Do kids still do The Dougie?

April 19, 2014 5:27 AM

I want to have some fun with my 7th grade students. I'm looking for clean and school-appropriate songs to let them sing and dance to. Do they still do The Dougie, or is that over? What are some other song/dance crazes that the kids are into now that wouldn't get me fired from my school for playing it for them?
posted by archimago to Media & Arts (11 answers total)

My sixth grader says: "The Dougie craze is mostly over. Maybe play some good songs?"

She was not able to tell me what some of those "good songs" might be. Also mostly over: Gangnam Style, Katy Perry, Call Me Maybe. Dynamite is "totally over."
posted by Andrhia at 6:18 AM on April 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

Pharrell - happy is big right now and clean.

Beyond that - I have nothing.
posted by Suffocating Kitty at 7:22 AM on April 19, 2014 [2 favorites]

Maybe they'd like to Move Like Berney? Warning: Will result in sore abs.

I was going to suggest The Time Warp, but realized that might actually not be so clean, either.

Not quite what you asked, but you guys could watch some of the amazing videos of Lil Buck jooking and try out some of those moves.

What's your students' demographic? Could you ask them what they'd like to teach you? My answers are all pretty influenced by having attended a predominantly black public high school in Atlanta. Also, disclaimer: it's been a while since I was in seventh grade.
posted by Polyhymnia at 7:27 AM on April 19, 2014

Oh!! It's an oldypants song, but they might really like "It's the End of the World As We Know It." Clean, lots of tongue twister lyrics, and super high energy!
posted by Polyhymnia at 7:29 AM on April 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

The last time I visited middle school, about 6 months ago, we did The Wobble. It's not 100% clean, but the clean version was apparently ok enough for the school I was at, and it was a great time.
posted by decathecting at 7:52 AM on April 19, 2014

Everything is Awesome from the Lego Movie is perfect for this, and not only does it have clean lyrics, it's actually kind of inspiring. I pump it up for our dance warmups and it's a big hit with everyone.
posted by valoius at 8:24 AM on April 19, 2014 [2 favorites]

The bleeding edge urban dance move right now is the nae nae. The lyrics to the song are slightly suggestive but not overt (lyrics video), and the dance move itself is not very sexual (tutorial). The main problem with the nae nae is that it's pretty freeform (a secondary problem might be that it may be more urban than what your kids are familiar with).

The Cha Cha Slide may also be kind of over--I just texted my HS daughter about it and she said that in HS only the cheerleaders still do it but "maybe in middle school hahaha". Still, it's an easy, well-defined line dance step where the song helps out non-dance-coordinated kids by calling out the moves. That might make it a good choice for a classroom setting where not everyone is going to have any sense of groove.

Daughter also suggests Cotton-eyed Joe and the Cupid Shuffle.
posted by drlith at 8:26 AM on April 19, 2014

The Cupid Shuffle is fun but I don't know if the kids would be into it (it's 5+ years old and was only really popular regionally).
posted by radioamy at 9:58 AM on April 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

At a recent dance, my [urban] 7th-graders enjoyed Happy, Teach Me How to Dougie, Cupid Shuffle, Gangnam Style, The Wobble, Cat Daddy. And LOVED the Nae Nae.
posted by kayram at 2:55 PM on April 19, 2014

The 90s are having something of a revival. Try Spice Girls. Or One Direction.
posted by divabat at 9:44 PM on April 19, 2014

Assuming you have multiple opportunities for this fun, you could totally have one of the sessions be a "retro" dance party. Admit that you know it's out of date, but it's still fun to remember how much fun it used to be. You could have several retro sessions and each one be a different decade, year, month or even last week - since that seems to be how long it takes the "in" thing to go "out".
posted by CathyG at 10:11 AM on April 20, 2014