Village People Honoured With A Star On Hollywood's Walk Of Fame

Village People, the disco group who gave us such memorable hits like YMCA, Macho Man and In The Navy in the 1970s has been honoured with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame. Sporting their iconic costumes - the Indian chief, the cowboy, the construction worker, the biker, the policeman and the soldier; the 6 members of the group received the prestigious award from Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President Leron Gubler at a ceremony on September 12 2008. Fittingly, their star at 6529 Hollywood Boulevard is a block north of Hollywood's YMCA.

The Walk of Fame which is one of Hollywood's most popular tourist attractions, covers both sides of Hollywood Boulevard from Grower to La Brea, both sides of Vine Street and from Yucca to Sunset. More than 2000 bronze star plaques are embedded in pink and charcoal terrazzo squares in the most famous sidewalk in the world. These sidewalk stars honor not only movie actors; but radio, television & stage performers, directors, singers, songwriters and other well known showbiz personalities. Kermit the Frog of The Muppets Show, and two television show dogs, Lassie and Rin Tin Tin are also immortalized here.

YMCA was released by Village People in 1978 and reached the number 2 in the US charts and number 1 in the UK at about the same time. The song also spawned a new dance, aptly called the YMCA dance in which the dancers use their arms and bodies to spell the letters YMCA as they are sung in the chorus.

Y - Arms raised and outstretched

M - Elbows bent and held high, hands placed in front of chest

C - Arms extended and outstretched to the left, waist bent to left

A - Hands held together above head

The dance is still popular at parties, dinners and functions as it is fun and easy to dance. If you are ever at a social gathering and they start playing Village People's YMCA, you can be assured that people will take to the dance floor to do the YMCA. As the lyric of the song goes: "Let's do the Y M C A"!

Warmest Regards,

Dance Aficionado
Dancesport Malaysia