1980s dances were impact primarily by that advent of MTV as most dances seem to come directly from music videos. However, movies also help create dance crazes. Here are a few of the popular dances during the 1980s as well as the links to the songs that enable you to do those dances.
Break Dancing: Break dancing was by far the biggest dance craze of the early 80s. Beginning as a street dance of the 70s and evolving into a popular dance style all its own, break dancing was born of hip-hop influences, and performing most moves required immense physical aptitude. Break dancing often involved standoffs between dancers to see who could out-dance and out-maneuver the other.
The Cabbage Patch Dance: The cabbage patch dance is a dance involving putting the hands together and moving them in a horizontal circular motion. It was popularized by Dr. Dre and DJ Yella in 1987. The dance they made was featured in the song "The Cabbage Patch."
Electric Slide: Although the song was originally released in the late 1970s, the electric slide became popular at the end of the 1980s. The dance is a four wall line dance and is performed to the song by the same name. This is very popular at weddings.
Hangin' Tough: This dance came from New Kids on the Block. All you need to do is put your left arm in the air and wave it from side to side.
Lambada: The hottest dance craze of the 80s, it was a high-performance version of Dirty Dancing. You just basically straddle your partner's thigh and bump and grind. The Lambada is considered a very sensual dance, even though it is fast-paced and heated..
The Melbourne Shuffle: The Melbourne shuffle is a style of dance, which originated in the late 1980s in the Melbourne underground scene. The basic movements in the dance are a fast heel-and-toe action with a style suitable for various types of electronic music. Some variants incorporate arm movements.
Moonwalk: You move one foot backwards keeping all your foot on the floor while your static foot has its heel raised. Keep changing feet. It should look as if you are walking forward but the floor is pulling you back. Many people associate this dance with Michael Jackson. However, the mechanics for it was invented by the famous mime Marcel Marceau and it was done by several other people long before Michael did it.
The New Kids Dance: You start out with feet at arms length apart kick out your right foot and bring it back to the center, same thing with the left foot and then have both feet in the center.
Pee Wee's Dance: Created by the original Pee Wee Herman, Paul Reubens, the dance became popular after the release of Pee Wee's Big Adventure. It is only performed to the song "Tequila."
Robot: Kinda of like the poplock except you keep all your body parts straight. You basically move as if you were trying to imitate a dancing robot or mannequin. This dance is often associated with break dancing.
The Running Man: The Running Man is a dance that originated in the 1980s but achieved renewed popularity in the 2000s. It consists of a hopping or sliding step done in such a way at speed to simulate a runner. The Running Man achieved celebrity focus in 2007 with Britney Spears doing an homage to it during her M+M's: Concerts From The HOB Tour 2007 and Scarlett Johansson stating of her dancing in an interview with Seventeen that, "I do a great Running Man." First Lady Laura Bush even did a bit of Running Man during a March 2007 event in São Paulo, Brazil. 2008 saw the re-release of Something Good, the video is highly based in the 80's during the running man craze and features many people getting up and dancing to the song doing the running man.
Slam Dancing: Also known as moshing, Slammers tend to move as a whole in a clockwise direction, pushing and shoving their way around the room in what has today been called a mosh pit. Slammers goals are to bump into as many people as possible, get sweatier than anyone else, and to look like you are having a seizure.
Thriller: "Thriller" is an early 1984 hit single recorded by Michael Jackson for the Epic label. It reached #4 in the U.S. singles chart and #10 in the UK singles chart. On February 20, 2006, the single, as well as the video, was re-released as part of the Visionary: The Video Singles package. The 14-minute video clip is regarded by some as the greatest music video of all time and the song itself is considered one of Jackson's signature songs.
Below are some of the songs for these dances as well as some additional dance tunes. For your convenience, we have included links to the sheet music on Sheetmusicplus.com as well as the CD on Amazon.com whenever available. If you are looking to purchase the mp3 or would like to listen to a sample, then click on either the Rhapsody or iTunes links.
Rhapsody provides both music subscriptions as well as individual mp3s for sale in WMA format, while iTunes only provides MPEG-4 audio files for sale. For more information about where to purchase music online, we provide it on our Music Downloads page or our Music Subscriptions page.
These singles are considered among the best dance songs to hit the charts in the 1980s.
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Find some of the best songs of the 1980s by selecting one of the links below:
Click on any of the links below to find the:
