Dance Crazes Through the Ages

Dance Crazes Through the Ages

The art of dance has meant a lot of different things to a lot of different people over the years. It’s also brought together cultures and neighborhoods for similar purposes of joy and self-expression.

Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’ll be looking at Dance Crazes Through the Ages. For this video, we’ll be discussing how dancing has ebbed and flowed throughout the decades, specifically with how different dance crazes highlighted the social mores during which they were popular.

Are you fond or nostalgic for old-school dance moves? Do you want to bring them back? Let us know in the comments!

The earliest dance craze on our agenda is the Foxtrot, and it sort of exemplifies the term, because, although it’s no longer red-hot, it is still practiced. The dance arguably enjoyed its peak popularity at the dawn of the 1920s, but it was first developed much earlier, with some dates marking it around 1914. The dance was popularized by vaudeville performer Harry Fox, hence its name, but was also made famous by Broadway dancers Vernon and Irene Castle. These performers helped codify its languid and graceful slow/quick dynamic, yet they were also quick to credit African-American dances as inspiration for their own take on The Foxtrot.

It’s virtually impossible to discuss certain dances of the 1920s and ‘30s without discussing Prohibition. This nearly fifteen-year ban on alcohol sales and production not only assisted in the rise of organized crime, but it also necessitated the creation of speakeasies. These were underground clubs where revelers could covertly consume their alcohol, and carouse in the manner they saw fit. The dancing during this time reflected this sentiment, particularly The Charleston.

The Charleston signifies the birth of a counterculture, albeit one that strays away from the 1960s and ‘70s ideals we may more closely identify with the term. This counterculture wanted to challenge “accepted” social norms and danced in daring and provocative manners that flaunted a proverbial thumb-in-the-eye to conservative prohibition. Flapper girls and their dates would dance The Charleston and its various offshoots in order to (quite literally) “kick up their heels.” The dance saw roots from the hit Broadway shows “Runnin’ Wild” and “Liza,” as well as African-American cultural dancing and the smash-hit performances from stars like Josephine Baker.

A little further removed from The Charleston, 1930s African-American “juke joints” saw The Jitterbug gain popularity in the face of racial segregation. The dance was spun off, in part, from dances like The Charleston, but could perhaps be more accurately described as a form of swing dancing. Specifically, The Jitterbug is intrinsically linked with African-American Lindy Hop routines, inspired by jazz and big band music. The style was energetic and fun, and served as a huge influence for the “swing revival” that returned to popularity back in the 1990s. The Jitterbug is designed to be danced by couples, and nowhere was this perhaps put to better use than at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, New York. For it was here, under Savoy's anti-discrimination policies, where Black and white dancers were encouraged to co-mingle and commiserate.

Here’s a question: what do you think of when you think of the 1950s? Sock hops? Drive-ins? Holding hands and young love? We tend to possess an idealized image of a post-World War II America and the Baby Boom. The 1950s were no different than any other decade, marked by both cultural highs and lows that fly in the face of that aforementioned cultural idealism. This could be seen within the birth of rock ‘n roll that took place during this decade. Conservative voices largely denounced its status as “the devil’s music,” a subculture whose resulting dance moves could corrupt young innocence with a wink, smile, and a twist of the hips.

It doesn’t feel like a stretch to connect the Hand Jive fad of the 1950s with the explosion of dance crazes that would erupt only a decade later. The dance seems, on the surface, innocent enough, a more interactive and complicated form of pat-a-cake. However, the couples aspect made the Hand Jive fun, and it was also easy to learn for those with two left feet. Still, the connection to young love and romance is still there. Though the Hand Jive was designed to be performed in groups, that “pat-a-cake” connection is potentially replicated with ease while watching a 50s drive-in monster movie under a starry night sky…

The 1960s would see that connection between dancing and romance progress even further with The Twist, yet another dance that was easy for entry-level wannabees scared of the dance floor. Chubby Checker’s smash cover tune launched a literal craze that swept not only the United States, but countries around the world. The hip-swiveling gyrations once again confounded and flummoxed conservative voices of the day, but The Twist (pardon the joke) had legs, and it continues to be referenced whenever idealized nostalgia of the day comes up within pop culture.

Chubby Checker wasn’t the only rhythm and blues singer to popularize a dance craze during the decade, as future Godfather of Soul James Brown soon came along with his take on The Mashed Potato. This song and its accompanying dance would mirror Checker’s twist, but put enough of a “spin” on it to make the craze something uniquely connected to Brown. There’s predictably (since we’re talkin’ about James Freakin’ Brown here) more fancy footwork involved with The Mashed Potato since the dance requires a bit more foot/hip coordination. However, both songs and dances had one unique goal in mind: getting couples together out on that floor.

The Chubby One wasn’t a one-and-done sensation with The Twist, however; not by a long shot. Checker would somewhat infamously experiment with wild and psychedelic hard rock on the hidden gem “Chequered!” LP from 1971, but “Limbo Rock” was a 1962 single that cemented Checker as a pop icon for all time. The song and dance, perhaps predictably, possesses a troubled history, having originated under slavery conditions in Trinidad. However, the dance craze is better associated with parties, a long bar, and the attempts of revelers to shimmy and gauge their way underneath it, as the bar is progressively lowered to the ground.

