Originally titled "The Electric," the Electric Slide was developed by choreographer Ric Silver in 1976 to be danced with the disco hit, "Electric Boogie" by Marcia Griffiths. Silver was commissioned to create the dance as a marketing ploy for the reopening of a popular New York disco club Vamps Disco.
The dance became synonymous with the disco movement and skyrocketed to popularity after the release of the 1977 disco melodrama film "Saturday Night Fever", even though the dance was not featured in the film. Though the dance features 22 steps, it is relatively simple to perform, adding to the dance's popularity among professional and amateur dancers alike.
As the disco movement waned in the late '70s and early '80s, so did the Electric Slide. The same association with disco that led to the dance's popularity also led to it's decline. However, it never fully went away, with the electric slide and Ric Silver appearing in a number of films and television programs throughout the '80s. A reworking of the Electric Boogie song was reissued in 1990, leading to renewed popularity in dance clubs. The Electric Slide even began to be performed in country dance halls, as country line dancing gained popularity in the early '90s.
In 2003, creator Ric Silver registered the dance with The Library of Congress and submitted a copyright request in 2006. In 2007, Silver attempted to file lawsuits against YouTube users who posted videos of the Electric Slide that did not feature all 22 steps in the dance. Silver did not seek financial compensation, but was able to was protect the dance under the Creative Common License. Now, people who post videos of the Electric Slide online that do not feature all 22 steps must title the dance "A variation on Ric Silver's Electric Slide."