Fad Dance Links from 1950 through the 2000s

       Novelty and fad dances are dances which are typically characterized by a short burst of popularity. Some of them may get longer-lasting life. They are also called dance fads or dance crazes. 
       As the pop music market exploded in the late 1950s, dance fads were commercialized and exploited. From the 1950s to the 1970s, new dance fads appeared almost every week. Many were popularized (or commercialized) versions of new styles or steps created by African-American dancers who frequented the clubs and discothèques in major U.S. cities like New York, Philadelphia and Detroit. Among these were:

• "The Madison" - It was created and first danced in Columbus, Ohio, in 1957. The Madison is a line dance that features a regular back-and-forth pattern interspersed with called steps. Its popularity inspired dance teams and competitions, as well as various recordings, and today it is still sometimes performed as a nostalgic dance. The Madison is featured in the John Waters movie Hairspray (1988), and it continues to be performed in the Broadway musical Hairspray. See the dance here.
• "The Swim" - See The Swim performed by Bobby Freeman
• "The Mashed Potato" -  is a dance move which was a popular dance craze of 1962. The dance move and mashed potato song was first made famous by James Brown in 1959 and used in his concerts regularly. It was also danced to songs such as Dee Dee Sharp's "Mashed Potato Time". See the dance here.
• "The Twist" - is a dance that was inspired by rock and roll music. From 1959 to the early sixties it became a worldwide dance craze, enjoying immense popularity while drawing controversies from critics who felt it was too provocative. See the dance here.
• "The Frug" - The Frug is sometimes referred to as the Surf, Big Bea, and the Thunderbird. See it here.
• "The Watusi" - "Watusi" is a former name for the Tutsi people of Africa, whose traditions include spectacular dances. The naming of the American dance may have been inspired, in particular, by a scene in the 1950 film King Solomon's Mines which featured Tutsi dancers, or by its sequel Watusi. See it here.
• "The Shake" - was a fad dance of mid-1960s, characteristic of "tense jerkiness" of limbs and head shaking, basically with no particular danced moves or steps. See it performed here. and The Harlem Shake with music.
• "The Hitch Hike" -  started with the 1962 Marvin Gaye hit "Hitch Hike" and refueled with the gold disc of Vanity Fare, "Hitchin' a Ride" (1969). See it here.
• "The Pony" - made popular in the 1960s by the Chubby Checker song "Pony Time". See it here.
• "Walking The Dog" - 1965 R&B song and dance steps. See it here.
• "Monkey" - was popularized by two R&B records: Major Lance's "The Monkey Time", and the Miracles' "Mickey's Monkey" both Top 10 Pop hits released during the summer of 1963. See it here.
• "The Jerk" - The jerk is similar to the monkey. The arms move and hands move as if conducting. The wrists cross in front of the chest and then sweep out in time, or at half time, with the music. The hands are up at face level. On count 1, the outward sweep, the hands are quickly pushed out, giving the jerky motion. For a little more style, the fingers may be snapped on the two outward movements—the first and third counts of the hand motion. See the jerk performed here.
• "Funky Chicken" -is a popular rhythm and blues dance that started in America in the 1950s, in which the dancers flapped their arms and kicked back their feet in an imitation of a chicken. The dance featured lateral body movements. See this dance from 1972 here.

       In 1965, the Mexican-American group Cannibal and the Headhunters had a hit with the 1962 Chris Kenner song Land of a Thousand Dances which included the names of such dances. One list of Fad Dances compiled in 1971 named over ninety dances. Standardized versions of dance moves were published in dance and teen magazines, often choreographed to popular songs. Songs such as "The Loco-Motion" were specifically written with the intention of creating a new dance and many more pop hits, such as "Mashed Potato Time" by Dee Dee Sharp, were written to exploit recent successful novelties.

• "The Nitty Gritty" - See it here.
• "The Stroll" - See it performed here.
• "The Loco-Motion"  - See how it's done here.
• "Land of a Thousand Dances" - See it here and here too!

       In the early 1970s the disco spawned a succession of dance fads including the Bump, the Hustle. This continued in the 1980s with the popular song "Walk like an Egyptian", in the 1990s with the "Macarena", in the 2000s with "The Ketchup Song" and in the 2010s with "Gangnam Style". Contemporary sources for dance crazes include music videos and movies.

• "The Bump"  - See it danced here.
• "The Hustle" - See it here.
• "Disco Finger Dance" - Watch the finger dance performed here.
• "Macarena" - Dance to it here.
• "The Ketchup Song" - See it here and here by more cheeky teens...
• "The Ketchup Song" with "Gangnam Style" - Watch it now. 

       There are fad dances which are meant to be danced individually as solo, others are partner dances, and yet others are danced in groups. Some of them were of freestyle type, i.e., there were no particular step patterns and they were distinguished by the style of the dance movement (Twist, Shake, Swim, Pony, Hitch hike). Only some have survived to the present day, sometimes only as the name of a step (Suzie Q, Shimmy) or of a style (Mashed Potato) in a recognized dance. Fad dances are in fashion at the time of their popularity. They come to be associated with a specific time period, and can evoke particular forms of nostalgia when revived.