The Sprinkler dance is a form of dance move involving a person placing one hand on the back of the neck, and waving the other arm back and forth while spinning in a circle. This simulates the motion of a garden irrigation sprinkler.
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Origins
In 1987, MTV was in its early years. They were traveling to several colleges. MTV made a stop in Marquette, MI. It was there that Mike Pearson and a group of college friends were dancing in front of the MTV Team. Mike began to dance with one hand behind his head and one hand extended out straight. They asked Mike, "what do you call that dance?", Mike replied, "I'll call it the sprinkler!". And that day in 1987, the sprinkler dance was born.
Weeks after Mike traveled to several Colleges in Michigan and Wisconsin to visit other friends and performed the sprinkler in local bars.
College students in Marquette, MI and several other students in Michigan and Wisconsin were doing the sprinkler dance. The dance spread and inspired less popular dances like the "lawn mower" and the "chainsaw".
The dance later made appearances in films House Party (1990), Eurotrip (2004) and A Night at the Roxbury (1998, performed by Lochlyn Munro as Craig).
Dance steps
The movement of the dancers body is meant to replicate the movements of a water sprinkler.
Standing with legs slightly apart and knees slightly bent, the dancer then bends their left elbow to enable them to place their left hand behind their head. They then outstretch their right arm inline with their right shoulder, hand flat in a vertical position. The dancer then rotates around the waist in a 180 degree sweep, pulling back three times as you move your arm to the left, and then in one motion swing right arm back to the right. The move is then repeated. The dancer may then swap arms and reverse the move.
England cricket team
As part of the buildup and coverage of the 2010–11 Ashes series, the England and Wales Cricket Board gave cricketer Graeme Swann a video camera, through which he recorded and released a video diary on the ECB website.
In episode three, Swann claimed that the team had begun a dance that was introduced by colleague Paul Collingwood, which the whole team had now copied as a bonding exercise, called the Sprinkler dance. The video diary then continued to show the rest of the England team doing the dance move at an indoor "meet the press" media event in Tasmania, with video footage showing Tim Bresnan, Monty Panesar, Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Collingwood doing the dance move.
After the dance went viral, England captain Andrew Strauss described the Sprinkler dance as their version of the "Haka", a version of the Māori traditional dance performed immediately prior to sport matches, primarily associated with New Zealand national rugby union team.
Viral expansion
The Sprinkler dance made its first public appearance on the cricket field, when Tim Bresnan used it in the field against Australia A in England's last warm-up match, at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart.
After its clear popularity, Swann then appealed via his video diary for fan-based versions of the dance, resulting in thousands of clips being posted on the web. As well as versions from England's travelling fans, the Barmy Army, there were postings from vicars, choirboys, schoolchildren, office workers, and various British personalities, including footballer and pundit Robbie Savage.
Injured bowler Stuart Broad then had to deny that his stomach injury was as a result of an over enthusiastic version of the dance.
It became so popular that when England secured Ashes victory in the fourth test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, that the crowd demanded a rendition, and the team led by Strauss obliged. BBC Radio commentator Jonathan Agnew then promised to perform the Sprinkler dance, with him eventually fulfilling the promise after the final test win in Sydney.