What is the Hokey Cokey?

Classes and Courses

Where can you dance Hokey Cokey?

Clothing

Music

History

Contact

The Hokey Cokey started as a 17th Century paradody of the Cathloic Mass and is thought to be a corruption of the Latin  hoc et corpus , meaning "this is my body", a central part of the communion service. The 'knees bend, arm stretch' is a parady of the genuflection,  and the 'ra ra ra'  represents the repetiton of the latin which was not understood by the lay congregation.

It was popularised in 1953 in the US by the band leader Ray Anthony who introduced it to dancehalls in the US, during the 'Golden age of Hokey Cokey'. During this time it was danced by immigrant workers and the poor, and was very different from the dance we know today.

Nowadays, hokey cokey is used as a celebration dance, an outpouring of joy usually accompanied by weddings, christening or at special 'cokey salons', where people come to meet and dance. The dance has had a huge resurgence in recent years due it's appearance in Hollywood films, although beginners should note that some of the sequences in these films bear no or little resemblance to the real dance and are often hurried, jerky dances with no feeling for the music!

It's a great way to introduce children to movement and music and how the two are linked via dance. Some people even bring their children along to our lessons - they're never too young to appreciate social dancing.