History Main / DanceSensation

* Rednex's "Cotton Eye Joe".

Now you're doing the Mumbo Jumbo Jump!''* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' had "The Twitch", created by a singer after an allergic reaction to pickled dodo eggs. Of course, there were also a few {{Accidental Dance Craze}}s.

* "Hoe Down" from ''Babes on Broadway''.

* "The Tina-Lina" in ''The Toast of New Orleans''.

* The DancingTheme to ''The Melancholy of LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'', "Hare Hare Yukai", is one of these for anime fans. When the series was at the prime of its popularity in the mid-to-late 2000s, it was common to see cosplayers do it at conventions or on Website/YouTube. Konata from ''Manga/LuckyStar'' is fond of the anime and has done the dance (a reference to how she and Haruhi [[ActorAllusion are both voiced]] by Creator/AyaHirano). The dance itself has caused many memes such as "Is this a dancing anime?"

* The Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movies were famous for these: they introduced "The Carioca" in ''Film/FlyingDownToRio'', "The Continental" in ''Film/TheGayDivorcee'', "The Piccolino" in ''Film/TopHat'', "The Yam" in ''Film/{{Carefree}},'' and "Swing Trot" in ''The Barkleys of Broadway''.
* At least 20% of ''Film/{{Hairspray}}'' (the original) is a compilation of these songs.
* "Ballroom Dancing" by Music/PaulMcCartney is a past-tense version. (Listed here because the song eventually reached ''Film/GiveMyRegardsToBroadStreet''.)
* "The French Mistake" from ''Film/BlazingSaddles''
* "The Tina-Lina" in ''The Toast of New Orleans.''
* "Hoe Down" from ''Babes On Broadway''.

* From ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'', Music/RayCharles' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdbrIrFxas0 "Twist It"]] becomes this, especially with the accompanying SpontaneousChoreography.

* In ''Series/BearInTheBigBlueHouse'', the mice at Tutter's school all do the "Mumble Mambo," but Tutter is uncomfortable with it and can't seem to get into it.

* Leather Tuscadero wrote & performed "Do the Fonzie" on ''Series/HappyDays''.
* Carmine Ragusa sang "Do the Carmine" on ''Series/LaverneAndShirley''.
* ''Series/TheGoodies'':
** Spoofed in one episode where they were being tasked -- by a [[MusicalAssassin musical]] [[TheMadHatter Mad Hatter]], no less -- with writing a hit song. They belted up a squaredance tune, and Bill improvised fairly ordinary squaredance lyrics which were being followed exactly by the Mad Hatter's goons, ending with this (paraphrased):
--->''Now with your partner you shout\\
Open the window and jump out''
** Also, "The Funky Gibbon". And in another routine called "Poor Old [=Soul=]" on "Almost Live", they named dance sensations like the "loony moth", "festering ferret", and "dead dog".
* ''Series/Girls5eva'': "The Splingee" is Dawn's attempt at creating a dance sensation: the lyrics list out the choreography. Their one attempt at performing it live bumbles, but Dawn eventually sells it to Nance Trace, who diverts it to popular [=TikTokers=] who perform it at Jingle Ball, indicating it will go viral after all.

