Then and Now: Dance Crazes

Today's Icon: 

A dance craze or fad dance can be a trademark move or a full dance style. Every year we see new moves. Some catch up big time like la Macarena, YMCA and Gangnam style  but eventually they all die out and stop being cool. Here is some living proof of the theory of (dancing) evolution:

In the 50s: Twisting

TWISTING

This Iconic move actually arrived late at the party. Developed in 1959, the move is performed by standing with the feet shoulder width apart, the torso is squared to the knees and hips, the arms are held out from the body, bent at the elbow while the hips, torso, and legs rotate on the balls of the feet as a single unit and the feet grind back and forth on the floor. Sounds complicated? Well, the appeal of the dance was that anybody could do it, and do it they did! The twist became the world's first worldwide dance craze. While this dance was perfected in 1959 to the beat of Hank Ballad's song 'The twist'; it did not become a major dance craze until the early 1960's with the release of Chubby Checker's version of the same song.

Nowadays: Twerking

TWERKING

Twerking, is arguably easier than twisting, but unlike twisting it is not intended for guys and girls equally. Twerking  consists usually of a female dancing to popular music in a sexually provocative manner with thrusting hip movements and rear shaking at a low squatting stance. While twerking has been around since the early 1990's, it peaked in popularity late last year thanks to the work of artists like Nicki Minaj, Miley Cyrus, and Big Sean. The move has faded in popularity but it is still the latest dance craze of American pop culture.

 Some things change for better, others change for worse. Which did this one?