Poco-poco

Poco-poco (pronounced pocho-pocho, since c is always pronounced ch) is Indonesia's line dancing craze. Mechanically, it is similar to the cha-cha slide, the electric slide, or Cotton-Eye Joe. In something resembling a grid, participants first step right twice, then left twice, then back twice, then turn to the left (usually, occasionally right) through an involved sequence of steps. After four repetitions, facing the original direction, the participants use a new involved sequence of steps to perform the turn. Participants go through several different terminal step sequences throughout the course of the dance. Usually one person leads the dance, so everyone faces that one person during the first iteration of every involved sequence, then it is assumed that they will remember the sequence until they receive a new sequence from the leader.

While poco-poco is mechanically very similar to American line dances, it appears in a very different context. Every Saturday morning, all 270 or so students in my school, plus a few teachers and the principal (this week at least--this was the first week I noticed), dance poco-poco on the school's basketball court. Having normally seen line dances at Bar and Bat Mitzvot, I was rather amused to see my whole school doing one. I was wrong to be amused though. I should have saved that amusement for the fact that the military does poco-poco too, in uniform.

The military also dances to dangdut, another form of music, in uniform. To dance to dangdut, you put both thumbs up and move your arms in a motion similar to how they move for running (I would show a video if I could find one quickly enough, but those of you who don't use snail internet can probably find it quickly).

Check out these poco-poco video for a visual.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0CJ5KCxmgY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7cpaqln5PE&feature=related