129 Fun Facts About Dance

Which partner dance was born in the 1880s in port areas along the Río de la Plata?

The tango grew up in the 1880s in the port districts of Buenos Aires and Montevideo; Argentina and Uruguay jointly had it inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2009.

Ballet originated during the Renaissance of the fifteenth century in which country?

Ballet began in Italy, in the lavish court spectacles of 15th-century Renaissance princes; it was later refined in France and Russia, which is why its step vocabulary is French.

The waltz is danced in which time signature?

The waltz is in 3/4 time, one strong beat followed by two lighter ones per bar. The name comes from the German walzen, to roll or turn, and the close hold scandalised polite society around 1800.

Which singer made the moonwalk famous during "Billie Jean" on Motown 25 in 1983?

Michael Jackson performed the moonwalk during Billie Jean on the Motown 25 special in 1983. The glide itself was decades old; Marcel Marceau had mimed a version he called walking against the wind.

Breaking (breakdancing) made its debut as an Olympic sport at which Games?

Paris 2024 was breaking's Olympic debut, approved by the IOC in December 2020; many practitioners see 'breakdancing' as a media label and prefer the term breaking.

Breaking developed among African American and Puerto Rican youth in which New York City borough?

Breaking emerged in the Bronx in the early 1970s alongside hip-hop, whose DJs such as Kool Herc looped the rhythmic drum breaks of funk and soul records for the dancers.

Which composer wrote the ballet Swan Lake in 1875-76?

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote Swan Lake in 1875-76, his first ballet score. The 1877 production flopped; the version most companies dance today is the 1895 Petipa and Ivanov revival in St. Petersburg.

The score of The Nutcracker is noted for its use of which bell-like keyboard instrument?

The celesta gives the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy its bell-like sound; Tchaikovsky had it shipped from Paris and first used it in his 1891 symphonic ballad The Voyevoda.

The Nutcracker ballet is set on which night of the year?

The Nutcracker opens at a Christmas Eve party, where Clara is given the nutcracker doll that comes alive at midnight. The plot descends from E. T. A. Hoffmann's 1816 tale The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.

Roughly what share of annual ticket revenue do major US ballet companies earn from The Nutcracker?

The Nutcracker brings major US companies roughly 40% of their annual ticket revenue. George Balanchine's 1954 New York City Ballet staging turned it into the annual holiday fixture it is across North America.

Flamenco developed within the gitano (Romani) subculture of which region of southern Spain?

Flamenco grew up among the gitanos of Andalusia, especially around Seville, Jerez and Cádiz; the oldest written record of flamenco music is in José Cadalso's Cartas Marruecas of 1774.

Riverdance began life in 1994 as a seven-minute interval act at which televised event?

Riverdance was the seven-minute interval act of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, hosted in Dublin on 30 April 1994. Composer Bill Whelan had already written Timedance for the 1981 contest's interval.

Which Irish dancing champion starred with Jean Butler when Riverdance opened as a full stage show in Dublin in 1995?

Michael Flatley and Jean Butler led the original Riverdance, which producers John McColgan and Moya Doherty expanded into a full show that opened in Dublin on 9 February 1995.

Which Spanish duo recorded 'Macarena', which topped the US chart for 14 weeks in 1996?

Los del Río, Antonio Romero and Rafael Ruiz from Seville, recorded Macarena; the Bayside Boys remix held the US No. 1 for 14 weeks in 1996, and VH1 named it the greatest one-hit wonder in 2002.

The Charleston, the defining dance of the 1920s, is named after a harbour city in which US state?

The dance takes its name from Charleston, South Carolina, the port city where its rhythm was associated with Black dockworkers; it swept the country after a 1923 song of the same name in the Broadway show Runnin' Wild.

Who wrote the song "The Twist" after seeing teenagers in Tampa, Florida, doing the dance?

His version was only the B-side of a 1959 single, "Teardrops on Your Letter", before a cover turned it into a phenomenon.

What is the ancient, pre-Western-contact style of Hawaiian hula called?

