# What dance is this?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dance-is-this/400132>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 14, 2007, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dance-is-this/400132 "2007-04-14T18:30:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![solkoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@solkoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solkoe)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dance-is-this/400132/1 "2007-04-14T18:30:40Z")

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I was reading a Danny Kaye thread in CS and stumbled onto [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2dljaLtiYM&mode=related&search=) from YouTube.  
It’s Hermans Hermits from the Danny Kaye show. You only have to watch the first 30 seconds of the clip to see the dancing that I’m referring to. Does it have a name?

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**Author:** ![Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c4cdca/32.png) [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dance-is-this/400132/2 "2007-04-14T18:33:45Z")

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The guy in the white pants is doing ‘look at how cool I am’. The couple beside appear to be doing ‘The Monkey’. The ladies in back are dancing a choreographed (barely) routine.

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**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2007, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dance-is-this/400132/3 "2007-04-14T20:30:12Z")

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[QUOTE=Quiddity Glomfuster]  
The guy in the white pants is doing ‘look at how cool I am’.  
[/QUOTE]

I was going to suggest “Kung Fu Fighting”. Maybe he was ahead of his time. 😃

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**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2007, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dance-is-this/400132/4 "2007-04-15T00:16:56Z")

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The _Frug_? (Pronounced froog)

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**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2007, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dance-is-this/400132/5 "2007-04-15T04:21:51Z")

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I don’t see any two people consistently doing the same dance. Or even one person, for that matter. I’m seeing the monkey, the jerk, the frug, the watusi and several others. In the '60s there was a new dance about every other day, and they all had names.

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**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\
**Post date:** [April 15, 2007, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-dance-is-this/400132/6 "2007-04-15T04:28:01Z")

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The guy to the leff does go into the “jerk” and then brings it back to the “frug”. The guy in the center wanders back and forth between the “frug” and the “monkey” with a cross step I don’t remember anytime this side of the twist. You have to remember that in the early to mid 60s, no one step was the dance, you were encouraged to create and combine. The guy on the left even slips briefly into the “pony” and the girl he is dancing with does a couple of “swim” moves.

I should point out, having been a teenager at the time, by the time they made it onto a show like Danny Kaye, we thought they were really old fashioned. Basically by the time any cheographer got ahold of them we liked to think we had moved on.