* Extremely popular in pop music from the mid-1950's to the early 1960's:
** "The Loco-Motion" by Little Eva.
** The Twist -- the reason why this one was so much popular, even with the adults, was because it was very simple to learn unlike some dance numbers that either required one to see it being done by someone else (because the lyrics didn't tell you how to do it) or required one to grow a third leg or something to do properly.
** Cameo-Parkway Records were especially known for their "dance craze" records. Interestingly, the staff songwriters who came up with these actually researched which dances were getting popular and wrote their songs about those instead of inventing them wholesale. A few notable examples of their input:
*** Besides "The Twist", Chubby Checker also did "Limbo Rock", "The Fly", "Pony Time", "The Hucklebuck", and many others.
*** Dee Dee Sharp had "Mashed Potato Time" and "Do the Bird", as well as a duet with Chubby Checker on "Slow Twistin'"
*** The Dovells did "Bristol Stomp", "Do the New Continental", "The Jitterbug" and more.
** "The Monster Mash" by Bobby "Boris" Pickett. It even describes it within the song itself, noting that Dracula was upset, wondering "Whatever happened to my Translyvania Twist?" As the song explains - "It's now the Mash! It's now the Monster Mash. It caught on in a flash..."
** "Hippy Hippy Shake", originally by Chan Romero, but [[CoveredUp better known]] as by The Swingin' Blue Jeans.
** "The Jerk" by the Larks, which [[FollowTheLeader inspired]] "Come On, Do the Jerk" by The Miracles and "Cool Jerk" by The Capitols.
** Mickey's Monkey (also just called "the Monkey")by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.
** The Swim goes with Bobby Freeman's "C'mon and Swim".
* Rufus Thomas was prolific in this field, many of his records are about his new dances and how to do them including "Do the Funky Chicken", "(Do the) Push and Pull", "The Breakdown", "Do the Funky Penguin" and "Itch and Scratch".[[note]]That's just a selection of his releases from 1969 to 1972.[[/note]]
* Music/{{Usher}} had "U-Turn" from his 8701 album
--->''Put your hands up\\
Bend your knees\\
Bounce around in a circle\\
Get down with me\\
Come on, come on (it ain't hard to learn)\\
Come on, come on (it's called the U Turn)''
* ''"Baila en tu cuerpo alegría, [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macarena Macarena]], que tu cuerpo es pa' dar alegría, cosa buena..."'' [[note]]though the lyrics themselves have nothing to do with promoting or describing an actual dance.[[/note]]

* Similarly but more scatologically parodied by Rappy [=McRapperson's=] "Lick Your Own Butthole Party Dance" which is about [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin exactly what you think it is]].
* DJ Casper's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZv62ShoStY "Cha Cha Slide"]].

* Music/VillagePeople's "YMCA". This one is unique in that the dance was invented after the song came out, by fans rather than the band itself.

* Music/TomWaits' "The Metropolitan Glide". Are you ready?
* Marcia Griffiths's "Electric Slide".
* "JustForFun/{{Caramelldansen|Vid}}" is pure this (though the dance described in the lyrics has nothing in common with the "dance" from the [[MemeticMutation looped video clip]] that made it popular). Translated, it goes something like this:
-->''Dance with us\\
Clap your hands\\
Do like we do\\
Take some steps to the left\\
Listen and learn\\
Don't miss the chance\\
Now we're here with\\
The Caramell Dance!''

* ''Limbo good, Limbo fine, Everybody gets a chance...'' Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh!
* "The Compromise" by the Format satirizes this by describing a dance whose steps are "Throw your partner behind a desk, where they'll do absolutely nothing so it's your job to dance and smile". It's a retaliation against the record company, who asked them to write a hit (hence "The Compromise").
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8fndX_7PqQ Put your elbow up tight, make a step with the right, tilt your head to the side and smile real, real wide!]] [[{{Film/Inception}} LEO STRUT!]]