Hula kahiko is the ancient style, danced to chant and percussion such as the ipu gourd drum. The Western-influenced style that grew up in the 19th and 20th centuries is hula ʻauana, accompanied by guitar and ukulele.

Capoeira, blending fighting with dance, acrobatics and music, comes from which country?

Capoeira was developed in Brazil by enslaved Africans and their descendants; it was banned under the 1890 penal code, and Mestre Bimba opened the first officially permitted academy in Salvador in the 1930s.

The Lindy Hop was born in 1928 in the African-American communities of which New York City neighbourhood?

Its defining move is the swingout, and troupes such as Whitey's Lindy Hoppers took it around the world in the swing era.

The Lindy Hop takes its name from a 1927 feat by which aviator?

Charles Lindbergh flew solo from New York to Paris in May 1927, and newspapers said Lucky Lindy had hopped the Atlantic; dancer Shorty George Snowden is said to have borrowed the headline to name the dance.

The term 'salsa' was popularised in 1960s-70s New York by Fania Records and which bandleader?

Johnny Pacheco, who co-founded Fania Records in 1964 and led the Fania All-Stars, helped make salsa the umbrella label for New York's Afro-Caribbean dance music rooted in Cuban son, mambo and cha-cha-chá.

Which BBC ballroom contest is franchised in about 60 countries as Dancing with the Stars?

Strictly Come Dancing launched on BBC One on 15 May 2004 with Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly; its format was sold abroad as Dancing with the Stars, reaching about 60 countries.

Who hosted Dancing with the Stars for its first 28 seasons, starting in 2005?

Tom Bergeron hosted Dancing with the Stars from its 2005 premiere through season 28 in 2019, while also fronting America's Funniest Home Videos on ABC; Tyra Banks replaced him in 2020.

Which 1990 documentary about New York's drag ball scene brought voguing to the mainstream?

Paris Is Burning, Jennie Livingston's 1990 documentary on Harlem's ball culture, won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1991; voguing takes its name from the poses of models in Vogue magazine.

Bharatanatyam, the oldest of India's classical dance traditions, comes from which state?

Bharatanatyam comes from Tamil Nadu, where it was danced in temples as Sadir before being renamed in 1932; it is known for its fixed upper torso, bent knees and rich hand-gesture vocabulary.

The name of the north Indian classical dance Kathak comes from a Sanskrit word meaning what?

Kathak comes from katha, Sanskrit for story; the kathakaars were travelling storytellers who danced tales from the Hindu epics, and the form later absorbed Persian influences under Mughal court patronage.

Which actor played dance instructor Johnny Castle opposite Jennifer Grey in Dirty Dancing (1987)?

Patrick Swayze played Johnny Castle opposite Jennifer Grey's Baby Houseman; writer Eleanor Bergstein based the story on her own childhood summers in the Catskills' Borscht Belt resorts.

Dirty Dancing was filmed largely at Lake Lure in which US state?

Lake Lure, North Carolina, stood in for the 1963 Catskills resort, with further scenes shot at Mountain Lake, Virginia; the film went on to earn over $214 million worldwide.

Tony Manero, John Travolta's disco-dancing character in Saturday Night Fever, lives in which NYC borough?

Tony Manero lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and works in a paint store there. The story came from Nik Cohn's 1976 New York magazine article, which Cohn later admitted was largely invented.

Rudolf Nureyev defected from the Soviet Union in 1961 at an airport in which city?

Nureyev broke away from his KGB minders at Paris's Le Bourget airport on 16 June 1961, aged 23, as the Kirov tour left for London; he later directed the Paris Opera Ballet from 1983 to 1989.

Fred Astaire made ten Hollywood musicals, including Top Hat and Swing Time, with which dance partner?

Ginger Rogers partnered Fred Astaire in ten films: nine at RKO between 1933 and 1939, from Flying Down to Rio to The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, and a 1949 reunion, The Barkleys of Broadway.

In 2015 Misty Copeland became the first Black woman promoted to principal dancer at which company?

American Ballet Theatre promoted Misty Copeland to principal on 30 June 2015, the first Black woman to hold that rank in the company's history; she had not started ballet until age 13.

