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"Macarena" is a song by Los del Río about a woman of the
same name. It was originally released in 1993, as a new flamenco rumba pop
fusion theme with fully Spanish lyrics, with a significant success in Spain.
After being remixed by the Bayside Boys and having English lyrics added, it
became a worldwide summer hit in 1996. The single spent 14 weeks at number-one
on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. During its heyday, it was played
incessantly at professional athletic games, rallies, the United States Democratic
Party's National Convention, and other places. The Macarena remained popular
through 1996, but by the end of 1997, its popularity had diminished greatly.
The song also broke records at the time by remaining in the Hot 100 chart
for 60 weeks (about 15 months).
The song was associated with a distinctive fast dance. The song originally had no dance, until a Venezuelan Flamenco instructor created it for her class to dance to, and it eventually caught on with the rest of the world.
The Macarena dance is performed in time with the refrain of the song. To
perform the dance, one places one's arms out, palm down, right arm, then left
arm. Then the dancer turns his arms over, right, then left. The dancer puts
his hands on his shoulders, first right hand on left shoulder, then left on
right. Then the dancer puts his hands on his head, again right, then left.
The dancer then places his arms on his hips, right hand on left hip, then
left on right, places the hands on their respective hips, right then left,
and finishes with a pelvic rotation in time with the line "Hey Macarena!"
Then the dancer turns 90 degrees clockwise and repeats the same motions throughout
the whole song.
An alternative version of the dance replaces the pelvic rotation with a series
of pelvic thrusts, as shown in the video for Los del Mar's recording of the
song.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.