For more than 30 years, there has only been one way to dance the Macarena, and it doesn’t involve doing hand flips.
The original routine, first seen in the video for Spanish duo Los Del Río’s hit song in 1993, went viral before going viral was a thing, with dance floors around the world packed with people attempting the Latin-inspired moves.
The routine involves placing one arm out straight at a time, then turning the palms, crossing the hands towards the shoulders, then the head, over the hips, followed by a pushing motion and a jump, before repeating it all again but facing a different direction.
However, recent footage showing Gen Z on the dance floor as the pop classic plays only reveals murder on the dance floor, with a host of new moves replacing the classic routine.
Choreographic catastrophe: TikToker FrikenArleth shared a clip of people dancing the Macarena, but the original movements are nowhere to be seen
One very bemused millennial shared her TikTok clip of younger dancers performing the routine on the dance floor at a party, and she was barely recognizable.
FrikenArleth wrote, along with a crying emoji: “I’m scared, why are they dancing the macarena like that?” In the clip, she adds: “I feel so old… what the fuck?”
Although the young men are perfectly synchronized, they replace the iconic outstretched arm movement with a gentle wave motion.
Murder on the dance floor: Gen Z dancers offer a fresh take on the Macarena – and millennials weren’t impressed
While the familiar leap in another direction remained intact, what comes next in the video will be a shock to Macarena purists: a forward hand spin.
Those who danced to that song back then were horrified.
One wrote in the comments: “They can’t change the Macarena, this has to be stopped. What are we teaching children?”
Another, equally hurt, added: “That’s not the Macarena.”
The original 1993 video took the dancers through the steps, which began by placing both hands one at a time and then rotating them.
Shake and repeat: then cross your hands over your shoulders, hands over your head, hips and the legendary shake before jumping to face another direction, and do it all again.
And one suggested age was no excuse, writing: “I’m younger than them and what the hell are they doing, that’s not the macarena.”
Despite being over 30 years old, the song has endured and still appears on party playlists as a Spanish classic – even Hillary Clinton tried dancing to it earlier this year after meeting Los Del Rio in person.
The former US first lady was filmed smiling and waving her hands in January as two musicians performed the right moves on either side of her as she attended a party in her honour in Seville.
Last month, millennials became obsessed with the dance moves of previous generations and asked their parents to recreate their favorite dance moves from the ’80s.
In the past few weeks, the hashtag #80sdancechallenge has been used in over 10,000 videos and has racked up millions of views.
It’s been more than 30 years since Spanish duo Los del Río burst onto the charts and sparked a dance craze with their hit song Macarena.
As part of the viral trend, millennial kids are jamming to Bronski Beat’s 1984 hit Smalltown Boy and asking their parents to show them how they danced in the ’80s.
At the beginning of this year, Ethan Baylin, TikTok user She went viral when she got her mother to participate in the trend.
TikToker Phoebe, who has 670,000 followers on the account she shares with her father Paul (pictured), was also quick to jump on the trend.
TikToker Meg from the UK also got in on the trend, asking her mum (pictured) to dance while she stared at the threshold of her bedroom.
TikTok user Alexis (pictured) uploaded a video of her uncle dancing to Smalltown Boy as part of the trend
Although she was apprehensive at first, Ethan’s mother, who was wearing a gray jumpsuit and white socks, began to dance.
As she got deeper into the dance, she raised her arms in the air and did a twirl for the camera.
The video has racked up over 7 million views and has been liked by over 500,000 people.
One fan replied: “I love this trend because at first you can see their age but as soon as they start dancing they look so much younger.”
Another added: “Ahh, she’s loving the memories.”
A third said: “Seeing this trend I think everyone’s parents danced the exact same way.”
And what is more, Phoebe, the TikToker – who has 670,000 followers on the account she shares with her father Paul – was also quick to join the trend.
She captioned her video: ‘Nice to see his moves haven’t changed in 40 years…’
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