"Feet don't fail me now!" For centuries, inspired by musical styles and cultural customs, social dancing has enticed us to twirl, glide, gyrate, bop, bounce and boogie across dance floors. In the past century an unprecedented number of moves got us stepping out -- some causing sensations lasting decades, others spawning crazes only a song-long.

Whether dancing solo, in groups or ballroom competitions, the dipping, shaking, and rock-stepping continues to keep us counting 1-2-3 to countless drumbeats and rhythms.

Herewith, a survey of some recent fancy footwork fads. »

The Twist

When Chubby Checker's "The Twist" rocketed up the charts in 1960, the dance by the same name ignited a phenomenon that spread across dance floors from TV's American Bandstand to European discothèques. The Twist was easy and fun: Just pretend to stub out cigarettes with both feet while drying your back with an imaginary towel.

Checker later followed up with "Let's Twist Again" as versions of the dance craze spun off from the French Twist to the Peppermint Twist.

It didn't require complex steps or even keeping a beat, but in the biggest twist of all it signaled the start of dancing solo.

Swing Dancing

Swing dancing hit the floor of Harlem's famed Savoy Ballroom in the late 1920s when a spirited dancer called his snazzy steps The Lindy Hop, purportedly after Charles Lindbergh's momentous solo flight across the Atlantic. The eight-beat "swing-out" swept across Big Band dancehalls during the '30s. Regional variations from East to West coasts, from jaunty Shags to frenetic Jitterbugs, had couples turning, triple-stepping and swiveling in overhead "aerials," under arms and through legs. When WWII GIs brought it to Europe, a Jive version incorporated snappy leg kicks, and by the '50s the adaptable dance morphed for faster boogie-woogie beats and rock'n'roll.

Seven decades later, a new generation revived the Lindy in their grandparents' renovated ballrooms. Now referred to by the style of music, its dynamic survival proves "It Don't Mean a Thing/If It Ain't Got the Swing." »

The Limbo

"How low can you go?" asks the taunt from the tropical-tinged tune "Limbo Rock." An instant hit at beach bashes and backyard parties in the early '60s, this group dance lives on with novelties like the Hokey Pokey and Mexican Hat Dance.

As the upbeat rhythm of steel drums pulls a cheering conga line toward a horizontal stick, each dancer bends back to slip under the rod without touching it. With every go-round, it's lowered a notch until a winner stands.

To beat the world record of 6 1/2 inches, this musical amusement from the Caribbean island of Trinidad requires a limber spine, superb balance, dexterity and plenty of rum. »

Disco Dancing

While teens banged heads to Kiss in make-up, young couples in New York's Spanish Harlem and Miami's Little Havana grooved to updated versions of the Cha-cha-cha and Mambo. When Van McCoy & the Soul City Symphony's "The Hustle" popped onto the charts in 1975, the movement underfoot in Latin neighborhoods caught on.

Disco marked a return to partner dancing, characterized by women furiously spinning to and from their leads. The Hustle and its variants fit the throbbing beat of songs from The Bee Gees to Donna Summer, stirring a sensation that peaked at the infamous Studio 54's "Disco Inferno."

Yet forever burned in our psyches is the quintessential disco image of John Travolta "Stayin' Alive" in Saturday Night Fever, arm stretched out, pointing upward. Ah, the era of polyester suits, wide lapels and gaudy shirts! »

Country Line Dancing

With evocative handles like Slappin' Leather, Cowboy Strut, Tush Push and Boot Scootin' Boogie, floors full of dancers shuffle, stomp and pivot together as one. In 1992, when Billy Ray Cyrus' "Achy Breaky Heart" helped launch the Country-Western Line Dance to a broader fan base -- as far as Iceland and Japan -- dancers learned to "touch right foot at six, three and 12 o'clock, grapevine, and hip sway, then repeat to the left."

Dating back to 18th-century contra dances, synchronized dancing has included the 1950s' Stroll and R&B's Electric Slide. Country lines now boast more than 5,000 combinations of toe taps, heel kicks and chungs (scoots), choreographed into complex sequences of fancy footing all the way up to 64 counts! You may not require a partner, but you need a good memory -- even with two left feet. »

The Macarena

An enigmatic marvel, the Macarena follows the footsteps of other one-hit-wonders, like the '50s Hand Jive, as seen in Grease. In 1996, when the Bayside Boys translated a popular Spanish song by Los del Rio, this rhythmic romp rapidly climbed the charts and sparked some serious arm-and-hip motion.

A silly series of gestures -- arms out, palms down, palms up, hands on shoulders, head, and hips, swirl the hips to the chorus, "Hey Macarena!" and take a 90-degree hop to repeat the routine again and again -- soon became a wedding staple and presented the rhythmically challenged a wacky way to "dance." It also spawned parodies from the likes of The Chipmunks, the Green Bay Packers and Al Gore. »

Breakdancing

On a sheet of cardboard at a New York City street corner, a guy in a Puma tracksuit drops to a handstand and L-shaped leg kick, rapidly rotating his body into windmills and spiraling into a pencil (headspin). His power techniques include swipes, flares, floats and freezes in a acrobatic display of turtles and rippling worms. An awestruck crowd applauds, tossing tips into his helmet as a rival "b-boy" starts to perform.

Breakdancing, also known as b-boying or b-girling, originated in the early '70s among black youths in The Bronx, purportedly as a diversion among rival gangs. The street-style art form later went international, and these days Germany hosts the biggest breakdancing competition -- with recent winners hailing from Korea and Hungary. »

Go-Go Dancing

In fringed minidresses and short white go-go boots, dancers did The Pony, The Monkey and The Swim on stage at L.A.'s famed Whisky a Go-Go club, an apt play on the French au gogo. The catchall phrase referred to the torrent of dances, from the early to mid-'60s, invented for teens with an insatiable appetite for fads du jour and ravenous lust for dancing. Song lyrics announced the newest moves, mimicking their names: "Hitchhike/Hitchhike, baby" or "Mashed Potatoes/It's the latest/It's the greatest."

On prime-time pop-music shows, Shindig and Hullabaloo, groups from The Contours to The Capitols sang about doing The Jerk, demonstrating the yank and tug of its spasmodic snap, so everyone could Frug, Shing-a-ling and Watusi along with Wilson Pickett's "Land of 1000 Dances," celebrating the entire tour de dance. »

Dirty Dancing

"It's a feeling, a heartbeat," said dance instructor Johnny Castle to Baby in 1987's Dirty Dancing, sparking the return of sexy partner dances. To the tune of "The Time of My Life," Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey's sensual routines did more than Flashdance and Footloose combined to lure romance and passion back onto the dance floor.

Swishing hips and hot moves led the way for Brazil's exotic Lambada to soon sweep across the globe. Mixing samba and meringue with the entwined legs of forro folk dances, in clubs from Tokyo to New York, this "forbidden dance" continues evolving with the deep back dips of Lambazouk. "Zouk" means party! »

Freestyling

In the spirit of the counter-culture era of peace marches and love-ins, the times incited dance forms free of steps, sequences and partners. More akin to interpretive, improvised modern jazz moves, freestyling suited the late '60s psychedelia with nodding and waggling to the Grateful Dead in the refurbished Fillmore theatres. Seventies' arena rock then prompted fist-thrusting, punk's pogo, and head-banging mosh pits, where stage-diving, crowd-surfing and body-slamming flailed in a free-for-all.

Whirling dervishes at '90s raves echoed the hippie trip, harkening back to a Woodstock daze with glowstick light shows. But today's liquid dancing to techno music, with moves dubbed contours, splits, threads and the wave (emulating a current passing through the body) may only appear random.