The minute “Dale a tu cuerpo alegria, Macarena” starts playing at a party, most people would agree that it’s hard to sit still. Even today, 30 years after the song by Los Del Rio climbed to Number 1 on the US charts on August 3, 1996, those opening words are still enough to get people dancing. 

Talking about the beats, Samuel Ribeiro, founder of Slingshot Swing, says the secret to the Macarena’s lasting appeal isn’t that it’s in Spanish, but that it’s impossible to forget. “The lyrics are catchy and repetitive. Even though it’s in Spanish, it’s got a very obvious structure.