The Macarena
No-one understood the words. Few knew the dance. And yet, two old guys with a plucky young woman singing in a foreign language took British teen discos by storm. Part of the package holiday annual summer hits (along with Las Ketchup), the Macarena was a dance rather than a song.
The boys used to pretend to try and learn whilst the girls would be exceedingly proud of their mastery of the art form. Meanwhile, only those who had heard the song abroad, or, much worse, bought the single, knew the true words to the anthem.I still don’t know the full story of how those old guys in suits landed that particular gig:
As for the dance. A better instruction is gained from this video.
The Macarena Dance Moves:
Stand shoulder to shoulder facing the front.
Start when the singing begins.
Left arm outstretched palm down,
Right arm outstretched palm down,
Left arm outstretched palm up,
Right arm outstretched palm up,
Left hand on right upper arm,
Right hand on left upper arm,
Left hand behind head,
Right hand behind head,
Left hand on right hip,
Right hand on left hip,
Left hand on left buttock,
Right hand on right buttock,
Bend the knees in time,
Jump up and turn to the right.
Repeat until the end.
[...] Da Dum Da Dee Da Da Dum… More people knew the words to this than for the Macarena and the dance was very similar. A tried and trusted favourite for DJs nervous about filling the [...]
Saturday night, October 13 2007, UK TV (BBC) and we had the great revival, when the Men Celebrity Dancers in Strictly Come Dancing (it was eliminate a woman night) en masse with their partners did the Macarena… sort of. If you missed it, you can probably see it again on line, but if not, picture in your head snooker star Willie Thorne trying to swing his rather long body and rather stiffish hips… The best of them was shiny headed Dom (To Buy or Not To Buy, Rogue Traders etc). Giggle a minute.