* ''Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show'' had a song called "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Levitate]]". It started out like it was trying to teach a dance, and then continued to lifting both feet off the ground and crossing your legs in midair.
* Parodied in "The Sacro-Iliac" by 10CC:
-->''Here's what you gotta do...\\
Nuthin!\\
In any tempo, in any rhythm...\\
Come right back and do the Sacro-Iliac.''
* Sort of parodied by Music/TheGoodies in "The Funky Gibbon"...
-->''We're The Goodies, how d'you do?\\
Weve just been down to the zoo,\\
Saw a monkey in a cage,\\
Doin' a dance that could be the rage!''
* "Do The Reggay" by Toots & The Maytals. Possibly the most successful one of all, since instead of popularizing a dance, it wound up naming [[{{Reggae}} a genre of music]] (with a minor change in spelling).
* "The Vatican Rag" by Music/TomLehrer, from the album ''Music/ThatWasTheYearThatWas'', is another satirical example, inspired by the Catholic Church's efforts to modernize.
-->''First you get down on your knees\\
Fiddle with your rosaries\\
Bow your head with great respect\\
And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!''
* Music/DigitalUnderground: "''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj9_yW8tZxs The Humpty Dance]] is your chance to do the hump!''"
* Music/CabCalloway: "The Calloway Boogie"
* OlderThanTelevision: [[http://www.tsrocks.com/s/scott_joplin_texts/rag_time_dance.html The Ragtime Dance]] by Music/ScottJoplin. Good luck finding a version with the lyrics, though.
** The 1913 hit [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballin%27_the_Jack "Ballin' the Jack"]] is another candidate for the UrExample.

* The Toys/{{Cabbage Patch|Kids}}. Actually there were ''two'' competing versions of the Cabbage Patch: One came from the West Coast via the World Class Wreckin' Cru (featuring a pre-Music/{{NWA}} Music/DrDre), and the other originated in {{Miami|Bass}} with a single from Gucci Crew II.
* Music/WasNotWas: "''Open the door, get on the floor, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgiDcJi534Y everybody walk the dinosaur.]]''"
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WNrx2jq184&feature=related Well everybody's heard about the bird...]] (The Bird was originally a dance, and was indeed "the word.")
* Even the Music/TwoLiveCrew made their own dance, called "Throw The D."[[note]]"D" in this case stands for "Dick."[[/note]] (What, you were expecting something G-rated?)
-->It's all in the hips, so go berserk and let that dick do the work!

