By Fred Chun, Waipio
From the 1950s to the 1980s, new dance fads appeared almost every week. Many were popularized (or commercialized) versions of new styles or steps discovered by the young dancers who frequented the clubs and discotheques in major U.S. cities like New York, Philadelphia and Detroit. Among the dozens of crazes that swept the world during this fertile period were "the Madison", "The Swim", the "Mashed Potato", "The Twist", "The Frug" (pronounced 'froog') and "The Watusi"
The kids also had "The Shake" and "The Hitchhike" and several '60s dance crazes had animal names, including "The Pony", "The Dog" and "The Chicken" (not to be confused with the later Chicken Dance). Mambo became a standard in American Style dancing but never officially and remains popular to this day. The Hustle also has entered into the American Style of dance. Then both supplanted by the Salsa and now the Bachata but not officially. What happened to Reggaeton? And the Zouk and Kizomba have arrived. Will the kids know what to do with it? You betcha.
Latin dance styles have always exerted a huge influence on the direction of western popular music and dance. This has especially been true of jazz, which was profoundly altered by the advent of the first wave of Latin music in the 1940s and then by the bossa nova craze of the 1960s, which also had a massive influence on American pop music. In Wahiawa and Waianae, they have had Mariachis lately, so that may be all a matter of time.
"Social dancers know that they get to the point where confidence lasts longer
than the dance. Seconds at first. Then minutes. Then maybe it’ll still
be there the next time. when they are walking into a dance."
From the 1950s to the 1980s, new dance fads appeared almost every week. Many were popularized (or commercialized) versions of new styles or steps discovered by the young dancers who frequented the clubs and discotheques in major U.S. cities like New York, Philadelphia and Detroit. Among the dozens of crazes that swept the world during this fertile period were "the Madison", "The Swim", the "Mashed Potato", "The Twist", "The Frug" (pronounced 'froog') and "The Watusi"
"Tainted Love" by Soft Cell (1981)
The kids also had "The Shake" and "The Hitchhike" and several '60s dance crazes had animal names, including "The Pony", "The Dog" and "The Chicken" (not to be confused with the later Chicken Dance). Mambo became a standard in American Style dancing but never officially and remains popular to this day. The Hustle also has entered into the American Style of dance. Then both supplanted by the Salsa and now the Bachata but not officially. What happened to Reggaeton? And the Zouk and Kizomba have arrived. Will the kids know what to do with it? You betcha.
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” ~
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