The 2010s will go down as the decade of dance, with new cultures mashing together, creating moves and grooves that went viral. From the Dougie to the Woah, these moves have been hit sensations all over the world. As we whip, if you know what I mean, into the new decade, we all are looking forward to new beginnings, music, movies, and tv shows. In the meantime, let’s do a little recap of these momentous moves and dance our way back through the decade. 

2010: The Year of the Dougie 

Since its release in late 2010, the Dougie has been put on everyone’s bucket list to learn the dance. The Dougie dance moves originated from the song “My Dougie” by Lil’ Will but got even bigger when a group called Cali Swag District put together their rendition in 2010 called “Teach Me How to Dougie,” and people busted out doing the move. It was a huge party song in late 2010 and continued into 2011. Even today many people still do the dance moves at parties and participate in the action. 

2011: The Year of the ‘Party Rock Anthem’ 

Listen, I was only about 8 years old when this song came out, and let me tell you, it was a hit at all my family parties. ‘Party Rock Anthem’ by LMFAO is one of those songs that comes on in the car and makes you jam out in the backseat to the point at which your parents tell you to stop shaking the car. The music video for this song displays the dance in numerous ways, but it’s more like doing the Running Man, spinning in a circle, and crossing your arms over your body. I don’t know the dance, but when the song comes on, I jam out in my own ways.

2012: The Year of the Gangnam Style 

My parents would purposely put on Psy’s “Gangnam Style” while we are just sitting at home. and my brothers and I would rock out not knowing any of the words and doing some form of the dance moves. “Gangnam Style” was played endlessly on the radio and made a killer dance song at parties. People definitely looked ridiculous riding the invisible horse, but most just wanted in on the trend, since, believe it or not, it was the ‘cool’ thing. The video also had over 3 billion views on Youtube and played worldwide. 

2013: The Year of the Harlem Shake 

Leaning back and moving your arms and shoulders back and forth doesn’t seem like a big deal, right? Well, it was. What started as a small dance on the streets of Harlem grew into a huge viral video worldwide. The dance was born years before the song “Harlem Shake” by Baauer came out and was popularized by homemade YouTube videos in which people are doing everyday things when suddenly, one person just starts dancing when the song comes on. When the beat drops, everyone in the video gets up and starts dancing with objects, masks, and, in some cases, even floaties. Numerous celebrities such as Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande, and Jennette McCurdy and even NBA players joined in on the fun. 

2014:  The Year of the Twerk 

Many people hadn’t heard of the twerk until 2014, but the term was actually coined in 1993 in New Orleans in a song called “Do the Jubilee All.” Miley Cyrus also twerked at her MTV VMA performance, but it really didn’t become popular until Nicki Minaj’s song, ‘Anaconda’, came out, and many people hopped on the trend. The trend of shaking your butt up and down was featured in many videos from artists such as Taylor Swift, Iggy Azalea, and, of course, Beyonce. 

2015: The Year of the Whip/ Nae Nae/ the Dab 

Watch me whip…kill it… now watch me nae nae… okayyy! This song was a huge hit in 2015 when Atlanta rapper, Silentó, came out with “Watch me.” Many people saw this dance on social media and figured, why not try it out? All you had to do was grab a group of friends and whip one of your arms to the left and then wave that same hand in the hair and walk back a bit. Doing this dance wasn’t the only thing that was crazed up in the dance world.

Along with the Whip and Nae Nae, the Dab also took over 2015. Many people knew the Dab from Carolina Panthers Quarterback Cam Newton, who would dab every time he or his team made a touchdown. The dance was so popular that rapper artist, iLoveMemphis, came out with a song called “Lean and Dab”, which features many different dance moves that have also become popular over the years. Between whipping, doing the nae-nae in the Waffle House or just plain dabbing on the streets, people were doing these dance and still are today. 

2016: The Year of Juju on that Beat 

Now slide, drop, hit dem folks, don’t stop, ayeeee. Juju on that Beat, created by Zay Hilfigerrr and Zayion McCall, debuted their song in 2016 and it was a big hit. In the music video, the artists are seen doing a dance that is combined with a variety of dances from previous years, such as the Running Man, Hit dem folks and a dance that they created called “Juju.” Celebrities such as Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson, and Shaquille O’Neal and etc also posted videos online of themselves doing this dance.  And when you know that Shaquille O’Neal does it, then it’s a bop. 

2017: The Year of the Shoot 

You’ve probably heard of the “Shoot” dance now as it’s all over social media, Tik Tok and more popular from the dance from Fortnite. The dance first made its appearance after rapper BlocBot Jb released a music video for his song ‘Shoot,’ in which he is seen doing this dance. Many people picked up on this catchy song and followed the dance to it. People made Tik Toks and YouTube videos featuring friend groups doing it together.  The dance goes like this: turn to the side, kick one of your legs out, take one of your arms and move it up and down as you are hammering something. The dance became so popular that there is now a dance on the video game “Fortnite” called Hype Dance. 

2018: The Year of the Floss 

What started out as a small Instagram video turned into NFL players like Mack Hollins, T.J Watt and etc, doing the dance after scoring touchdowns. The Floss dance, created by Russell Horning, aka The Backpack Kid, took the Internet by storm. Although it was originally created in 2016, it made its way into the mainstream and became more and more popular in 2018. It even made its way into  Katy Perry’s video for ‘Swish Swish.’ Honestly, if you haven’t tried out this dance or heard of it, where have you been? 

2019: The Year of the Woah 

The Woah, created by Krypto9095, originally came out in September of 2017 with a music video. Back then, the music video was not very popular. In 2018, Lil Uzi Vert, Drake, and Travis Scott were seen doing the Woah, and since they are such popular artists, everyone was dying to try it out. The Woah really become a major hit in March 2019 when the #HitTheWoah Challenge came out on Tik Tok. Tik Tok users began incorporating the woah into their videos, and some even added this dance into other dances as well. The dance is pretty simple: typically people lean into a freeze on the beat by making a swift move with their fists. 

As this decade is, unfortunately, coming to closing, most of these dances will be carried into the next decade, and who knows, maybe more people will come out with different dances that will go viral. And remember, to lean and dab!