Merengue is the national dance of which country?

It is described as a 'danced walk', with both partners' hips moving in the same direction throughout the song.

The polka originated in the nineteenth century in which region?

The polka arose in Bohemia in the 1830s and reached Prague's ballrooms by 1837. The name probably comes from the Czech půlka, meaning half-step, though some tie it to sympathy for Poland after the 1830-31 uprising.

How many dancers make up a set in a square dance?

A square dance set is 8 dancers: four couples facing inward from the sides of a square, following figures such as do-si-do and promenade called out by a caller over the music.

The name cha-cha-chá is an onomatopoeia said to imitate what?

The name imitates the shuffle of dancers' feet on the floor during the triple step. Violinist Enrique Jorrín created the rhythm in early-1950s Havana because dancers struggled with the syncopation of the danzón-mambo.

The dancing plague of 1518 broke out in which city?

The outbreak was in Strasbourg, then a free city of the Holy Roman Empire. It began in July 1518 with a woman known as Frau Troffea dancing in the street; historians favour stress-induced mass hysteria as the cause.

The Hokey Cokey peaked as a British music-hall novelty dance in which decade?

The Hokey Cokey was the novelty dance of the 1940s, popularised in wartime dance halls after bandleader Jimmy Kennedy published his version in 1942; Black Lace's recording later reached the UK chart in 1985.

In flamenco, what is the rhythmic hand-clapping that accompanies the dancer called?

Palmas is flamenco's rhythmic hand-clapping, using sharp palmas secas and muffled palmas sordas; zapateado is the dancer's footwork and jaleo the shouted encouragement from the group.

Haka are ceremonial dances of which people?

Haka are the ceremonial posture dances of the Māori of New Zealand. Scholars reject the popular idea that they are purely war dances: they are performed for welcomes, achievements and funerals.

The composition of 'Ka Mate', the haka made famous by the All Blacks, is attributed to which war leader?

Te Rauparaha, chief of Ngāti Toa, is said to have composed Ka Mate around 1820 after hiding from pursuers in a kūmara pit; New Zealand teams have performed a pre-match haka since the 1888-89 Native football tour.

National Tap Dance Day in the US falls on May 25, the birthday of which tap legend?

Bill "Bojangles" Robinson was born on 25 May 1878 in Richmond, Virginia; Congress made his birthday National Tap Dance Day in 1989, and President George H. W. Bush signed it into law.

Which impresario founded the Ballets Russes, the 20th century's most influential ballet company?

Sergei Diaghilev founded the Ballets Russes in Paris in 1909 and ran it until his death in 1929. It never performed in Russia, and it commissioned Stravinsky, Picasso, Matisse and even Coco Chanel.

Which 1913 ballet, choreographed by Nijinsky, nearly caused a riot at its Paris premiere?

The Rite of Spring, to Stravinsky's score, premiered at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on 29 May 1913 amid jeers and fistfights; it eclipsed Nijinsky's Jeux, which had opened to indifference two weeks earlier.

Which modern-dance pioneer was the first dancer to perform at the White House and receive the Medal of Freedom?

Martha Graham danced for the Roosevelts at the White House in 1937 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Gerald Ford in 1976; her contraction-and-release technique is taught worldwide.

One theory says the foxtrot, premiered in 1914, is named after which vaudeville performer?

Harry Fox was a vaudeville comedian whose trotting steps in a 1914 New York revue are the usual explanation for the name. Vernon and Irene Castle gave the dance its grace, and W. C. Handy claimed Memphis Blues inspired it.

In Irish stepdance, what is a competition called?

An Irish dance competition is a feis, plural feiseanna; the biggest is the annual World Championships, the Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne. Female competitors traditionally wear curly wigs and ribbed white poodle socks.

Samba originated among Afro-descendant communities in which Brazilian state?

Samba's roots lie in Bahia, in the samba de roda of the Recôncavo region brought by Bahian migrants to Rio de Janeiro, where the urban samba of the Carnaval schools took shape in the early 20th century.

