Have you ever been at a wedding, school party, or Oktoberfest celebration and suddenly found yourself making beak shapes with your hands, flapping your “wings,” and shaking your “tail feathers”? If so, you’ve participated in one of the world’s most recognizable dance crazes – the Chicken Dance!
But where did this silly yet incredibly catchy dance come from? The answer might surprise you – it involves Swiss ski slopes, a creative accordionist, and a missing duck costume in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Let’s dive into the quirky history of this global phenomenon that has had people clucking and shaking for decades.
From the Swiss Alps to Dance Floors Worldwide
Werner Thomas: The Man Behind the Music
It all began in the picturesque mountains of Switzerland in the 1950s. A Swiss accordion player named Werner Thomas first composed the catchy melody around 1955 while playing at holiday resorts in Davos, Switzerland.
Thomas didn’t create the tune with chickens in mind at all. In fact, the original name of his composition was “Der Ententanz,” which translates to “The Duck Dance.” According to Thomas himself, the inspiration for both the tune and the dance movements came from an unexpected source – skiers!
While performing at Swiss ski resorts, Thomas observed vacationers zipping down the slopes and thought their movements resembled certain water birds. As he mentioned in a German-language interview, some of the hand movements skiers made reminded him of “the beak of a duck,” while other gestures evoked flapping wings and waddling feet. These observations inspired him to create a playful series of movements to accompany his catchy tune.
The Dance Steps Take Shape
Thomas spent several years refining both his melody and the accompanying dance movements The dance he created consisted of four simple steps that almost anyone could learn in minutes
- Making “beaks” with your hands by opening and closing them
- Flapping your “wings” (arms)
- Wiggling down to shake your “tail feathers”
- Clapping four times
These simple movements, combined with the infectious melody, created something that would eventually become a worldwide phenomenon – though it would take some time to get there.
The Song’s Journey Across Europe
From Switzerland to Belgium
The next major chapter in the Chicken Dance story occurred in the early 1970s when Belgian music producer Louis Julien van Rijmenant heard Thomas playing his catchy tune at a hotel in Davos. Recognizing its potential, Rijmenant collaborated with a band called Bobby Setter’s Cash & Carry to record and publish the song as a single in 1973.
This version titled “Tchip Tchip,” was created using a synthesizer – a completely new instrument to Thomas at the time. Though Thomas was initially surprised by this electronic interpretation of his accordion tune, he eventually came to appreciate it. The European public certainly did – within a year, Rijmenant’s “Tchip, Tchip” record sold over 1 million copies across Europe!
Dutch Success and Dance Revival
Despite the song’s growing popularity, Thomas’s accompanying dance movements wouldn’t become widely known until 1980, when the Dutch band De Electronica released their own cover version. They called it “De Vogeltjesdans” (Dance Little Bird), and it spent an impressive 29 weeks on the Dutch charts, peaking at number eight.
De Electronica played a crucial role in popularizing the dance movements Thomas had created decades earlier. During concerts and TV appearances they performed the original duck-like movements helping to reunite the melody with its intended choreography.
The Chicken Dance Comes to America
Stanley Mills Brings the Tune Across the Atlantic
The melody had already crossed the Atlantic Ocean by the time De Electronica was climbing the Dutch charts. Music producer Stanley Mills first heard Thomas’s creation at a 1972 convention in Cannes, France. Immediately recognizing its potential, Mills purchased the American distribution rights.
Mills renamed the song “Dance Little Bird” for the American market and even commissioned original English lyrics (which have since faded into obscurity). The chorus went: “Hey you’re in the swing / You’re cluckin’ like a bird / You’re flapping your wings / Don’t you feel absurd?”
Despite Mills’ efforts, the song didn’t immediately find success in America. He convinced several polka bands to include “Dance Little Bird” on their albums, but none managed to turn it into a hit at first.
The Polka Community Embraces the Dance
In the 1980s, instrumental versions of “Dance Little Bird” slowly developed a following in cities with large polka-loving communities, such as Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Austin. As Mills later explained, “People started dancing to it at weddings and bar mitzvahs and the local dance bands began to play it. A few local polka groups recorded it and sold it out of the back of [their trucks].”
The dance fit perfectly within polka culture, which already embraced “novelty dances” and “mixers” that got people moving and interacting. Unlike many partner dances, the Chicken Dance could be performed by anyone, with or without a partner, making it accessible to all ages and skill levels.
