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Featured era: 1996
Dancing Baby
“Ooga-chaka, ooga-ooga.”
- Featured era
- 1996
- Peak era
- 1996-1998
- Company
- Category
- Iconic Images
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On Video
The original Dancing Baby animation
Plays from YouTube when you press play. Views, length and date from YouTube, October 2026.
About This Video
- From:
- babydancingnet
- Added:
- March 21, 2010
- Length:
- 0:24
More Videos4 videos
What Was It?
The Dancing Baby is a 3D-rendered baby in a nappy doing a cha-cha, and it was one of the very first things to go viral online. It began as a demonstration file for the Character Studio animation software in 1996.
Passed around as a tiny animated GIF and in email attachments, it reached a mainstream audience when it appeared in the television drama Ally McBeal, along with adverts and music videos, between 1997 and 1998.
It looks strange now, and it looked strange then. That is partly why it is remembered as the internet's first great weird thing.
Things You Probably Forgot
- A baby doing the cha-cha in an email attachment
- Its appearances on Ally McBeal
- "Hooked on a Feeling" playing in your head
- How uncanny it looked
The Story
- 1996 The Dancing Baby animation spread online after the release of Character Studio.
- 1998 It appeared on Ally McBeal and in adverts and music videos.
Its Legacy
The GIF still circulates as a symbol of the early web. It is remembered as one of the first viral images and videos, from before most people had even heard the word.
Memories
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