The 10,000-year-old dance paintings at the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka are in which country?

The Bhimbetka rock shelters are in Madhya Pradesh, India, and were listed by UNESCO in 2003; their painted dancing figures, about 10,000 years old, are among the earliest known depictions of dance anywhere.

A ballet dancer performing 'en pointe' supports their whole body weight on what?

En pointe, the dancer balances on the tips of the feet, the toes braced inside a stiffened pointe-shoe box. The technique arose in the 1830s to make female dancers look weightless and takes years of training.

Fred Astaire's only competitive Academy Award nomination came for which 1974 disaster film?

Astaire was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for playing con man Harlee Claiborne in The Towering Inferno (1974); he won the Golden Globe and BAFTA for it, decades after his 1949 honorary Oscar.

Which French king founded the Académie Royale de Danse in 1661, the West's first dance institution?

Louis XIV founded the Académie Royale de Danse in 1661; a serious dancer himself, he had appeared as Apollo in the Ballet Royal de la Nuit in 1653, which helped earn him the nickname the Sun King.

What is the name of the short, stiff ballet skirt that projects horizontally from the hips?

The Classical tutu is the short, stiff skirt of layered net that stands straight out from the hips, developed in the late 19th century to show off legwork; the soft calf-length Romantic tutu dates from Taglioni's La Sylphide in 1832.

Anna Pavlova's signature solo, The Dying Swan, was choreographed for her in 1905 by whom?

Michel Fokine created The Dying Swan for Anna Pavlova in St Petersburg in 1905, to Le cygne from Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals; she danced it thousands of times, and the meringue dessert is also named after her.

Mikhail Baryshnikov defected from the Kirov Ballet in 1974 while on tour in which country?

Baryshnikov slipped away from the Kirov tour in Toronto, Canada, in June 1974. He then danced with American Ballet Theatre and spent the 1978-79 season with New York City Ballet to learn Balanchine's style.

For directing which film did Bob Fosse win his 1973 Academy Award?

Fosse won Best Director for Cabaret at the March 1973 ceremony, beating Francis Ford Coppola for The Godfather; the same year he took Tonys for Pippin and Emmys for Liza with a Z.

Isadora Duncan, the pioneer of modern dance, died in 1927 when what became tangled in the wheel of a car?

Her scarf caught in the wheel and axle of the car she was riding in; the California-born dancer had spent most of her career in Europe and Soviet Russia.

The waltz shocked polite society when it became fashionable in the 1780s in which city?

Vienna took up the waltz in the 1780s, and a visitor wrote that its people were dancing mad; the closed hold scandalised London when the dance arrived there in the early 1800s.

In International-style ballroom, how many dances make up the Standard and Latin categories combined?

Ten: the five Standard dances are waltz, tango, Viennese waltz, slow foxtrot and quickstep, and the five Latin dances are cha-cha, samba, rumba, paso doble and jive.

Which 1969 Sydney Pollack film set at a Depression-era dance marathon starred Jane Fonda?

They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), directed by Sydney Pollack from Horace McCoy's 1935 novel, follows Jane Fonda's Gloria through a gruelling 1930s dance marathon; Gig Young won the supporting-actor Oscar as its emcee.

Which composer wrote the tune 'The Charleston' for the 1923 Broadway show Runnin' Wild?

Stride pianist James P. Johnson wrote The Charleston, with lyrics by Cecil Mack, for the all-Black Broadway revue Runnin' Wild in 1923; the steps probably came from challenge dances in the African American Juba tradition.

Capoeira is first mentioned in an official document in 1789 as what?

Capoeira's first official mention, in 1789, treated it as a criminal activity; Brazil's 1890 penal code then banned it outright, and UNESCO listed the capoeira circle as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2014.

Samba, the Afro-Brazilian dance of Carnival, is characterised by what time signature?

Samba rides a 2/4 rhythm with fast footwork and swaying hips over syncopation; it can be danced solo, in pairs or in group formations.

Public hula performances were banned in 1830 by which Hawaiian ruler under missionary pressure?

