The Bug

(1965)

Introduction

The Bug is a 1960s novelty dance in which the dancers imagine that a bug is crawling on them.

The Dance

One dancer throws an imaginary bug onto another dancer, who "contorts his body in search of the fast-traveling insect" [DB65].

As the bug is "found" and thrown from person to person, "the postures created by these antics can be hilarious, provocative, eccentric, and entertaining" to both dancers and viewers [DB65].

Another version of the Bug has the dancers shooing a flying insect away to the right and to the left to the beat of the music, then throwing the bug to another dancer to shoo away. In this version, the "footwork" of the dance is the Frug [HB66].

The Music

Blake states that "any music can be used" [DB65].

Sources

DB65 — Dick Blake. (1965). Discothèque Dances. Cleveland.
HB66 — Hullabaloo. (1966). The Hullabaloo Discothèque Dance Book. New York.

For more dance descriptions, see our three books on dancing:
The Book of Mixers: 100 Easy-Teach Dances for Getting Acquainted (2022) by Richard Powers and Nick & Melissa Enge,
Cross-Step Waltz: A Dancer's Guide (2019) by Richard Powers and Nick & Melissa Enge, and
Waltzing: A Manual for Dancing and Living (2013) by Richard Powers and Nick Enge.

For full-length teaching videos, visit: University of Dance.

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