zulemara, thank you for posting this and giving me a different perspective on "interactive dances". And we WILL now consider changing the "NO, NOT ANY OF THEM" stance.
That said, the chicken dance is not something we did in my family. The first I ever even heard of it was when I saw it in a movie when I was in college. We have no tradition or memories associated with it and Scott and I both DETEST it. I feel similarly about the cha-cha, electric slide, and mambo #5. I could probably deal with the Hustle, the Macarena (Scott would kill me, though, he hates it) or the even YMCA; though I have to say that I've always thought that a song about gay men cruising at a bathhouse was an inappropriate and odd choice to be played at a wedding and I always crack up when I see all the str8 people rushing out to the dance floor because it's playing.
My thought is that there are plenty of really fun songs that will get us up and dancing without resorting to the "gimmick" dances. I've got "The Twist" on the "must play" list because it never fails to get my entire family on the floor, and at 65 my dad will be the best twister out there. He always was, and it fascinated us as kids.
But, you're right, we do want it to be fun for our guests, and maybe we'll change our minds. Or maybe we'll decide to have Mickey Mouse show up at our reception to dance and see if that takes the places of the gimmicky stuff. (And yes, I realize that Mickey in and of himself is a gimmick at the reception, but it's a gimmick that you ONLY get at Disney, so why the heck not.)
We're also asking them not to play any of the "Gay Anthems" at the reception. So no "I Will Survive" (the song that brings out the inner drag queen in EVERYONE), no "It's Raining Men", no "I'm Coming Out" etc. This may disappoint some people; but to us it seemed like "too much", for the same reason we didn't even consider doing our reception at "The Great Movie Ride" (which is an option Disney offers, by the way.) We thought that cutting the wedding cake at a gay wedding in the Wizard of Oz scene with the Wicked Witch there to say "and you're little dog, too" was just TOO MUCH. Too cliche, too tacky.
Okay, I'll end my rant now. But truly, thank you for your thoughts, and Scott and I will discuss these things again looking at it from the perspective you've provided.