A slew of dance crazes have reached worldwide fame in the past few decades. Some lasted only a few months before fading away into obscurity, while others have become timeless classics. The limbo, for example, has dark origins dating back to slave trade in Trinidad and Tobago and gained massive popularity in 1962 after Chubby Checker recorded his song “Limbo Rock.” The Watusi, meanwhile, took the world by storm in 1963 when Ray Barretto released the song with the same name.
The jitterbug, which got its name from a 1934 song and a movie from the same year, is another enduring popular dance. This clapping, leg-slapping routine is thought to have developed out of necessity, as dance floors at early rock ‘n’ roll concerts were so crowded that revelers needed a way to keep the beat and avoid stepping on each other.
Other line dances that became hits include The Madison, which was introduced by country star Billy Ray Cyrus’ 1986 hit Achy Breaky Heart and the Cabbage Patch, named for a children’s toy. Meanwhile, the hustle, the catch-all term for the disco moves John Travolta made famous in the 1977 film “Saturday Night Fever,” is still going strong.
New dance crazes continue to appear, though some of them have a tendency to be short-lived. Some, like the Dougie or the Nae Nae, are so silly that they’re impossible to resist. Others are more sophisticated, such as the tango, which was first danced along Argentina’s Rio de la Plata river.
