Mar 27 2008
Clap, Clap, Shuffle, Shuffle, Point Your Fingers In The Air
No, we are not talking about the clap-clap-point-point strategy of Hillary Clinton. Good Morning America calls it the latest international craze that started in the Philippines. Introducing the Papaya Dance.
It began as a gimmick on the Philippine noontime T.V. gameshow “Game Ka Na Ba (Are You Game)?“, where a correct answer may signal the whole audience to stand up and dance. Filipino choreographer Mel Feliciano together with actor and gameshow host Edu Manzano took an old gay-disco-funk hit from the 1970s, “Papaya”, by Polish jazz vocalist Urszula Dudziack and turned it into a global dance fad–much like the Macarena craze.
Host Edu Manzano said, “The song just kinds of tickles people in the right way… It brings a glint through your eyes, a smile to your face, and a kind of sway to your hips.”
The Papaya Dance was launched in “Game Ka Na Ba (Are You Game)?” on April 2007 and became so popular that by August, Manzano had already released an entire dance album titled “Edu Manzano: World’s Greatest Dance Steps” with “Papaya” as its carrier single.
That was amazing.