* Music/TheCramps usually had one of these on every album, including "Surfin' Dead", "Alligator Stomp", "Cramp Stomp", "The Crusher", and others. In most of them, everyone's dead by the final verse (but still dancing).
* "The Crusher" [[CoveredUp was originally by]] obscure '60s garage rock group The Novas, who used GutturalGrowler vocals to fit with the [[Wrestling/TheCrusher wrestling-themed]] "dance" of the title: the only two moves given for the crusher itself are "take your fist and put it on your waist" and "squeeze your partner's head 'til she's blue in the face", and the listener is also repeatedly urged to "do the hammerlock" and "the eye-gouge".
* Parodied with Music/TheLonelyIsland's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLPZmPaHme0 "The Creep"]], a dance specifically designed to make one look like, well, a creep.
** And in Lonely Island's Go Kindergarten, which starts with dance moves like "shake that ass", proceeds with "punch your best friend" and ends up with, well,
-->''Build a school, burn it down\\
Get on the floor and do it now\\
Fuck a house, eat a shoe,\\
all because we told you to!''
* The Cupid Shuffle. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h24_zoqu4_Q To the right! To the right! To the right! To the right!]]
* MC Frontalot has the 'Margaret Thatcher' from his song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qcrSm_C3lA Wallflowers]], which describes exactly the dorky dance that would be performed by an awkward geek with no idea how to dance. Notable for taking 'vague steps' up a notch - after all, if it's an awkward nerd dance, ''you're not supposed to know what you're doing.''
-->''Step One:\\
Wiggle, wobble, wriggle,\\
coddle your young,\\
intensify your ennui,\\
then before you get done,\\
put your left foot over to the left if you dare,\\
then pretend you got scared,\\
then point at your hair.''
* A slew of awkwardly titled rap-dance sensation songs were released after the success of the Music/SouljaBoy, with varied amounts of success:
** The Stanky Legg
** The Cat Daddy
** The Dougie (discussed in TWO songs)
** Lean Like a Cholo
** Juju on that Beat
** Hit the Quan
* Music/TheBangles' "Walk like an Egyptian":
-->''Slide your feet up the street bend your back\\
Shift your arm then you pull it back\\
Life is hard you know (oh whey oh)\\
So strike a pose on a Cadillac''
* The Dismemberment Plan's "Do The Standing Still", which uses the lyrical format of a typical dance sensation song to satirize how non-demonstrative indie rock audiences often are:
-->''Oh whoa-oh, well it's a sensation\\
Across the entire nation\\
Oh whoa-oh, a hundred million kids\\
All dancing in suspended animation''
* "Stand" by REM might be a parody as well: "Stand in the place where you live / now face north / think about direction, wonder why you have it / now stand in the place where you work / now face west / &c."
* Oddly predated by 15 years with an identically titled song by Belgian {{New Wave|Music}} band The Employees, which had the same lyrical premise.
* "The Crunge" by Music/LedZeppelin is another parody of this style of song, influenced by Music/JamesBrown, but with an undanceable, oddly-timed rhythm.
* Music/{{Eels}}' "Going Fetal" is a pretty sardonic parody: According to the lyrics, the latest dance craze is the TroubledFetalPosition.
* The Butterfly? [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial Uh-uh, that's old]]. Lemme see that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs7f3ssuEjA Tootsee Roll]]!
* The BonzoDogDooDahBand's "Do the Trouser Press, Baby (Yeahhhh!)"
* It's ''officially'' called [[http://youtu.be/OT9TonFSyT4 "Peewee's Dance",]] but Joeski Love actually came up with a dance called The Pee Wee Herman. NoCelebritiesWereHarmed, obviously.
-->''Just swing your hands up to the front\\
And if you can't hear the music, say "Huh? What?"\\
As you're doin' your dance, you might hurt your back\\
Just look at the crowd, and say "{{I meant to do that}}!"''
* And then you have the songs that pack a bunch of dance moves into one track, something like a dance-move {{Medley}}.
** Most famous example: [[http://youtu.be/Kk4Uwge4DzQ "Land of 1,000 Dances".]]
** A HipHop example: [[http://youtu.be/kO8ii-LuEbY "Stop Pause"]] by DJ Jubilee.
* There are several line dance songs that faded away after coming out but are still popular among African-Americans, for example, "The Cupid Shuffle" and "Wobble".
* Music/FatsDomino's "Dance With Mr. Domino" was about the "Domino Twist."
* Music/{{Steppenwolf}} sang about the "Hippo Stomp."
* Music/HuskerDu's "Do the Bee."
* Music/TheReplacements' "Mr. Whirly"
* Though the song itself does not seem to be about one, Music/Foals have one present in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ_PMvjmC6M "Inhaler" music video]].

* Originating from Belgium (though also heard on dancefloors in Holland), there is the "Kabouterdans" (leprechaun dance).
-->"Draai een keer in het rond, stamp met je voeten op de grond, zwaai je armen in de lucht, ga nu zitten met een zucht, stap nu rond als een gans, zo gaat de kabouterdans." (Turn around once, stamp your feet on the floor, wave your arms in the air, sit down with a sigh, walk around like a goose, that's the leprechaun dance)

