Chicken Dance

The original name of the song was "Der Ententanz" (The Duck Dance), composed by the Swiss accordionist Werner Thomas in 1957.

During one of Thomas' performances, the Belgian music producer Louis van Rymenant heard the song.

In some versions tempo shifts are introduced to confuse and amuse the dancers, and the final repetition of the main theme is often played as one continuous accelerando.

Since then, many state fairs, Oktoberfests, German culture festivals, and even weddings feature at least one dancer in a bird costume.

The live performances by Bob Kames throughout the upper Midwest during the 1980s and 1990s almost always featured bird-costumed dance leaders.