Dancing has been a favorite past time for many years. While balls and other formal dance parties aren’t in style any more, people continue to enjoy informal dance parties, such as raves and bar dancing.  Here are some of the most trendy dances through the years.

The 1960’s  music was known for “The British Invasion.” British bands such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones became famous along with many others. The 1960’s truly belonged to Britian’s musicians.

Elvis Presley, known as “The King,” became famous for not only his songs, but also for his curled lip, his shaking leg, and his extremely dark brown greased back hair. His songs became more famous when he sang them in movies with some hits as “Love Me Tender” in 1956 featuring  his new song by the same name. He sang in 30 other movies after that

“The Locomotion” was produced in 1962 and over one million copies were sold. Eva Boyd or “Little Eva” was a nanny to Carole King and Jerry Goffin’s daughter Louise. When they wrote this song  they saw Eva dancing to it with Louise. While their original plan was to have Dee Dee Sharp sing it, they opted for Little Eva.

Elton John’s Crocodile Rock, 1972, became a number-one single reaching the top spot. It stayed there for 3 weeks, then it was certified Gold  in 1973 and two years later it was certified Platinum.

John Travolta once said in an interview that he didn’t like dancing and singing. Ironically he is best known for his roll as Tony Manro in Saturday Night Fever and Danny Zuko in Grease. He sang and danced his way to stardom after these movies and more.

Michel Jackson, well known for his song the “Thriller” (1982).  His 13 minute “Thriller” music video was the  longest of its time, it was like a mini movie! His song Billy Jean, 1983, became famous for his moonwalk and his unique dance style..

The Cupid Shuffle by Cupid is a popular group line dance that was made in 2007.  It is still popular and used in large group parties like homecoming.

The Harlem Shake was originally known as the “Albee”.  It was introduced in 1981, and as its prominence grew it became known as the  “Harlem Shake”. Many different videos have been made including kids in lunch rooms,  firefighters in a fire engine,  and so many more.

While Psy’s Gangam style is performed  in Korean it still became a huge hit in the United States. It quickly became the first YouTube video to hit 1 billion views. Since its debut in 2012, Psy’s dance moves are still popular.

The Dab first came out when Migos released the mixtape Back to the Bando in September 17, 2015. The song that made it extremely popular was “Look at my dab” where the dab dance move was born.

In June 2015, Silentó released “Watch Me”, causing the Whip and Nae Nae dance craze.

Recently social media has influenced dancing, which I see as a positive thing. More people are free to dance and create new choreography because of this, creating dance trends that have sometimes have potential. Some of them just fizzle out quickly like “The Quan”. -Erin Hanson: grade 11