Long before TikTok, there was YouTube. Before that, there was MTV. These mediums allowed dance crazes to develop and spread throughout their respective countries and even internationally long before the internet! As a result, many dances that would have had a moment online never got to have that chance. So, why don’t we think about bringing some of them back? After all, Y2K fashion is making a comeback, why not retro dances, too!
Here are some great retro dance crazes that could use a reboot!
Apache (Jump On It) - Sugarhill Gang
The song “Apache” was popularised when Sugarhill Gang released their cover in 1981. It was moderately known until it was featured in an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1995. In it, the characters Will (Will Smith) and Carlton (Alfonso Lincoln Ribeiro) dance to the song in a talent show to win money to cover their losses in Las Vegas. It’s one of the most memorable scenes in the entire series!
Additionally, there was a recent TikTok soundbite trend (eons ago in internet years) featuring the first few seconds of the song, so even if Fresh Prince is before your time, you’ll likely recognise the iconic beat.
Will and Carton, stone-faced, jump up on stage, moving their hips to the beat and mime riding a horse while looping a lasso over their heads. It’s an easy and short dance to learn (because it doesn’t last for the entire song), so you can make up what happens next if you want to!
Crank That (Soulja Boy) – Soulja Boy
Crank That (Soulja Boy) was Soulja Boy's hugely popular 2007 single and the dance routine featured in the video referenced pre-existing dance crazes that were popular in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. You'll recognise the dance from the sideways movement and the now iconic “Superman” pose.
While Soulja Boy never had another song or a dance craze as popular as Crank That, he's still making music and signed a record deal with Virgin Music as recently as 2021.
If you wanted to be a TikTok trendsetter, you could probably learn this dance and revive it for a throwback dance trend!
"Crank That (Soulja Boy)" was #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for 7 weeks in 2007. It also reached the top ten charts in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
Gangnam Style – PSY
For many of us, PSY's "Gangnam Style" was the first time we'd ever heard K-pop and in the months following its huge success, particularly on YouTube, the song was unavoidable. It was the first video on YouTube to hit 1 billion views and currently sits with over 5.1 billion views.
More unavoidable, however, was PSY's dancing in the music video, particularly as PSY mimics riding a horse, spinning a lasso, and the subsequent leg movements that everyone was attempting at almost every social gathering in the early 2010s.
There are many different variations of the dancing throughout the song, except for the iconic horse/lasso/leg moves, so you can feel free to make your dance unique throughout the rest of the song!
Harlem Shake – Baauer
Back in 2013, a few years before TikTok even existed in the US, the Harlem Shake was probably one of the most important viral dance crazes on YouTube.
The format for this viral dance craze was fairly simple: you start with one person dancing in an otherwise serious or formal environment before cutting to everybody dancing when the drop comes in.
Basically, the crazier, the better. This trend had everybody posting their versions online from college students to soldiers!
Macarena – Los del Río
The original version of “Macarena” performed just fine, but the Bayside Boys Mix was #1 in Australia and around the world.
The popularity of the song also launched the popularity of the dance with the music video for the song featuring people in typically-90s clothing doing the famous dance routine.
The dance, which became colloquially known as “The Macarena”, isn't actually performed by Los del Río, who instead sort of look like a couple of dads at a wedding. Either way, that didn't stop the cultural steamroller that was the “The Macarena” from taking over everywhere from school discos to clubs around the world, quickly becoming one of the most iconic dances in modern history.
Party Rock Anthem – LMFAO
It seems that the in the early 2010s, we were desperate for dance crazes and many artists were happy to oblige. One such artist was LMFAO, a duo that performed hip-house music (that's house rap music, basically) and had their entire identity focused on partying.
Their song "Party Rock Anthem" has the famous "shuffling" section which spawned the dance craze. However, as the rest of the world was learning how to do the dance, many Australians would recognise this as the Melbourne Shuffle from the Melbourne rave scene in the 1980s, which is where LMFAO got their inspiration!
The dance is not that different from modern moves that keep becoming trendy today!
Cha Cha Slide – DJ Casper
In 2000, DJ Casper would release a song that would find its way out of clubs and off the radio into almost any event you could possibly think of: “Cha Cha Slide”.
If you aren't familiar with the "Cha Cha Slide", it's nearly 4 minutes of instructions and was originally written to be performed as part of an aerobics routine, which makes a lot of sense once you've heard the lyrics.
That said, it’s a pretty slow and tame dance compared to the dance crazes of today. Maybe it could use a remix?