* Music/DanielAmos: The ''Music/VoxHumana'' liner notes included instructions for dancing to "Dance Stop". The exact dance steps are up to the individual, but you're supposed to freeze in place every time [[StopAndGo the music stops]], and only resume dancing when it starts up again.
* One of [[Magazine/{{Mad}} MAD Magazine]]'s early 1960s parody albums featured a track about a dance called "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ppu1A8HlOic The Pretzel]]", whose moves were pretty much impossible to do without dislocating a few limbs:
-->''Throw an arm around the neck!\\
The other one under your leg!\\
Cross your feet on the beat\\
Let's do the Pretzel!\\\
Take a toe in your hand!\\
Double up the other knee!\\
Put a thumb in your toes\\
Let's do the Pretzel!''\\\
(and so on)
* Another parody is "The Toxic Waltz" by Exodus, in which the dance is just violent moshing. Good friendly violent fun in store for all!
* Music/DavidBowie mocks the obsession with fashion, fads and trends by using this this trope in [[Music/ScaryMonstersAndSuperCreeps "Fashion"]], describing "a brand new dance" that confuses the narrator and makes its participants look silly.
* Van [=McCoy=]'s The Hustle is a subversion, since it's just an instrumental with occasional shouts of "Do the Hustle!".
* Music/KidNPlay's "Do the Kid 'N Play Kickstep" instructed listeners on how to do the duo's signature kickstep routine, though the dance itself was already popularized in their music videos for "Do This My Way", "Gittin' Funky", and "Rollin' With Kid 'N Play".
* The Moffats have "The Caterpillar Crawl".
* Outasight has "The Boogie", which says that the "whole building goin' crazy" and that "nobody standin' still".
* Another subversion is "At the Hop" by Danny and the Juniors, which simply talks about "a dance sensation that's sweeping the nation at the hop!", although a number of different dance moves are mentioned throughout the song. The song was originally written as "Do the Bop", but Creator/DickClark suggested to the songwriters that they rewrite the song since the Bop craze was dying out at the time.
* Speaking of the Bop, an entire album of songs dedicated to that dance was recorded by, of all people, Ray Conniff, in a rock-and-roll style very much unlike the easy listening style he is usually associated with. The album, ''Do the Bop'', came with an instruction booklet and featured instrumental songs named after the different steps of the Bop. It was the brainchild of a Creator/ColumbiaRecords [[ExecutiveMeddling sales executive]] and ended up flopping because it didn't feature Conniff's usual sound; Conniff effectively [[OldShame disowned it]] afterwards.
* Another parody is Dr. Macdoo's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeJgdUWZzKg Macahula Dance]]":
-->''Grab your partner by the toe\\
Shake your legs like an eskimo\\
Then you’ll start to jump to the beat\\
Boogie-woogie down with your funky feet\\
Stick your fingers up your partner’s nose\\
Twist and shout like an angry cow\\
Then you’ll move with a swinga-linga-ling\\
Doing the Highland fling''\\
Plus another set of nonsensical instructions.
* [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Bowser (a.k.a. Big Bow)]] is the lead singer in ''Music/BigBadBosses'' for one of these songs, "The Raid".
* Several line-dance CountryMusic songs in TheNineties invoked this. The trope was started by Music/BrooksAndDunn's "Boot Scootin' Boogie", but other examples include "Watermelon Crawl" by Music/TracyByrd, "Any Man of Mine" by Music/ShaniaTwain, and "Baby Likes to Rock It" by The Tractors.
* Music/{{Beyonce}}'s cover of "Before I Let Go" adds a bit of this at the end [[note]]over the beat to Music/{{Cameo}}'s "Candy", which itself is often used for the electric slide.[[/note]].
* The Bump is a dance that has you use your butt to bump someone else's butt on every other beat of a song. Using your hips also count. Even after the dance craze passed, bumping butts or hips is still a popular dance move to this day, rhythmically or not.
* Rednex's "Cotton Eye Joe".

* Wrestling/{{Chikara}} derivative Wrestling Is Art, WOW Puerto Rico, Shine, [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]], Wrestling/{{WWE}} and even Hungarian Championship Wrestling all contracted The Harlem Shake, usually starting with one wrestler or tag team doing so with others trying to make sense of it then cutting to the half the roster doing so (or the entire arena in Impact's case). Jervis Cottonbelly, Wrestling/SuYung, El Local and [[Wrestling/BlackRose La Rosa Negra]] among those who decided not to call in sick, Wrestling/MikeQuackenbush, Wrestling/ColtCabana, [[Wrestling/PrimeTimePlayers Titus O'Neill]], [[Wrestling/KiaStevens Amazing Kong]] and Wrestling/JamesStorm among the later afflicted. Yung seemed to have something [[AdaptationDecay resembling]] the original strain, [[InNameOnly the rest had far less virulent infections]].
* WWE accidentally brought on its own in the form of Wrestling/{{Fandango}}ing.
** Wrestling/VinceMcMahon ''loves'' giving people dancing gimmicks. Often to the popular detriment of the poor performer saddled with it. Wrestling/BrodusClay, Wrestling/{{Rikishi}}, his friends Too Cool and Wrestling/MattBloom all had a dancing gimmick at one time.

