Top 5 oldies for freestyle dance

Have been crazy busy this week so am not up to my usual blogging tempo. Will be away for the weekend too so here's a quickie to keep things alive!


Here are my favourite songs from times gone by that instantly make me feel like getting up and dancing. These could be useful for a freestyle dancing warm-up/cool-down in P.E. class or for a class party.

• Twist and Shout - The Beatles
• Jailhouse Rock - Elvis Presley
• Rock around the Clock - Bill Haley
• ABC - The Jackson 5
• Greased Lightning - John Travolta (from Grease) [make sure to get a censored version!]

For more ideas on songs (and simple dances), I posted about them here!

Top 5 simple dances for P.E.

These dances are popular at camps. They're simple to teach, easy to remember and can be used again and again as a warm-up/cool-down.

Here is my top 5 (in no particular order!):


Macarena - Los Del Rio: Everybody knows this. It's really simple and will easily be picked up by children of any age. If you don't already know the moves, there's a video tutorial here!

Saturday Night - Whigfield: Again, this is a very simple dance. If you don't already know the moves, you can copy them from this video. It's probably easiest to see the dance from 1min7secs -> 1min17secs. The entire dance is literally those 10 secs of dance moves repeated for the entire song.

An Dreoilín - Seán Monaghan: This is a modern take on a song in the Irish language (Gaeilge, for those of you not from here!). The name means "The Wren." It follows the same dance moves as Saturday Night (above). You can download the song from here.

Cha Cha Slide - DJ Casper (Mr. C. and The Slide Man: Again, this is one that I'd be surprised if you haven't heard. The dance moves follow the lyrics exactly. If you're not sure about any of it, have a look at the official video.

Shake a Tail Feather - Ray Charles: This is a really upbeat song from the movie, The Blues Brothers. The dance in the movie is a little complicated for classroom scenarios so I've shared the moves from a version I learned in my previous post. Click here to see it.

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As I think of it, if you are teaching really young kids, this CD has some great songs where the actions follow the lyrics: "Ronno - Jump Start Action Songs"

I used some of the songs "Twist! Stop! Hop!" and "I Can Dance" with 5 and 6 year olds and they went down a treat!

Shake a Tail Feather Dance

If you're familiar with the movie, "The Blues Brothers" then you'll know this song. It's really upbeat and instantly likable. This is a dance I picked up while on an activity holiday as a teenager. It's really good fun and could be taught to any age level. 


We didn't have any specified dance for the first two verses to just make something up according to the ability levels of the kids. The chorus and bridge is very straightforward!


It may look a little complicated with all of my writing here but, when you get down to it, it's really simple!


Shake a Tail Feather - Ray Charles

Well I heard about the fellow you've been dancing with
All over the neighbourhood
So why didn't you ask me baby
Or didn't you think I could?


Well I know that the boogaloo is out of sight
but the shingaling's the thing tonight
But if that was you and me a now baby
I would have shown you how to do it right
Do it right (U-huh)
Do it right
Do it right
Do it right
Do it right
Aaah (bend forward and roll arms in a roly-poly fashion, as you do this bend your knees to end in a crouched position)


Twist it, (jump up from the crouched position with your hands in the air)
Shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it baby (Do a jive-style, shake of the hips/elbows/feet)
Hey we gonna loop de loop (Place your right hand in a thumbs-down position, with the thumb resting on the centre of your head and turn 180 degrees anticlockwise)
Shake it out baby (Mime as if you're surfing)
Hey we gonna loop de li (Place your left hand in a thumbs-down position, with the thumb resting on the centre of your head and turn 180 degrees clockwise)
Bend over let me see ya shake your tailfeather (jump turn 90 degrees anticlockwise, bend over and place your hands behind your back, palms upwards with your wrists by your bum, wiggling your fingers)
Bend over let me see ya shake your tailfeather (jump turn 180 degrees anticlockwise with your hands in the same position)
Come on let me see ya shake your tailfeather  (jump turn 180 degrees anticlockwise with your hands in the same position)
Come on let me see ya shake your tailfeather (Roar out "360!" and get everybody to try to do a full 360 degree jump)
Aaah (bend forward and roll arms in a roly-poly fashion, as you do this bend your knees to end in a crouched position)


(repeat the "Twist it..... --> shake a tail feather" section)


Come on, come on baby
Come on, yeah, come on babe, alright


Do the twist (twist)
Do the fly (flap imaginary wings)
Do the swim (mime swimming)
And do the bird (flap imaginary wings)
Well do the duck (crouch low and bend hands up to armpits, then do a duck waddle)
Aaah, and do the monkey (lift arms and scratch armpits)
Hey hey, watusi
And, ah, what about the frug (do the real frug or else mime being a frog - the kids won't know any different!)
Do the mashed potato (see the real mashed potato or else mime mashing potatoes on your head while turning around in a circle)
What about the boogaloo (do some real boogaloo moves or else pretend that they're saying "bowl of fruit" and cup your hands around your elbows, lift arms to one side and hold)
Oh, the bony moronie (throw in a 60s-style cheesy move here)
Come on let's do the twist (twist!)

Aaah (bend forward and roll arms in a roly-poly fashion, as you do this bend your knees to end in a crouched position)

Twist it, (jump up from the crouched position with your hands in the air)

Shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it baby (Do a jive-style, shake of the hips/elbows/feet)

Shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it baby (Do a jive-style, shake of the hips/elbows/feet)