The Ketchup Song (Aserejé) – Las Ketchup
With dance crazes, it doesn't matter if you're an established artist or a one-hit-wonder. In the case of Las Ketchup, the latter definitely applies.
The Spanish group's The Ketchup Song (Aserejé) was a huge hit in 2002 and likely drove sales of their album “Hijas del Tomate” (literally "Daughters of the Tomato") but they never really had much more success, at least not internationally, after that.
The song contains a lot of gibberish, because it's about a Spanish man trying to sing the words to "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang but he doesn't know what the words are!
The Ketchup Song and the accompanying dance, however, were both huge and the song went to #1 in their native Spain, Australia, and in several countries across Europe. It didn't perform well in the US and only reached #54.
The dance, which is mostly done with the hands and reminiscent and maybe even very loosely inspired by flamenco performances, was just as popular as the song.
Interestingly, the chorus doesn't actually mean anything in Spanish and is just a Spanish imitation of the opening lyrics to the hip-hop hit "Rapper's Delight" from Sugarhill Gang. Just listen to it and you'll hear it!
Thriller – Michael Jackson
The 1983 song Thriller was one of Michael Jackson's top hits that featured him performing an iconic dance routine in the music video.
Needless to say, the popularity of the song, plus the music video, and the movements of Jackson and the backup dancers in the video would lead to “Thriller” leaving its mark on the cultural landscape.
References to the iconic dance have been made in countless media since the video was released, including:
- A 2008 Superbowl Ad
- One Piece
- A Bollywood film called Kasam Paida Karne Wale Ki
- A German film called Otto-Der Film
- The American film called Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
- The New Zealand dramedy Boy
- Many other music videos, like Clint Eastwood by Gorillaz and Bad Romance by Lady Gaga
Time Warp – The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The song Time Warp is from The Rocky Horror Show (the stage performance) and The Rocky Horror Picture Show (the film). If you’re not familiar with The Rocky Horror Show, it’s a cult classic movie that is now commonly performed either as a standalone theatre act or alongside the film (so there are live performers lip-synching to the film, performing scenes, and dancing while the film plays behind them).
It’s a bizarre concept, but that’s part of the charm and why the film, performance, and dance each stand out so much!
Cotton-Eyed Joe - Rednex
Line dancing is a common historical dance form found in many places around the world. While many of these places haven’t created many new line dances in the past couple of centuries, there is one place where new line dances are regularly popularised: the American South.
Country music is perfect for line dancing with its swinging beat and “rowdy” nature. Cotton-Eyed Joe is a pop-country-techno fusion that has made it more exciting for parties and more palatable for non-country music fans.
It’s an extremely popular dance that shows up at many different events in the US. If you’re ever partying with an American, there’s a good chance they’ll know exactly what to do if this song starts playing!
U Can't Touch This – MC Hammer
MC Hammer's 1990 hit U Can't Touch This, which samples Super Freak by Rick James, is another hugely popular song that went to #1 in Australia and many other countries around the world.
The dance from the video, known as "Hammertime", is the part where MC Hammer shuffles quickly from side to side in his iconic parachute pants (which became known as Hammer Pants because of this dance). This quick-footed dancing style was prevalent in many popular dances of the time, but the combination of the song, the pants, and the dance all together make U Can’t Touch This the stand-out example of the trend.
It’s so popular that it’s impossible to list the number of times it’s been referenced in pop culture!
Y.M.C.A. – Village People
Finally, perhaps the most recognisable and simple dance that can really bring a whole group together: The YMCA.
Much like “The Macarena”, “The YMCA” as the dance is called, has been getting people up and dancing for years. If you haven't seen the dance, it's basically spelling out the letters that make up the title of the song with your arms.
It’s perfect for family-friendly functions since people of almost any age and ability can do it! Even if someone has mobility restrictions, simply moving along in any way to the 4 simple beats brings you into the main dancing action.
And, we would be remiss to not bring up the legendary YouTube video “The Evolution of Dance.” This video summarises the most popular dances up that point (2006), so it’s great inspiration today for anyone who wants to learn about popular dance songs from back in the day!
Of course, if you think we've missed any of the best dance crazes, just let us know about them in the comments!
If you want to take your dancing further and learn more about the different dances and popular dance styles, you might want to consider learning at a dance school or with a dance teacher or tutor. If you're not sure what kind of dances you want to learn, you can just look for dance tutors, but if you know what you want, you can search for plenty of different styles including tango, swing, salsa, American, Latin, jazz, ballet, samba, waltz, modern, or even a trending TikTok dance routine!
Learn vintage and retro dances, classical dances, and modern dances with an amazing dance teacher on Superprof! Find dance lessons today!
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