Queen Kaʻahumanu, the Christian convert who ruled as kuhina nui, banned public hula in 1830 under missionary pressure; King Kalākaua reversed course, championing hula during his 1874-1891 reign.

How many basic positions of the feet are there in classical ballet?

There are five positions of the feet, all turned out from the hip; dancing master Pierre Rameau credited their codification to Louis XIV's ballet master Pierre Beauchamp in his 1725 treatise Le Maître à danser.

In ballet, what is a 'pas de deux'?

A pas de deux is a dance duet, literally 'step of two' in French; the grand pas de deux of classical ballet has five parts: entrée, adagio, a variation for each dancer and a coda.

Which Romantic ballet, first performed in Paris in 1841, features the ghostly Wilis?

Giselle premiered at the Paris Opéra on 28 June 1841 to music by Adolphe Adam; in Act II the Wilis, ghosts of betrayed brides led by Myrtha, dance men to death in the forest.

Which 1870 comic ballet by Léo Delibes centres on a lifelike doll?

Coppélia, based on E. T. A. Hoffmann's tale The Sandman, premiered at the Paris Opéra in May 1870; sixteen-year-old Giuseppina Bozzacchi created the lead role of Swanilda.

Who choreographed the original 1890 production of Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty?

Marius Petipa choreographed The Sleeping Beauty for its premiere at St Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre in January 1890, working from a scenario by theatre director Ivan Vsevolozhsky based on Perrault's fairy tale.

Which Stravinsky ballet was written for the 1910 Paris season of the Ballets Russes?

The Firebird, Stravinsky's first ballet score, premiered at the Paris Opéra on 25 June 1910 with choreography by Michel Fokine, drawing on Russian fairy tales of the magical bird and the sorcerer Kashchei.

Which Petipa ballet of 1877 features the celebrated 'Kingdom of the Shades' scene?

La Bayadère, whose title means the temple dancer, premiered in St Petersburg in 1877 to music by Ludwig Minkus; the Kingdom of the Shades has the corps enter one by one down a ramp in repeated arabesques.

Which Russian-born choreographer is styled the father of American ballet?

George Balanchine, born in St Petersburg in 1904, is called the father of American ballet; he co-founded the School of American Ballet with Lincoln Kirstein in 1934 and created more than 400 works.

Which company, founded in 1669, is generally considered the world's oldest national ballet company?

The Paris Opera Ballet descends from the Académie d'Opéra chartered in 1669 and is generally considered the oldest national ballet company; its dancers are ranked from quadrille up to étoile.

Which Ballets Russes star choreographed L'après-midi d'un faune in 1912?

Vaslav Nijinsky choreographed L'après-midi d'un faune, to Debussy's score, for the Ballets Russes in May 1912; its flat, frieze-like poses and erotic ending caused a scandal in Paris.

Which English ballerina was named prima ballerina assoluta of the Royal Ballet?

Margot Fonteyn was named prima ballerina assoluta of the Royal Ballet at a gala for her 60th birthday in 1979; her partnership with Rudolf Nureyev, begun in Giselle in 1962, revived her career.

Which retired Royal Ballet ballerina later judged Strictly Come Dancing?

Darcey Bussell, a Royal Ballet principal from 1989 to 2007, sat on the Strictly Come Dancing judging panel from 2012 to 2018; she had begun her professional career at Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet.

Matthew Bourne's 1995 restaging of Swan Lake was famous for what?

Bourne replaced the tutu-clad female corps with all-male swans, a bare-chested, menacing flock led by Adam Cooper; the production opened at Sadler's Wells in November 1995 and went on to Broadway in 1998.

Which choreographer founded his namesake American Dance Theater in 1958?

Alvin Ailey founded Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York in 1958; his 1960 masterpiece Revelations, set to spirituals, is among the most performed modern-dance works in the world.

Which composer was Merce Cunningham's lifelong partner and frequent collaborator?

Cunningham's first New York solo concert, in April 1944, was with Cage.

Twyla Tharp's Broadway dance musical Movin' Out is set to the songs of which artist?

