Top Ten | Dances that should be revived at the next Winter Bash

    After witnessing what passed for dancing at Winter Bash, the Daily Arts Department got nostalgic for the good old days. There was a time when getting down on the dance floor didn't mean having sex with your clothes on, when rhythmic expression wasn't limited to grinding up on someone's naughty bits, and when one could go to a dance and not be subjected to soft-to-hard-core porn all night. Here are the Top 10 dances we'd rather see at next year's Winter Bash:

10. Chicken Dance: Even if you don't want to be a chicken, don't like chickens, or have a rare poultry allergy, you probably still want to shake your butt if you're at Winter Bash or anywhere else you may be expected to "bring it on." And what better dance than the Chicken Dance? Even Marty "Nobody calls me chicken!" McFly loves the Chicken Dance.

9. Soulja Boy: While this is the most recent dance on our list, the crazy sensation that swept the hip-hop world last year has easily and sadly been forgotten. Besides, it's always funny watching middle-class white kids trying to dance hip-hop moves.

8. Middle-school Slow Dance (a.k.a. "The Frankenstein"): Drunkenness can lead to uncomfortable encroachments on personal space. It may be time to remember that we always need to leave room for the Holy Spirit. As it turns out, the Holy Spirit has put on some weight recently, which would require both you and your partner to hyper-extend your arms in front of you and lock your elbows in a Frankenstein-esque manner.

7. Thriller: First popularized in 1983 by the eponymous song and subsequent short-film music video, this dance is best known for Michael Jackson's groundbreaking "swinging-raptor-arms" move. No one can ever really remember the rest of the dance, so this move usually suffices for both tearing it up on the dance floor and fending off potential muggers on the walk home afterward.

6. Cotton-Eyed Joe: Who doesn't love this middle-school throwback? We all know the tune and secretly love the chance it gives us to show off our inner-cowboys. And, who knows? If this dance gets brought back, we may finally be able to answer the immortal words: "Where did you come from? Where did you go? Where did you come from, Cotton-Eyed Joe?"

5. The Can-Can: Yes, we can-can.

4. Macarena: The Macarena, Latin sensation and Bar Mitzvah staple that it is, makes anyone look like an expert dancer. If you've got the hand thing, the little waggle and the turn down, you're a dance machine.

3. Electric Slide: A dance that is composed of so many slides and shuffles, someone might think you are slipping all over the floor. The problem with this dance is many people may confuse it with the Cha-Cha Slide, which is completely different and much less classy. Oh, and ... IT'S ELECTRIC!

2. The Hora (a.k.a. "That Hava Nagilah Dance"): Judaism long ago accepted the fact that most of its followers can't dance, which is why this quintessentially Jewish celebratory dance consists merely of holding hands and running in circles. To top it off, you get to lift people up in chairs with the intent of either scaring the bejesus out of them or breaking the ceiling. Or both.

1. Riverdance: What do you get when you mix a huge stage, all of your Irish relatives, and a butt-load of Guiness? You guessed it. Just try not to kick anyone in the face when you get in that huge line, no one wants a drunken brawl at Winter
Bash ... right?

—compiled by the Daily Arts Department