The annual ritual known as the Chicken Dance rears its waggly head every year about this time. Photo by Phil Houseal

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The Duck Dance

by Phil Houseal
June 13, 2007

At any Fredericksburg "German" festival - there is one dance that never fails to fill the dance floor. Precocious kids, teens on a dare, reluctant dads, and cane-wielding seniors alike spill out to form a circle at the first strains of "The Chicken Dance."

Dee-dee Dee-dee Dee-dee Dit
Dee-dee Dee-dee Dee-dee Dit
Dit Dit Dit Dit Dit Dit Dit Dah...

Like a playground taunt, the tune worms its way into your head (I'll bet you are humming it already), pulls people out of their chairs, and compels them to take part in public spectacle.

If you haven't witnessed this phenomenon, the best way to describe it is as a sort of Teutonic Macarena. Participants form a circle in front of the bandstand, where an elaborate choreography unfolds. First, dancers form beaks with their fingers and "quack" four times. Next, they tuck thumbs under arms and waggle elbows as if trying to launch themselves from the dance floor.

Dee-dee Dee-dee Dee-dee Dit

Then the dance gets interesting. The waggling migrates to the derriere, as dancers slowly crouch and - in the words of the Reverend Ray Charles - "shake a tail feather."

Finally - in a move common to all the folk dances that we learned in 6th grade P.E. class - the dancers join hands and circle right eight steps, then circle left eight steps. Relentlessly, the process begins again, going ever faster until the dancers become a mass of flailing arms and quivering bottoms, looking as if an argument broke out at a sign language conference.

Perhaps the reason so many participate is that it saves them the pain of sitting and watching others do it.

You might have noticed I used the word "quack" above. The allusion is deliberate. Like many traditions of Fredericksburg, the Chicken Dance was imported from Europe. But there, it was originally known as Der Ententanz - or, the Duck Dance.

After exhaustive research (clicking on wikipedia.com), I discovered that someone actually claims credit for composing it.

The guy's name was Werner Thomas, an accordion player from Davos, Switzerland. He played the Duck Dance in the 1950s. In 1970, someone added lyrics, and it hit the United States in 1982 as the Chicken Dance. (Come to think of it, I've never heard the lyrics. I can't imagine what they might be - or that it matters.)

Apparently the Americanized name was the result of a careless translation by an Austrian tour guide. It actually is known in some parts of the world as "The Bird Dance," thereby qualifying it as an affront to birds of all of species.

As frivolous as it seems, the Chicken Dance is serious business. It has become a ritual for any American Oktoberfest or event where beer consumption is tracked by stacked plastic cups. Every German/Polka/Oompah/lounge band plays it. So ubiquitous is the dance, some clubs have gone so far as to ban it, even posting signs declaring "No Chicken Dance." Others recognize its appeal and embrace the insanity. One club owner wrote into the contract that bands had to perform the Chicken Dance every 15 minutes!

It's all too easy to mock the dance, and daintily demur when the band starts in and the kids pull you out on the floor. But the song is part of the pantheon of silly songs with canned steps such as the Cotton-Eyed Joe, the Schottisch, and the Bunny Hop.

Go ahead and be silly. All you have to lose is your dignity.

XXX