Movin' Out weaves Billy Joel's songs, played by an onstage band, into a wordless story of Long Island friends before and after Vietnam; it opened on Broadway in October 2002 and won Tharp the Tony for choreography.

Which choreographer shared the Best Director Oscar for West Side Story with Robert Wise?

Jerome Robbins, who had staged the 1957 Broadway original, shared the Best Director Oscar for West Side Story (1961) with Robert Wise and received an honorary Oscar the same night for his film choreography.

Pina Bausch's Tanztheater company was based in which German city?

Bausch led Tanztheater Wuppertal from 1973 until her death in 2009, creating works such as Café Müller and The Rite of Spring there; she was born in nearby Solingen in 1940.

Which anthropologist-choreographer was called the 'queen mother of black dance'?

Katherine Dunham earned an anthropology degree at the University of Chicago, studied dance in Haiti and Jamaica, and built the Dunham Technique from Afro-Caribbean movement; her company toured 57 countries.

Ruth St. Denis founded a pioneering Los Angeles dance school in 1915 with which partner?

Ted Shawn, whom St. Denis married in 1914, co-founded the Denishawn school in Los Angeles in 1915; its students included Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman.

Which Hollywood choreographer was famous for kaleidoscopic overhead shots of showgirls?

Busby Berkeley perfected the overhead kaleidoscope shot in Samuel Goldwyn's Eddie Cantor musicals, then made it the signature of Warner Bros. films such as 42nd Street and Gold Diggers of 1933.

Gene Kelly co-directed and choreographed Singin' in the Rain (1952) with whom?

Stanley Donen co-directed Singin' in the Rain with Gene Kelly, as the pair had On the Town in 1949; the film also starred Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds.

Whose 'Jumpin' Jive' routine in Stormy Weather (1943) is called one of film's greatest?

The Nicholas Brothers, Fayard and Harold, leapfrog down a staircase into full splits in Jumpin' Jive; Fred Astaire reportedly called it the greatest movie musical number he had ever seen.

Which performer's costume of a short skirt of artificial bananas became a Jazz Age icon?

Josephine Baker wore the banana skirt in her Danse sauvage at the Folies Bergère in 1926; the St Louis-born star became a French citizen, a Resistance agent and, in 2021, the first Black woman in the Panthéon.

Which tap dancer choreographed the Broadway show Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk?

Glover made his Broadway debut as a child and had appeared in Black and Blue at 15.

Which celebrated tap dancer starred in the 1989 film Tap and played Ben on Will & Grace?

Gregory Hines starred in Tap (1989) alongside Sammy Davis Jr. and played Ben Doucette on Will & Grace; he had danced opposite Mikhail Baryshnikov in White Nights (1985) and won a Tony for Jelly's Last Jam.

Which music video was the first selected for the US National Film Registry, in 2009?

Michael Jackson's Thriller, the 14-minute 1983 short directed by John Landis, was added to the National Film Registry in 2009; the Library of Congress called it the most famous music video of all time.

Which K-pop video became the first on YouTube to reach a billion views, in December 2012?

Psy's Gangnam Style, released on 15 July 2012, passed one billion YouTube views on 21 December 2012, the first video to do so; its horse-riding dance was copied worldwide.

Krumping was created in the early 2000s in which part of Los Angeles?

Krumping was created in South Central Los Angeles in the early 2000s by dancers including Ceasare 'Tight Eyez' Willis, growing out of Tommy the Clown's clowning; David LaChapelle's 2005 documentary Rize explored the scene.

Which dance troupe beat Susan Boyle to win Britain's Got Talent in 2009?

Diversity, the east London street-dance troupe led by Ashley Banjo, won the 2009 Britain's Got Talent final ahead of Susan Boyle; several members were still at school or university at the time.

So You Think You Can Dance was created by which two American Idol producers?

Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, the producers behind American Idol, created So You Think You Can Dance for Fox in 2005; Lythgoe also sat on its judging panel, and the format spread to more than 25 countries.

The quickstep evolved from the foxtrot combined with which other dance?

