Letkajenkka

Letkajenkka, anglicized to letkiss, is a Finnish dance that was invented in the early 1960's on the basis of the folk dance schottische (in Finnish "jenkka").

The dance became a short-lived international craze with the release of the tune by Roberto Delgado in 1965.

teps

The people participating in the dance form a Conga-like line so that everyone holds the person in front of her/him by the waist. The steps go as follows (everybody does the same thing):Fact|date=October 2007

# kick to the right with your right foot & step back to the middle
# kick to the right with your right foot & step back to the middle
# kick to the left with your left foot & step back to the middle
# kick to the left with your left foot & step back to the middle
# jump forward with both feet (about 1 feet in length)
# jump backward with both feet
# jump forward three times with both feet

(repeat)

1-4 may be enhanced by jumping a bit with the leg opposite to the kicking side.

Trivia

A performance of this dance can be seen in the movie "Cry-Baby" (1990) with Johnny Depp.Fact|date=October 2007

In 1965, four instrumental versions of the tune reached number one in the Netherlands simultaneously. These were by Stig Rauno, Gudrun Jankis, an unknown group called The Wild Ones and the Dutch Swing College Band. All four versions had the English title, "Letkiss" rather than the original Finnish title. It remained the only Dutch number one to have originated from Finland until 2000, when "Freestyler" by the Bomfunk MC's reached number one.

ee also

*Bunny hop