If the theory of dancing receiving near-constant push-back on account of its sexuality has any legs, then it's perhaps fair to label the 1970s as the decade where it becomes the most obvious. This was a very permissive decade with regard to art, music, and human behavior. The divorce rates were rising, singles bars became more prominent on city street corners, and humans were seeking out more vibrant ways to express themselves out there on the dance floor.

Enter: disco.

This was a musical genre that largely wore its eroticism on its sleeve. Disco was unafraid to sell sexuality front and center, both with its provocative album covers and risqué dance moves. Throbbing basslines, four-on-the-floor drum rhythms, and pulsing synthesizers didn’t quite signify the death knell of rock ‘n roll, but it brought a whole new and exciting sound to dance music. Dance crazes like The Hustle and The Electric Slide were born from this era, a place where more diverse groups from the Latino and LGBTQ+ communities were coming together to party. The Hustle even received the hit song treatment, courtesy of Van McCoy. Disco instructional records (and in-person classes) soon sprung up, in order to teach everyone how to boogie. Additionally, the origins of The Electric Slide, a wedding dance staple, can also be traced to this era.

The electro beat of disco would never truly go away. Instead, influences from this time period would percolate and permeate decades to come, particularly the 1980s. The importance of hip-hop culture to dancing cannot be overstated, and it was during the early part of this decade when a post-disco generation sought to move the needle ever further. Just as the 1970s disc jockeys served as tastemakers at places like Studio 54, a new breed of urban DJs were taking their favorite records and bringing them to the block party. And it was at these parties that a fresh new crop of dance crazes would emerge.

Breakdancing was a huge aspect of hip-hop culture in the ‘80s, and brought with it dancing that actually originated decades earlier, and made them hip again. Popping, Locking and The Robot can all be traced back to the 1960s, but dance clubs in the ‘80s took these old-school dance moves and updated them for the modern day. Additionally, underground clubs in places like New York City would see Vogueing take hold of the city’s LGBTQ+ subcultures, after first establishing itself within Harlem’s Ballroom scene decades earlier. Although it would be years before the story of these early dance trailblazers would be told, other dances like the Moonwalk (another oldie but goodie) would enter the public zeitgeist via performers like Michael Jackson.

This hip-hop revolution was clearly not stopping or slowing down for anyone. And even if some dance crazes like The Running Man were definitely “of their time,” the rap and hip-hop underground was here to stay. This wasn’t the only musical culture to gain steam during the 1980s, either. Heavy metal and hardcore punk were also hitting their stride as cultural influencers parallel to a lot of hip-hop. As a result, the violent and chaotic art of moshing or slam-dancing began to take hold at places such as New York’s CBGB club. It may seem like a group fistfight to the uninitiated, but both the East and West coasts of the U.S. brought their own unique flavors of slam dancing into the mosh pit.

The ‘90s, perhaps more than any decade that came before, refused to be pigeonholed. It was a decade of transition, as well as the time when early internet connections were about to bring the world closer than ever before. This didn’t mean that the decade was bereft of its own, unique dance crazes, of course, but they were more difficult to nail down. Country line dancing rose in popularity, and there was also a brief time in the sun for The Lambada, a “Forbidden Dance” that promised erotic pleasures to anyone bold enough to attempt its moves. So intense was the heat behind The Lambada that not one, but TWO separate films were produced to capitalize upon this short-lived trend. Can anyone out there say “Lambada-sploitation?”

However, perhaps no dance trend better exemplified 1990s weirdness more than the Macarena. It’s difficult to explain to those who weren’t there at the time how globally dominant the Macarena was as a cultural explosion. Those two Lambada movies were nothing compared to the Macarena Mania that swept over the earth with regards to teaching, practicing, and DOING THE DAMN THING everywhere and anytime anyone assembled in a group. Heck, there’s probably someone out there doing The Macarena as we speak.

New dance crazes continued to emerge as the ‘90s became the New Millennium. However, their placement and dominance with regard to footholds in popular culture seemed to ebb and flow. New and briefly hot dance crazes would emerge, only to be overtaken by another one within a couple of weeks. You could do the Dougie. Or the Nae Nae. You could even Ghost Ride the Whip. Actually, no. Don’t do that last one. Wedding dances also continued during this new millennium, including one that continues to this day. The Cha-Cha Slide is similar to the Hully Gully or Electric Slide, in that it is easily teachable, with step-by-step instructions.

Club culture dominated the 2000s, and it was here where more widespread and popular dances seemed to take over dance floors. Krumping was one of these, and it emphasized a less-rigid approach to step-learning and promoted a more freewheeling sense of expression. In other words, it didn’t really matter how you danced when you came to the club, so long as you were being yourself.

Speaking of which, the 2010s and 2020s took this sentiment to heart in a big way, as internet dance crazes began taking over and going viral. Miley Cyrus’ “scandalous” Twerking at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards brought the dance national attention, despite its origins actually dating back to the ‘80s and ‘90s. Additionally, the Rise of Tik Tok and social media made group line dancing popular in a big way, proving that old adage of “everything old being new again.”

And it’s this sentiment that brings us back around to what exactly dance means to the world. In a word, it means everything. It's an expression. It’s history. It’s connecting ourselves to something bigger, and to each other. It’s changed a lot over the years, and it will probably change a whole lot more. And that’s ok. Because studying dance crazes over the years is some of the most fun we can ever have learning about human sociology, our relationships, and our lives.