Whether it’s moonwalking in “Thriller” or jookin on the floor of your local club, every decade has its own dance craze. While some dances reached global fame before slowly fading, others have endured through the decades and continue to be reinvented today. This article takes a look at some of the most popular dances to ever make the rounds, going back all the way to the 1920s and the Charleston, all the way up to 2018 and flossing.
Some dances simmered in underground scenes for years before a single person, group, or song made them an instant sensation. The limbo, for example, had some dark roots in slavery conditions in Trinidad and Tobago, but is now known for Chubby Checker’s 1962 hit song “Limbo Rock,” in which he challenges revelers to see how low they can go while shimmying.
Swing, a genre that includes Lindy hop and jitterbug, rose to popularity in the 1930s and ’40s. Often associated with jazz music, swing has since been reinvented into many variations.
In the 1960s, three major dance moves took hold — The Robot, Popping, and Locking. Developed in California, the latter involves a process of freezing movements and holding them for a short while, similar to the Electric Boogaloo. The Robot and the Popping were both popularized by Michael Jackson, while the ’80s saw the birth of a dance called the Cabbage Patch, which reportedly derived from people trying to stay upright on a turbulent ferry ride.