The quickstep grew out of a fast foxtrot fused with the Charleston in 1920s dance halls, with the shag, peabody and one-step as further ingredients; it was standardised as a ballroom dance in 1927.

Which Latin dance did Cuban bandleader Pérez Prado popularise in the 1950s?

Pérez Prado, billed as the King of the Mambo, took the dance from Havana to Mexico City and the US; his Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White topped the US chart for ten weeks in 1955.

Cumbia is said to come from Afro-descendant funeral traditions in which country?

Cumbia comes from Colombia's Caribbean coast, around Cartagena and Barranquilla, blending African drumming with Indigenous gaita flutes and Spanish dress; it spread across Latin America from the mid-20th century.

The conga line derives from a carnival dance of which country?

The conga comes from Cuba, from the street comparsas of carnival in Santiago de Cuba and Havana; bandleader Desi Arnaz helped make the kick-on-four conga line a US party staple in the late 1930s.

The limbo is based on traditions from which Caribbean nation?

The limbo comes from Trinidad and Tobago, where it was danced at wakes before Julia Edwards's troupe took it to nightclubs and film in the 1950s; the name is thought to come from limber.

Sirtaki was choreographed for which 1964 film?

Mikis Theodorakis wrote the music, so it is also called 'Zorba's dance'.

Dabke is a line dance from which region?

Dabke is the line dance of the Levant, danced at weddings in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine; a leader heads the line, often twirling a handkerchief, and the name is linked to stamping of the feet.

Bhangra is a folk dance from which region of the Indian subcontinent?

Bhangra is the harvest dance of Punjab, performed to the double-headed dhol drum at Vaisakhi in April; British Punjabi bands fused it with pop in the 1980s.

Kathakali is a traditional dance-theatre form native to which Indian state?

Kathakali developed in Kerala in the 17th century and is performed by Malayali troupes; its elaborate make-up colour-codes the characters, green for noble heroes and red-bearded for villains.

Which classical dance, known for the three-bend tribhangi posture, comes from eastern India?

Odissi comes from the temples of Odisha, where maharis danced for the deity Jagannath at Puri; its sculptural tribhangi posture bends the body at neck, torso and knee.

Kabuki's founder, Izumo no Okuni, formed what kind of group in Kyoto?

Izumo no Okuni led a company of women dancers who performed on the dry bed of Kyoto's Kamo River around 1603; the shogunate banned women from kabuki in 1629, and it became an all-male form.

Hopak originated as a male dance among which Cossacks?

The hopak arose in the 16th century among the Zaporozhian Cossacks of the lower Dnipro as a male display of leaps and squatting kicks; Ukrainian folk ensembles later opened it to couples and mixed groups.

The earliest record of Morris dancers, from 1448, notes a payment by which London guild?

The Goldsmiths' Company's accounts for 1448 record seven shillings paid to Morris dancers, the earliest surviving English mention; the dance is typically done with handkerchiefs, sticks and bells on the shins.

The can-can became a popular music-hall dance in which decade?

The can-can moved from Paris working-class ballrooms into the music halls in the 1840s; by the 1890s stars such as La Goulue and Jane Avril commanded big fees at the Moulin Rouge.

The mazurka is a stylised folk-dance form from which country?

Chopin's mazurkas made it a fixture of 19th-century European ballrooms and salons.

Which French composer wrote the 1928 orchestral dance work Boléro?

It was written for dancer Ida Rubinstein and is one of Ravel's most famous pieces.

Which dance theorist devised a notation system for recording human movement, published in 1928?

Rudolf von Laban published his movement notation, later called Labanotation, in Schrifttanz (Written Dance) in 1928; it records the direction, level and duration of each movement on a vertical staff.

'Cha-Cha Slide' was originally written by DJ Casper as what?

DJ Casper wrote Cha-Cha Slide in 1996 as a step aerobics routine for his nephew, a fitness trainer at a Bally Total Fitness club in Chicago; the call-and-response track topped the UK chart in 2004.

In Flashdance (1983), Jennifer Beals' character Alex works by day at what?