* On "Do the Roo" from ''Series/TheBookOfPooh'', Roo creates one with the help of his mama Kanga called "The Roo," which can basically be done any way you want. "Any which way, throw out your compass! Swing your partner, do a wild rompus! How you move is up to you, when you're doin' the Roo!"
* The song "The Dino Dance" from the ''Series/BarneyAndFriends'' franchise.
* ''Series/DonkeyHodie'': "Dancing Under The Golden Rainbow" has Donkey and Panda sing about some of the steps for doing the dance in the song.

* "The Gazooka" from the revue ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1936'' was an AffectionateParody of the Dance Sensation, especially the Astaire/Rogers kind. The lyrics explain that "first you take a step, and then you take another, and then you take another," and then you ought to buy a copy of the sheet music.
* "The Pussy Foot" from ''Goldilocks'' has a somewhat catchy tune but awful lyrics.

* "Off-Time" from ''[=Ain't Misbehavin'=]''. Like the title song, this was originally used in the 1929 revue ''Hot Chocolates''.

* "Yankee Doodle Rhythm" from the 1927 version of ''Strike Up the Band''.
* ''Theatre/EvilDeadTheMusical'' tried to do this with "Do the Necronomicon".
* "The Holiday Hop" from ''Carols For a Cure: Broadway's Greatest Gifts, Volume 5'', performed by the cast of ''[[Film/FortySecondStreet 42nd Street]]''.

* Creator/GilbertAndSullivan offer "Dance a Cachucha" in ''Theatre/TheGondoliers''. The cachucha actually was a dance sensation, sixty or so years earlier.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' with "Do the Bartman". Fun fact: Music/MichaelJackson co-wrote the song.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
** Kids at the prom doing "The Sponge". Spongebob pulls it off effortlessly, doing such moves as twisting up his limbs, bouncing all over the place and becoming Pearl's basketball (which she promptly shoots into the gym hoop with a neat swish). The fish at the prom... well, they ''[[EpicFail tried]]''.
** In another episode, Patrick wins a dance contest after rolling around because of a cramp. (He won by default, as the only dancer who did his own dancing.) This is followed by a fake commercial for "The Cramp".
** In "The Lost Mattress", when Mr. Krabs throws his back out opening the front door to the Krusty Krab and [=SpongeBob=] asks if he's okay, he sarcastically retorts "I'm just doubled over in pain, fightin' back tears in me eyes ''because it's a new dance craze!''"
* ''Series/TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow'''s ending credits instructed viewers on how to "Do the Mario." For those unfamiliar, you swing your arms from side to side, take one step, and then again. The Mario is just ''running.'' [[GeniusBonus Which is a reference to Mario's hypnotic walk cycle in the original]] ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1''.
* This happens twice in ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfSuperMarioBros3'': One segment had a song about doing "the Frog", while the other had one as part of a plot point; both the song and segment are called "Do the Koopa".
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' had "The Twitch", created by a singer after an allergic reaction to pickled dodo eggs. Of course, there were also a few {{Accidental Dance Craze}}s.
* The Schmeerskahoven in ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' stimulated every pressure point on the body during the dance, allowing the dancer to be completely brainwashed.
* "The Michigan Rag", from the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes short "WesternAnimation/OneFroggyEvening". It was the only original song written for the short.
* Buzzbee, the main character of ''WesternAnimation/TheHive'' creates one in "Dancing Bee".
* ''WesternAnimation/SchoolhouseRock'': "There's a great new craze that's sweeping the nation! Come on! [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tTkxYeNF9Q Do the Circulation!]]"

Now you're doing the Mumbo Jumbo Jump!''

