These festive robots were built from RoboBuilder kits and synchronized to some classic holiday tunes. OK, just pretend that those little squeaks and servo motor noises are jingle bells. -via Geeks Are Sexy

Photographer Richard Calmes takes glorious pictures of professional dancers in flight. This photograph (which took many attempts to achieve the result) is from the gallery entitled Beautiful Dancers on the Town. Link to gallery. Link to artist’s site. -via Everlasting Blort

The Lumière brothers began producing moving pictures in the 1890s; this short of “The Serpentine Dance” required each frame of the film to be hand-colored.

Several links for this video indicate that it was produced in 1899, although the dialogue by the narrator implies a date of “1913.”  The dance is in the style of “Butterfly Girl” Loïe Fuller, who used billowing skirts to create a serpentine dance for the Follies-Bergere; interestingly she is reported to have used multicolored and changing lights to illuminate her skirts during the performance – the effect that this video presumably is trying to recreate.

YouTube link, via Kottke.

Scientists have determined that birds can indeed dance, but can they headbang to death metal? You betcha! Behold, the Death Metal Parrot!

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Christophe.

Cancer schmancer, scientists at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego have finally solved the age-old question that has eluded science for centuries: can birds dance?

Cats, dogs, and lab monkeys spend lots of time around human music. But no animal had ever been confirmed as moving to a beat—leading to the common belief that animals ain’t got rhythm.

For one of two new studies on animal dancing, Aniruddh Patel at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego and colleagues worked with Snowball the parrot, which seems to love "dancing" to the likes of Queen and Backstreet Boys.

To test whether the sulphur-crested cockatoo was really keeping a beat, the scientists would change the music’s tempo—represented in these videos as "BPM" (beats per minute).

Not one to miss a beat, Snowball quickly picked up the new rhythms, stomping and head-bobbing in time. "We were surprised by the degree Snowball could adjust his tempo," Patel said.

Link

You may remember the stormtrooper dancing in a Shibuya, Japan, street.  Here are some more dancers …

What is it about Shibuya that attracts guerilla dancers?

– via shunsuke-takai

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Geekazoid.

Even though Truman Capote’s masquerade was the hottest ticket in 1966, at the advice of Evie Backer, Truman purposely made the decor at his event as understated as possible – no elaborate centerpieces or ice sculptures. The eye candy at his event would be the guests themselves. As his guest of honor, he chose Kay Graham, who had been the publisher of the Washington Post since her husband’s suicide three years earlier. This was very much to the surprise of New York society: Kay wasn’t deeply entrenched in their ranks and rarely wore makeup or got gussied up… which was exactly why Truman chose her. He spent months and months perfecting his guest list – only 500 people would be invited and he wanted a mix of people more interesting than just the usual suspects. When the coveted invitations were finally sent, they included requests that everyone wear masks and ladies carry fans. Most people complied with the mask requirement (Andy Warhol was a noted holdout) but a lot of women dispensed with the fans – it was too hard to carry a mask and a fan at the same time.
Check out the menu, some first-hand accounts and some of the guest list here.

The Vanderbilt Masquerade – March 26, 1883

Capote wasn’t the first to hold such a grand event in high society, though, not by a long shot. On March 26, 1883, the Vanderbilts held the most extravagant and exclusive masquerade probably ever held in the U.S. up until that point. It was such an event that it even caused the richest families to kiss and make up (sort of) so they would be included – apparently, there was a long-standing feud between the Vanderbilts and the Astors. Caroline Astor had her own “In and Out” list of 400 “worthy” people, which purposely excluded their Vanderbilt rivals. But when the Vandy masquerade party was announced and the Astors weren’t invited, Caroline visited Alva Vanderbilt (that’s her in the picture) and made the proper apologies so her teenage daughter would be invited to the grand event. And she was. But anyway, the masquerade was rumored to have cost more than $250,000. Even though some rich families wouldn’t bat an eyelash at spending that on, say, a Sweet Sixteen party these days, it was an absolutely astronomical sum for 1883. People pulled out every last stop at the ball – Alice Vanderbilt came dressed as “Electric Light” and was festooned in diamonds and a headpiece that lit up.

Bal des Ardents – January, 1393

WGN news anchors Robert Jordan and Jackie Bange have worked together for many years.  They started making up these little coordinated dance routines during the commercial breaks.

Gradually the routines became more complex, as you can see here. 

There are other versions of video on YouTube, with added music, but this is the original, with natural sound.

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.

Lilcrabe is a 17-year-old student from France who likes yoga and breakdancing. This video shows you his amazing contortionist feats.

From the Upcoming Queue, submitted by Christophe.

I’ll tell you what it equals…it equals awesome, baby! A mighty and fitting homage/tribute to the gruesome blood chilling movie The Thing using GI Joes and crazy Disco-Dance music from the Parisian band Zombie Zombie. If you don’t enjoy the music I suggest hitting the mute button though I do believe the music lends this clip a certain sense of anxiousness and suspense similar to that felt throughout the John Carpenter movie.

via BoingBoing – Link
Zombig Zombie band – Link

Hailing all Star Wars geeks. Your life is now complete. Witness as twelve R2-D2s dance, shimmy, pivot and beep in tandem! From what I understand each of these cost at least $100! Wonder what the missus thought of that?

via – Gizmodo

Here’s a bizarre and strange video where the presenters want you to see the latest and most fashionable Soccer uniforms and gear for the German clubs through dance! Mind you this is obviously weird because it’s from the 1970s and it’s from Germany. Those crazy crazy Germans.

via – BoingBoing

I love this group. The Isiserettes are a non-profit drill and drum corps from Des Moines headed to D.C. in January to perform at Barack Obama’s inauguration. The official group is made up of kids ages 7 to 18, but I’ve seen some pretty tiny kids grooving out there (which is adorable).

This video is cool, but I have to say it doesn’t do them justice: they’re super impressive when you see them live. Here’s a video of the drum line in action:

Video by Bill Grady, via MyFortDodge.

Robots + Dancing = Awesome.

But is it useful to society in anyway? Maybe the way the Hexapod (six legged) robot moves flexibly and its precision movements could be applied to many fields. Until then we’ll have to be just content with the robots dancing at the third Austrian Hexapod Championship.

Not just your ordinary first dance. See for yourself …

Via: YouTube

EDITOR’s NOTE

Thanks to Neatorama reader Rohin, this version is much better!
Thanks Rohin!!

"Thrill the World" is a project by Ines Markeljevic to break the Guiness World Record for the Largest Simultaneous Dance of Michael Jackson’s Thriller! It’s scheduled for October 27/28, 2007 – and you, too, can register to join in on the fun.

Link – Thanks Stephie!

Previously on Neatorama: Bollywood Thriller | Wedding Thriller | Inmate Thriller