some people are really forcing their song to go with a dance so they can put it out more in which, you know, hey, I'm not gonna down you. If that's what you want, sure, no problem. But I think personally, you should let it flow. If somebody loves it, then we're gonna make a dance to it regardless. 

You don't have to come and pay us for it. You don't have to send us email saying, “Hey, this is my new song.” If we love the song, the whole entire dance community is gonna make a dance. And most likely you're gonna get like six or seven dances to one song. So like Boots On The Ground had like three different dances cause we all was rocking with the song. We love the music, the beat. Just let it flow. Everything don't need one. 

But yes, I got seven more songs that I am currently working on. And one I would be putting out on Thursday. Tomorrow.”

What’s next for you? 

Tre:  “My ideal life right now is literally I work, I get off and I go to my next event. But I am focused a lot more on healthcare. I have been doing a lot of charity events for cancer patients, some fundraisers for people who, you know, is struggling after they found out the bad news. So I’m working a lot with cancer patients and people that have been diagnosed.

And then...I'm still doing my club appearances. I do club appearances on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. So those are like my events and Saturdays and Sundays is when we are going to special trail rides, we're camping out or whatever. Yeah, that's like literally my everyday schedule. I think the only day that I have off is a Wednesday.

I'm in love with the healthcare space right now. My job is super flexible and I love working with my patients. They love me. And I would love to go more into choreography. Like maybe, you know, I'm coming in with some dancers for some really big people in the future. I would love that. I'm just incredibly afraid. I don't want to mess up, because they don't stay afloat all the time. So fingers crossed!

What would you say to another queer artist or dancer out there trying to break through with their work?

Tre: 

“Just be yourself! Do your big one, just put all your effort into it and don't be afraid. Just take a chance.”

Continue to follow Tre Little's journey via his Instagram and TikToK!

Watch the Full Interview Below: