This term is very closely connected to the term Closed out, because they mean the same thing. A checker is closed out when it can not re-enter the board from the bar, while ‘Dancing on the Bar’ is used in the same situation, when a checker fails to re-enter the board.

It is said that the term came from the movement made by the player who reaches to enter the checkers, and notices only after that the numbers are blocked. Although the term used is funny, it is hard to win a game when you can not re-enter a checker on the board.