The bunny hop is a

novelty dance Novelty and fad dances are dances which are typically characterized by a short burst of popularity. Some of them, like the Twist, Y.M.C.A. and the Hokey Pokey, have shown much longer-lasting lives. They are also called dance fads or dance craze ...

created at Balboa High School in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

in 1952."New Pop Records"
''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

''. January 26, 1953. It is a

mixer dance A mixer dance, dance mixer or simply mixer is a kind of participation dance in a social dance setting that involves changing partners as an integral part. Mixing can be built into the dance choreography or can be structured to occur more randomly. ...

, sometimes also referred to as a "party" or "dance party" dance.

History

The dance has been generally done to

Ray Anthony Raymond Antonini (born January 20, 1922), known as Ray Anthony, is an American bandleader, trumpeter, songwriter, and actor. He is the last surviving member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Biography Anthony was born to an Italian family in Ben ...

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

recording of the song with this name. It was a vocal hit in 1952, and instrumentally re-recorded 1958. The song has been re-recorded by others, including musical updates of the style, for example, a

salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: ...

version. Duke Ellington recorded "Bunny Hop

Mambo Mambo most often refers to: * Mambo (music), a Cuban musical form *Mambo (dance), a dance corresponding to mambo music Mambo may also refer to: Music * Mambo section, a section in arrangements of some types of Afro-Caribbean music, particul ...

" in 1954. Other popular music of the era is also used, such as "

The Glow-Worm "Das Glühwürmchen", known in English as "The Glow-Worm", is a song from Paul Lincke's 1902 operetta ''Lysistrata'', with German lyrics by Heinz Bolten-Backers. In the operetta, it is performed as a trio with three female solo voices singing a ...

". In 1979, several men were arrested for public lewdness during the Village Station police raid for dancing in a bunny hop. Ray Anthony's

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

release of the "Bunny Hop" featured another novelty dance classic, the " Hokey Pokey" on the

B side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

Description

The dance is a variation on a

conga line The conga line is a novelty line dance that was derived from the Cuban carnival dance of the same name and became popular in the US in the 1930s and 1950s. In order to perform the dance, dancers form a long, processing line, which would usually ...

. Participants dance in a line or a

circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is con ...

, holding on to the hips of the person in front of them. They tap the floor two times with their left foot, then with their right foot, then they hop forwards, backwards, and finally three hops forward to finish the sequence, which continues throughout the tune. The first person in the line or the open circle leads the group around the floor.

Variations

The ''

letkajenkka Letkajenkka, also known as Letkajenkaa in English and many other languages, is a Finnish dance. History of the music genre letkajenkka/letkis Letkajenkka / letkis is a music genre and a general noun as well as two songs by the same name ("Letka ...

'' from Finland has essentially the same steps. In 2014 in Saudi Arabia, the same dance set to slightly different music (referred to as "''raqsat al-batriq''", the "penguin dance") became a popular trend on online video-sharing sites and a staple at wedding dance parties."'Penguin Dancing' Meme Takes Saudi Arabia By Storm"
BuzzFeed. April 12, 2014. Retrieved December 21, 2015.

In popular culture

Allan Sherman Allan may refer to: People * Allan (name), a given name and surname, including list of people and characters with this name * Allan (footballer, born 1984) (Allan Barreto da Silva), Brazilian football striker * Allan (footballer, born 1989) (Al ...

listed the bunny hop as "a very nice dance" at the coda of his parody " Crazy Downtown", along with older dances such as the

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...

and

waltz The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the w ...

(as opposed to modern dances such as

the Frug The Frug ( or /frug/) was a dance craze from the mid-1960s, which included vigorous dance to pop music. It evolved from another dance of the era, the Chicken. The Chicken, which featured lateral body movements, was used primarily as a change of pa ...

). *The Ray Anthony version is heard in

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...

' film ''

Cry-Baby ''Cry-Baby'' is a 1990 American teen musical romantic comedy film written and directed by John Waters. It was the only film of Waters's over which studios were in a bidding war, coming off the heels of the successful '' Hairspray''. The film s ...

'' with Baldwin and the Whiffles hopping. *The bunny hop is shown in the pilot episode of ''

Family Ties ''Family Ties'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC for seven seasons, premiering on September 22, 1982, and concluding on May 14, 1989. The series, created by Gary David Goldberg, reflected the move in the United States ...

'' when Alex attends a country club event and mentioned again in the episode "Karen II, Alex 0". *In ''

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' is an American television sitcom created by Andy and Susan Borowitz for NBC. It aired from September 10, 1990, to May 20, 1996. The series stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart ...

'' episode "Fresh Prince After Dark", Carlton is seen doing the bunny hop at the

Playboy Mansion The Playboy Mansion, also known as the Playboy Mansion West, is the former home of ''Playboy'' magazine founder Hugh Hefner who lived there from 1974 until his death in 2017. Barbi Benton convinced Hefner to buy the home located in Holmby Hill ...

. *In the ''

Everybody Loves Raymond ''Everybody Loves Raymond'' is an American sitcom television series created by Philip Rosenthal that aired on CBS from September 13, 1996, to May 16, 2005, with a total of 210 episodes spanning nine seasons. It was produced by Where's Lunch an ...

'' episode "The Walk to the Door",

Robert Barone This is a list of fictional characters from ''Everybody Loves Raymond'', an American sitcom, originally broadcast on CBS from September 13, 1996, to May 16, 2005. The show revolves around the life of Italian-American Ray Barone, a sportswriter ...

dances to the bunny hop at a family wedding. *In the ''

Newhart ''Newhart'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on CBS from October 25, 1982, to May 21, 1990, with a total of 184 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons. The series stars Bob Newhart and Mary Frann as an author and his wife, ...

'' episode "Jumpin' George", George Utley dances the bunny hop in the lobby area, to keep from falling asleep and having a recurring dream. *In '' The Addams Family Musical'', the living Addams clan joins with their newly-risen deceased ancestors in doing the bunny hop (along with line-dancing and The Twist).

References

{{reflist

External links

The bunny hop from ''The Ray Anthony Show'' (1953)
YouTube Novelty and fad dances