How Tulsa, Oklahoma Changed Everything
The 1981 Tulsa Oktoberfest: A Pivotal Moment
Here’s where our story takes an unexpected turn – to Tulsa, Oklahoma, of all places! The city’s 1981 Oktoberfest would prove to be a pivotal moment in the dance’s history.
During this festival, which almost didn’t happen due to days of bad weather, a German band was scheduled to perform “Der Ententanz” (The Duck Dance) and teach the crowd Thomas’s dance moves. The organizers wanted a visual aid to help demonstrate the dance, so they searched for a duck costume.
As Carol Wright, leader of the Tulsa German American Society Folk Dance Group, explained: “One of the bands that came over to perform at the festival introduced the dance. It was called the Duck Dance. And they wanted to dance in the costume of a duck. And we couldn’t find a duck costume.”
A Chicken Costume Changes Everything
Unable to find a duck costume, the festival organizers turned to a local television station, Tulsa’s Channel 2, which happened to have a chicken costume available. According to Wright, “They loaned the chicken costume and performed it and everybody liked it and since then it’s been called the Chicken Dance. And history just got changed because of a costume we couldn’t find.”
In a fascinating twist, later investigations revealed that the costume might have originally been a turkey costume from an old Safeway commercial! As Tonja Carrigg, Executive Director of River Parks Authority which produces the Tulsa Oktoberfest, discovered from a long-term volunteer: “The original costume actually when we were looking for a duck was a turkey and it was something that Channel 2 had left over from an old Safeway commercial. So they took the Safeway costume and as they started stripping its turkey parts… So that it more resembled a chicken than a duck or a turkey and that’s what we went with.”
Can you imagine? We were this close to doing the “Turkey Dance” instead!
From Fad to Cultural Institution
The Rebranding Takes Hold
After the Tulsa Oktoberfest, the name “Chicken Dance” quickly took hold across America. In 1994, Mills received a call from a company creating a dance party compilation record, asking to include a song called “The Chicken Dance.” Mills initially replied, “I don’t own anything called ‘The Chicken Dance,'” until the caller played it over the phone and Mills realized it was his song “Dance Little Bird” with a new name it had acquired “all by itself.”
The resulting compilation record, titled “Turn Up the Music,” was hugely successful, and Mills saw his income from the song skyrocket – from almost nothing at the start of the 1990s to approximately $7,000 in 1995, and then to more than $50,000 by 2000.
Embracing the Chicken
The Tulsa Oktoberfest fully embraced the chicken theme. Today, they sell thousands of chicken hats each year – hats that make it look like a chicken is sitting on your head with its legs dangling by your ears. When Carrigg attended the original Oktoberfest in Germany, she took some of these hats with her, and the Germans “had never seen them.”
Why Has the Chicken Dance Endured?
Unlike many dance fads that quickly fade away, the Chicken Dance has shown remarkable staying power. There are several reasons for this longevity:
Accessibility and Inclusivity
The Chicken Dance requires no special skills or partner. As David Masopust, tuba player with the Masopust Polka Band, explained, “It was just fun. And it was something everyone could do, you don’t have to have a partner.”
The Great Equalizer
Carol Wright aptly summed up another key to the dance’s enduring appeal: “Everybody looks stupid. There’s no perfection to it.” There’s something liberating about a dance where looking silly is actually the point!
Community Building
The dance serves as an “ice breaker” at events, getting people of all ages moving and laughing together. William Masopust of the Masopust Polka Band described it as “an ice breaker song. Anyone can learn it. Most people are broken down and they’re having fun.”
The Chicken Dance Today
Today, the Chicken Dance remains a staple at weddings, school parties, bar mitzvahs, and Oktoberfest celebrations worldwide. It has been recorded in over 140 versions, pressed on an estimated 40,000,000 records, making it one of the most successful dance tunes of all time.
Werner Thomas, the humble accordion player who started it all, has expressed appreciation for the song’s success. As he noted in an interview, whenever he sees “The Chicken Dance” on television, he can rest secure in the knowledge that “his next beer has been paid for.”
May 14th is even recognized as “Dance Like a Chicken Day” – a day dedicated to celebrating this quirky, joyful dance that brings people together in shared silliness.
