"How to Dance" is a 1991 single by the Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n house music

House music

House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...

 trio Bingoboys

Bingoboys

Bingoboys are a dance music trio from Vienna consisting of DJs Klaus Biedermann, Paul Pfab and Helmut Wolfgruber.They had two chart entries on the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in 1991. Their debut single, "How to Dance", featuring Princessa, hit #1 on the dance chart and climbed to #25...

 from their debut studio album The Best of Bingoboys. The song features American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 female rapper Princessa

Princessa (singer)

Princessa is an African American female house music rapper/singer from New York City. She was the featured artist on two singles by the Austrian house music band, Bingoboys: the first was the song "How to Dance", which hit number one on the U.S...

.

The song borrows heavily from a number of earlier recordings, including "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)

Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)

"Dance, Dance, Dance " is a 1977 disco song recorded by Chic. It was the group's first hit, reaching #6 on both the pop and R&B charts and reached #1 on the dance play charts. Luther Vandross provided backup vocals...

" by the band Chic

Chic (band)

Chic was an African American disco and R&B band that was organized during 1976 by guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards. It is known best for its commercially successful disco songs, including "Dance, Dance, Dance " , "Everybody Dance" , "Le Freak" , "I Want Your Love" , "Good Times"...

 and "Dance (Disco Heat)

Dance (Disco Heat)

"Dance " is the title of a 1978 single by American disco singer Sylvester James, who performed using just his first name, Sylvester. The song became Sylvester's first Top 40 hit in the US, where it peaked at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the fall of 1978; it also reached #29 on the UK...

" by the disco singer Sylvester

Sylvester James

-Studio albums:-Live albums:-Compilation albums:* Mighty Real UK #62* 12 By 12 * Immortal -Singles:-Additional recordings:*Lights Out San Francisco...

. In addition, the song contains audio samples from an instructional recording from the 1970s that attempted to teach people "how to dance" (for example, Step left, around, and together with the right).

The song peaked at #25 on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 chart in the spring of 1991, and it remained in the Top 40 for six weeks. In addition, the song also topped the American dance chart

Hot Dance Club Play

The Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...

 for one week in March 1991. The music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 for the song was nominated for an MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 Video Music Award

1991 MTV Video Music Awards

The 1991 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 5, 1991, honoring the best music videos from June 2, 1990, to June 15, 1991. The show was hosted by Arsenio Hall at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles....

 in the category of "Best Dance Video", but it lost out to "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)

Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)

"Gonna Make You Sweat " was C+C Music Factory's first hit. It was released in late 1990 in many countries and achieved a great success in U.S., Austria, Germany and Switzerland where it reached number one on the charts....

" by the C+C Music Factory

C+C Music Factory

C+C Music Factory is a dance-pop and hip hop group formed in 1989 by David Cole and Robert Clivillés which stopped recording 1996, following Cole's death...

.