* ''WesternAnimation/TheArchieShow'' does this OnceAnEpisode. First there is a teaser before the commercial break, then afterwards, the dance (with an accompanying song) would be shown in full before going to the actual song of the week[[note]]"We've learned a new dance, now let's dance it to a brand new song."[[/note]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'': Sgt. Gudda is a fifteen year old rapper with a hit song and dance called "Crack Dat Artichoke".

* Music/DavidBowie mocks the obsession with fashion, fads and trends by using this this trope in ''Fashion''.

* ''Series/DonkeyHodie'': "Dancing Under The Golden Rainbow" has the characters sing about some of the steps for doing the dance in the song.

* MC Frontalot has the 'Margaret Thatcher' from his song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qcrSm_C3lA Wallflowers]], which describes exactly the dorky dance that would be performed by an awkward geek with no idea how to dance. Notable for taking 'vague steps' UpToEleven - after all, if it's an awkward nerd dance, ''you're not supposed to know what you're doing.''

** Kids at the prom doing "The Sponge". Unfortunately, anyone who isn't a sponge ends up mangled.

* From ''Film/TheBluesBrother'', Music/RayCharles' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdbrIrFxas0 "Shake a Tail Feather"]] becomes this, especially with the accompanying SpontaneousChoreography.

* Played with in the Broadway production of ''Film/YoungFrankenstein'' with "The Transylvania Mania" because they're trying to distract the townspeople from the Monster's sounds and so making it up on the spot. The lyrics consist of contrived rhyming claims on how much fun it is (but purposefully for parody)

* The DancingTheme to ''The Melancholy of LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'', "Hare Hare Yukai", is one of these for anime fans. When the series was at the prime of its popularity in the mid-to-late 2000s, it was common to see cosplayers do it at conventions or on Website/YouTube. Konata from ''Manga/LuckyStar'' is fond of the anime and has done the dance (a reference to how she's voiced by Haruhi's voice actress). The dance itself has caused many memes such as "Is this a dancing anime?"

* ''"Baila en tu cuerpo alegría, [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macarena Macarena]], que tu cuerpo es pa' dar alegría, cosa buena..."''

* That annoying 1990s standby found in wedding halls all over....''THE MACARENA!'' [[note]]though the lyrics itself have nothing to do with promoting or describing an actual dance.[[/note]]

* ''Series/TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow'''s ending credits instructed viewers on how to "Do the Mario." For those unfamiliar, you swing your arms from side to side, take one step, and then again. The Mario is just ''running.'' [[GeniusBonus Which is a reference to Mario's hypnotic walk cycle in the original]] ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros''.

* DJ Casper recorded "The Cha-Cha Slide" as "Mr. C, the Slide Man".

* MC Frontalot has the 'Margaret Thatcher' from his song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qcrSm_C3lA Wallflowers]], which describes exactly the {{Adorkable}} dance that would be performed by an awkward geek with no idea how to dance. Notable for taking 'vague steps' UpToEleven - after all, if it's an awkward nerd dance, ''you're not supposed to know what you're doing.''

* The Bump is a dance that has you use your butt to bump someone else's butt. Using your hips also count. Even after the dance craze passed, bumping butts or hips is still a popular dance move to this day.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'': The "Cafeteria Song" (a.k.a. "Helping Twilight Win the Crown") contains some move or dance instructions in the lyrics, including the chorus:

* "Time Warp" from ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow'', originally written as a parody of this very trope. It mentions a fair number of steps:

* Parodied in Music/LemonDemon's "Dance Like An Idiot"

* Music/VillagePeople's "YMCA".
** This one is unique in that the dance was invented after the song came out, by fans rather than the band itself.

* "The Michigan Rag", from the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes short ''WesternAnimation/OneFroggyEvening''. It was the only original song written for the short.

'''Guests:''' ''And then a step to the right.''\\

'''Guests:''' ''You bring your knees in tight.\\
But it's the pelvic thrust.\\
That really drives you insane.\\