Final Thoughts
The journey of the Chicken Dance from a Swiss accordionist’s tune inspired by skiers to a global phenomenon renamed because of a missing duck costume in Tulsa is truly one of music history’s most unexpected stories. It reminds us that sometimes the silliest, simplest things have the greatest staying power.
So the next time you find yourself at an event where the familiar “ta-da-da-da-da-da-da” starts playing, don’t be shy – make your beak, flap your wings, shake your tail feathers, and clap along! After all, as David Masopust said, “Everybody looks stupid” – and that’s exactly the point!
Have you ever done the Chicken Dance? What’s your favorite place or event to do it? I’d love to hear your chicken dance stories in the comments!
Where did the “Chicken Dance” Originate?
How did things go from birds to ducks to chickens?
All along, people were calling the tune “Bird Dance,” but in Germany, it was always the “Enten Tanz” (Duck Dance). This makes perfect sense since ducks shake their tail feathers, and chickens just don’t. How did ducks turn into chickens?
This is where Tulsa, Oklahoma, comes in. A German Band was scheduled to play “Dance Little Bird” at the 1981 Tulsa Oktoberfest. Someone came up with the fun idea of having a person in a Duck Suit show off the dance moves to the crowd. Honestly, it was a fantastic idea. The only problem was that there wasn’t a duck suit to be found in all of Tulsa. Finally, the guy tasked with the search unearthed a chicken suit at the local news station (Although WHY a news station had a chicken suit was never clearly explained). And since someone reasoned that one bird was as good as the other (or maybe everyone was just tired of looking), the chicken did the duck dance.
Meanwhile, back in Europe, the bird song was about to hit big.
In 1980, a new Dutch group (I swear, it’s always the Dutch) De Electronicas released THEIR version of the song “De Vogeltjesdance” (“Dance Little Bird”) as a “B” side to their single. The “B” side, for those of you born after 1990, is the OTHER side of the single record, and usually, it’s filler. What was on the “A” side is lost to history (although I’m sure it was amazing). De Vogeltjesdance” shot up to #8! And then stayed 29 weeks on the Dutch music charts. And from there, it was the song of summer!
Those Bird Suits!! (I admit, I do miss variety shows)
(Wondering if they play this at EDM shows…) Finally 1981 version in England by
The Chicken Dance (May 14) | This Day in History #7
FAQ
Who created the Chicken Dance?
It was created by a Swiss accordionist named Werner Thomas. Originally, this catchy tune was known as “Der Ententanz,” which translates to “The Duck Dance.” Thomas composed the music for the song, and it quickly gained popularity in his homeland. However, it wasn’t until the 1970s that the Chicken Dance gained international recognition.
Why is the chicken dance called Chicken Dance?
We can blame the “Chicken Dance” name on Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Oktoberfest, but that comes later. The Chicken Dance, which is also called the Bird Song, the Duck Dance, and the Birdie Dance, is one of the most famous party dances in the world.
Who wrote Chicken Dance Song?
The tune was composed in Switzerland in the 1950s by Werner Thomas, originally as “Der Ententanz” (The Duck Dance). The chicken theme and widespread popularity came later. What’s the original Chicken Dance song called?
Is Chicken Dance a German dance?
But what is called chicken dance in English is a Ententanz or Duck Dance in German. And while you might think this dance is a German tradition, it isn’t even German in origin. In 1955, Swiss musician Werner Thomas wrote the first version of the now iconic melody for his accordion.
How did the Chicken Dance come to America?
The song and dance eventually came to the United States. So how did it become the Chicken Dance? It may have happened during a 1981 Oktoberfest celebration in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A band was playing the song, and the festival organizers wanted someone to wear a duck or bird costume and teach the dance moves to the crowd.
When did Chicken Dance become popular?
However, it wasn’t until the 1970s that the Chicken Dance gained international recognition. A Belgian music producer named Louis Bréuhaus discovered the song and decided to give it a new twist. He changed the lyrics to focus on chickens instead of ducks, and the new version of the song was titled “Vogeltanz,” meaning “Bird Dance.”
Where did the Chicken Dance come from?
Is the Chicken Dance a German thing?
Is the Chicken Dance from Poland?
Swiss Polka: The Chicken Dance is believed to have originated from a Swiss polka 1.
Is the Chicken Dance Swiss?
It started in 1950s Switzerland, where accordionist Werner Thomas wrote a little tune called Der Ententanz after watching ducks on a frozen pond. At first, it was just a melody—no lyrics, no flapping, no existential despair.