Macarena
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- The Macarena is an aspect of the Virgin Mary recognized in Andalusia, Spain. It's the title given to Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza (Our Lady of Hope), in Seville.
- It's also the name of a neighbourhood in Seville and a common first name for Andalusian women.
- Macarena is also a song by Los del Río, about a woman so called. It was originally released in 1993, as a new flamenco rumba pop fusion theme with fully Spanish lyrics, with a significant success in Spain. After being remixed by the Bayside Boys and having English lyrics added, it became a worldwide summer hit in 1996. It was associated with a distinctive fast dance. The song originally had no dance, until a Venezuelan Flamenco instructor created it for her class to dance to, and it eventually caught on with the rest of the world. During its heyday, it was played incessantly at professional athletic games, rallies, the United States Democratic Party's National Convention, and other places. The Macarena remained popular through 1996, but by the end of 1997, its popularity had diminished greatly.
- The Macarena dance is performed in time with the refrain of the song. To perform the dance, one places one's arms out, palm down, right arm, then left arm. Then the dancer turns his arms over, right, then left. The dancer puts his hands on his shoulders, first right hand on left shoulder, then left on right. Then the dancer puts his hands on his head, again right, then left. The dancer then places his arms on his hips, right hand on left hip, then left on right, places the hands on their respective hips, right then left, and finishes with a pelvic rotation in time with the line "Hey Macarena!" Then the dancer turns 90 degrees clockwise and repeats the same motions throughout the whole song. An alternative version of the dance replaces the pelvic rotation with a series of pelvic thrusts, as shown in the video for Los del Mar's recording of the song.
In VH1's documentary 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders Macarena was ranked as number one.
On a different VH1 documentary, titled 40 Awesomely Bad No. 1 Songs, Macarena was ranked as number one.