A little reason to celebrate
Dance Like a Chicken Day
Fun ยท May 14
A lighthearted day for doing the chicken dance: flapping elbows, wiggling down low and clapping along to a bouncy, speeding-up tune.
Dance Like a Chicken Day falls on Friday, May 14, 2027. That is 199 days away.
The chicken dance is one of the few dances almost everyone already knows. You pinch your fingers like a beak, flap your elbows like wings, wiggle down toward the floor and clap four times. Then you do it again, slightly faster.
The song that goes with it is a cheerful accordion-style polka tune, and its main trick is acceleration. Each round speeds up a little, so the steps that felt easy at the start become a scramble by the end. Most people are laughing before the second chorus, which may be the whole design.
You tend to meet this dance at wedding receptions, school gyms, ballpark breaks and community festivals, usually when a crowd needs something simple that grandparents and toddlers can do together. Nobody needs lessons. The moves are clear enough to copy from the person next to you, and getting them a bit wrong looks exactly like getting them right.
Marking the day can be as small as playing the song in the kitchen and flapping through one full round. Families sometimes turn it into a living room contest to see who can keep up as the tempo climbs. Teachers use it as a quick movement break, and offices occasionally try it at a gathering, with mixed but memorable results.
Real chickens, for the record, do flap their wings and bob their heads, though they rarely bother with the clapping part.
Ways to celebrate
- Play the chicken dance song and do one full round, start to finish.
- Teach the four moves to a child or someone who has never tried them.
- Hold a family contest to see who keeps up as the tempo speeds up.
- Use the dance as a quick movement break at school or work.
Dates
| Year | Date |
|---|---|
| 2026 | Thursday, May 14 |
| 2027 | Friday, May 14 |
| 2028 | Sunday, May 14 |
| 2029 | Monday, May 14 |
| 2030 | Tuesday, May 14 |
Also on May 14
Categories: Fun days