From the gangsta walk to the tango, some dance fads reached global prominence before disappearing in a matter of weeks. Others have lasted through the decades and even spawned whole new movements.
Modern dance owes its origins to a series of cultural revolutions that occurred over the centuries. Periods like the Renaissance, post-French Revolution, prohibition and ragtime brought about many of the modern dances we know today. The waltz, for example, was originally danced at arm’s length between couples but became the close embrace dance that it is today during the 19th century.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, rock ‘n’ roll music helped to create a number of dancing fads. The limbo, for example, required participants to bend backward while sliding under an ever-sinking bar — and it wasn’t easy. The Twist, meanwhile, saw a similar rise to popularity after Chubby Checker introduced it to the world with his hit song “Limbo Rock.”
Hip-hop music and artists in the 1980s and 1990s helped to popularize a style of dance that was as simple as it was explosive. The Running Man, which was the trademark dance of acts like MC Hammer and Milli Vanilli, required fast-paced music and, ideally, parachute pants. More recently, South Korean producer PSY broke over a billion views with his 2012 hit, “Gangnam Style,” which features a goofy, fun, hopping dance that’s reminiscent of both a horse and its rider. And in 2018, 16-year-old TikTok star Charli d’Amelio hopped around to her own soundtrack with her wildly popular viral dance, the Woah.
