History Main / RainDance

A RainDance is a ceremonial religious dance performed by people (usually aboriginal) who want to appeal to God/the gods to make it rain. Although it is commonly seen as a Native American device, rain dances have been practiced since [[OlderThanTheyThink Ancient Egyptian times]]. Rain Dances have been seen as recently as the 20th century in the Balkans.

* The old ''TruthOrConsquences'' program once had one hapless contestant dress up in full Indian regalia, feather headdress, buckskins, drums, and have him dance about in public supposedly to make it rain; his antics drew a total crowd of one.

[[AC:{{Anime&Manga}}]]

* Played straight in ''[[Literature/IClaudius Claudius the God]]'' -- a Roman commander whose troops are lost in the desert follows his native guide's advice to invoke the local rain god. It works.

* Played straight in ''[[IClaudius Claudius the God]]'' -- a Roman commander whose troops are lost in the desert follows his native guide's advice to invoke the local rain god. It works.

** In another, [[ItMakesSenseInContext a group of irate native dignitaries enters the local saloon to deliver an angry message to the towspeople]]. These include their shaman... and his unruly apprentice, who is far more interested in the saloon girls than their mission, and decides to start dancing on the stage. Afterwards, it starts raining in the girls' dressing-room.

* A bumper series on the BeatlesCartoon has the boys mistaking a desert for the beach, and thus dying of thirst. The sand is so hot it has Ringo jumping around wildly and it turns out to be a rain dance that makes it rain. In the last segment, the torrent of rain causes a mammoth flood as Ringo doesn't know how to make it stop.

[[AC:Advertising]]

[[AC:Comics]]

* In ''{{FoxTrot}}'', Jason and Marcus once did a snow dance. Paige joined them in the hope that school might be canceled if it worked.

* In the children's horror anthology ''Still More Scary Stories for Sleepovers'', a RainDance [[spoiler:causes the DownerEnding]] in "Night of the Ki-Khwan". Perhaps the only time a RainDance was ever played for horror.

* ''HowIMetYourMother'' has Ted do this in an OverlyLongGag as a desperate attempt to keep Robin from leaving to... well, let's just say it's complicated.

* In an episode of ''NedsDeclassified'' a ''reverse'' rain dance is performed by [[CloudCuckoolander Coconut Head]] and the other boys to get it to be sunny (after several days of rain, and therefore students cooped up indoors).

* In ''AlphaandOmega'', Humphrey attempts a rain dance (and song) to try and STOP rain. Upon being informed of this, he starts singing and dancing in reverse.

* Used in an old Hamm's Beer commercial (which is probably now politically incorrect). Watch two [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9CAGxjuJ-o here]], with PersonalRainCloud results.

* The Warners short "Sioux Me" has a group of generic American Indians singing "Weeeee waaaant rainnnnn" and dancing around. It doesn't work, but a helpful traveling salesman saves the day for them.

* A bumper series on the BeatlesCartoon has the boys mistaking a desert for the beach, and thus dying of thirst. The sand is so hot it has Ringo jumping around wildly and it turns out to be a rain dance that makes it rain. In the last segment, the torrent of rain causes a mammoth flood as Ringo doesn't know how to make it stop.

* Alluded to in the {{Goofy}} cartoon short "How to Dance." A crowd of characters are dancing to tribal drumming music, and it rains [[PersonalRaincloud on just them]], and they all unfurl umbrellas as they continue dancing.

* In a ''RoadRunner'' episode, Wile E. Coyote creates a thunderstorm by using the rain dance.

And no, this doesn't allude to Film/SinginInTheRain! May be followed by RedemptionInTheRain, or possibly BattleInTheRain. One comedic result can be a PersonalRaincloud.

(The Native American version is shown)

* In ''TheDresdenFiles'', Injun Joe does this as a weapon against a shapeshifter.

And no, this doesn't allude to [[SingingInTheRain Singin' In The Rain]]! May be followed by RedemptionInTheRain, or possibly BattleInTheRain. One comedic result can be a PersonalRaincloud.

* ''{{Rango}}''. The Water Dance performed by the townsfolk of Dirt is basically this; subverted in the sense that it's somewhat creepy.

* Played straight in ''[[IClaudius Claudius the God]]'' -- a Roman commander whose troops are lost in the desert follows his native guide's advice to invoke the local rain god. It works.

[[AC:Advertising ]]

* In one LuckyLuke episode an area inhabited by Native Americans is suffering from serious draught. As it turns out, their shaman has fallen from a horse and hit his head. He is otherwise ok but can't get the dance right and his various attempts only produce minor weather anomalies (like a small blizzard conjured by doing the macarena)
* [[CalvinAndHobbes Calvin]] attempts a snow dance to get school canceled. (It doesn't work)
* Parodied in one TheFarSide cartoon where the Indian chief is consulting a book called "101 Rain Dances" to figure out what the hell kind of dance he was doing ... while it's raining eggbeaters.
* In ''FoxTrot'', Jason and Marcus once did a snow dance. Paige joined them in the hope that school might be canceled if it worked.

[[AC:Literature ]]
* Injun Joe does this as a weapon against a shapeshifter in TheDresdenFiles.

[[AC:Live Action TV ]]
* HowIMetYourMother has Ted do this in an OverlyLongGag as a desperate attempt to keep Robin from leaving to... well, let's just say it's complicated.
* In DoubleTheFist, Womp performed a rain dance that summoned... hamburgers.

[[AC:Video Games ]]
* In the [[{{Pokemon}} Pokémon]] series, "Rain Dance" causes "heavy rain" for five turns in battle. This boosts the strength of Water-type moves by 50%, cuts Fire-type moves by 50%, and has a [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Weather_conditions#Heavy_rain variety of other effects]] on certain moves and abilities.

[[AC:Web Original ]]
* Pippin does one of these in DeviantartSecretWars. It results in a BattleInTheRain.

[[AC:Western Animation ]]
* In ''[[TennesseeTuxedoAndHisTales Tennessee Tuxedo]] in The Rainmakers'' Chumley attempts a rain dance, which does nothing. This is, of course, the lead-in to Professor Whoopee's explaination of what really makes rain.
* [=US Acres=], from GarfieldAndFriends, has Roy buying a robot that will do dances for whatever... rain, snow, buckets of bolts, etc. Explained in the LiteralGenie entry.
* On the DonaldDuck cartoon "Grand Canyonscope", Donald fools around with a genuine raindancing costume and manages to summon a PersonalRainCloud before the ranger catches him.