Its International Dance Day!

Did you know these fun facts about everyone's favourite dance?

 

  1. Swiss accordion player Werner Thomas created the song and dance in the 1950's.

  2. The name of the original Swiss song was “Der Ententanz,” or “The Duck Dance.”

  3. Belgian music producer Louis Julien van Rijmenant heard the song being played in 1973. He collaborated with a band called Bobby Setter's Cash & Carry to publish the song as a single, called “Tchip, Tchip,” 

  4. More than 140 versions of the song have been recorded, selling 40 million copies worldwide.

  5. The dance first came to the United States in 1981 during Oktoberfest celebrations in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A German band wanted to demonstrate the dance in costume for a local TV station, but a duck costume could not be located, so a chicken costume was used. Hence, chicken dance instead of duck dance.

  6. In 2004, Motley Creu singer Vince Neil served as Grand Marshall of the World’s Largest Chicken Dance in Cincinnati. VH1 called the appearance “the single least metal moment in history.”