Alex Owens welds by day at a Pittsburgh steel mill and dances at a bar by night. Her dance scenes used doubles, chiefly Marine Jahan, and breaker Crazy Legs performed the audition backspin.

In Footloose (1984), Kevin Bacon's Ren McCormack moves to which fictional town?

Ren moves from Chicago to the small town of Bomont, where Reverend Shaw Moore, played by John Lithgow, has pushed through a ban on dancing; the story was inspired by Elmore City, Oklahoma.

Who directed Black Swan (2010), in which Natalie Portman plays ballerina Nina Sayers?

Darren Aronofsky directed Black Swan, shooting much of it on handheld 16mm; Natalie Portman won the Best Actress Oscar for Nina, and Aronofsky was nominated for Best Director.

Billy Elliot is set in County Durham during which event?

Billy Elliot unfolds during the 1984-85 miners' strike, with Billy's father and brother on the picket line in Easington; Jamie Bell played the 11-year-old and Julie Walters his ballet teacher.

Which actor starred with Jenna Dewan in the 2006 dance film Step Up?

Anne Fletcher directed the teen dance drama.

A Chorus Line opened on Broadway in 1975 with music by whom?

Marvin Hamlisch wrote the music and Edward Kleban the lyrics for A Chorus Line, conceived and directed by Michael Bennett; it won the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and nine Tonys.

Napoleon Dynamite's talent-show dance is performed to which Jamiroquai song?

Napoleon dances to Jamiroquai's Canned Heat, a 1999 single from Synkronized, as the skit for Pedro's class-president campaign; Jon Heder improvised much of the routine in a single afternoon of takes.

In which city were the Radio City Rockettes founded in 1925, as the Missouri Rockets?

Russell Markert founded the troupe in St. Louis in 1925 as the Missouri Rockets, inspired by Britain's Tiller Girls but wanting taller dancers capable of eye-high kicks; they moved to Radio City Music Hall in 1932.

Besides the Christmas Spectacular, which New York event first featured the Rockettes in 1957?

The Rockettes first danced in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in 1957 and became an annual fixture of its Herald Square finale; they had begun as the Roxyettes at Samuel 'Roxy' Rothafel's Roxy Theatre before Radio City opened in 1932.

Zumba was created in the 1990s by aerobics instructor Beto Pérez in which Colombian city?

Beto Pérez was teaching aerobics in Cali, Colombia, in the mid-1990s when he forgot his usual music and ran the class to salsa and merengue cassettes; he first called the result Rumbacize, and Zumba went global from Miami in 2001.

Which company introduced Dance Dance Revolution in Japan in 1998?

Konami's Dance Dance Revolution pioneered the rhythm-and-dance genre and inspired imitators such as Pump It Up and In the Groove.

Whose 1934 song gives the Oxford English Dictionary its first recorded use of 'jitter bug'?

The word began as a jibe by Black Savoy Ballroom regulars at whites who danced the Lindy Hop too fast and jumpy.

Which showman billed the danse du ventre on the Midway of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair?

Sol Bloom, the young entertainment director of the 1893 fair's Midway Plaisance, promoted the Algerian and Egyptian dancers' danse du ventre, which the press translated as belly dance; he later served 26 years in Congress.

Which 1992 music video is credited with launching country line dancing into the mainstream?

Billy Ray Cyrus's Achy Breaky Heart video, choreographed by Melanie Greenwood, had fans copying its line dance within weeks of its March 1992 release and took the craze mainstream; Brooks & Dunn's Boot Scootin' Boogie followed that summer.

The Electric Slide is danced to 'Electric Boogie', a song written by which reggae musician?

Bunny Wailer, a founding member of the Wailers with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, wrote Electric Boogie for Marcia Griffiths, who recorded it in 1982; a 1989 remix reached No. 51 on the Hot 100 and became her biggest single.

Which publisher launched the Just Dance video game series in November 2009?

Ubisoft launched Just Dance on the Wii in November 2009, and despite poor reviews it sold millions; the first tracklist ran from MC Hammer and Elvis to the Spice Girls, Gorillaz and Baha Men.