Collectively, it feels as if we’re experiencing the worst of the world, everywhere, all at once. But as always, Black people have found ways to take back their joy, and resist oppression through a myriad of ways — one of them being dance. From line dancing, twerking, stepping, and other moves, turbulent times call for more physical movement. Uncertainty surrounding the economy has reminded others of the dubious era of the recession, where the music was good and clubs were filled with people, against the backdrop of people losing their homes and jobs. Despite the world being on fire, there is a yearning for community, for gathering, whether it’s in a coffee shop or a club.
Historically, Black people have always leaned on each other amid tumultuous times. Recently, line dancing, a decades-long pastime within Black communities, has been fueled by social media. Line dancing has always been a part of Black celebrations, from weddings to parties, there’s an expectation that those in attendance will move to the Electric Slide, the Wobble, the Cupid Shuffle, or the Cha Cha Slide on the dance floor.
Line dancing goes beyond the boundaries of Black culture, but much of the synchronized dance has roots in African and Caribbean cultures. The origin of line dancing is hotly debated, but some historians claim that it dates back to the 1770s during slavery, according to Thomas F. DeFrantz, a Duke University African and African American dance studies professor. Enslaved people turned to line dancing as a form of connection. As Black culture shifted during the Harlem Renaissance, line dancing and swing dancing became an important form of self-expression to match the burgeoning art of the time. The dance continued to progress into the 1970s in tandem with the popularity of disco, soul, R&B music, and the proliferation of the discothèque. As disco music fell out of favor in the ‘80s, line dancing still surged in popularity thanks to the Electric Slide and the introduction of the Cha Cha Slide in the early 1990s. But the early ‘90s and early aughts are when various styles of dance began to emerge thanks to the internet.
Similar to line dancing, stepping has its roots in African and Caribbean dance, as well as elements derived from gymnastics, tap dance, and break dancing. Using the body to make sounds through stomping, clapping, and spoken word, stepping has become one of the most culturally important dances within the Black community. In the early 1900s, Black Greek organizations like NPHC or the Divine Nine incorporated stepping as a call and response to celebrate initiations and celebrate with friends and family. It also became a way for organizations to display pride in their fraternity or sorority. Stepping quickly progressed into a sport, with a national step contest in 1992, with S.T.O.M.P. created by Frank Mercado Valdes. Within pop culture, stop competitions and battles have remained prevalent, with films like Stomp The Yard and You Got Served depicting the art of stepping.
While it feels like twerking is an inescapable dance within Black culture, the dance didn’t gain mainstream appeal until the 2010s. In the 1990s, twerking emerged in New Orleans with the introduction of bounce music, which came to fruition with the Triggerman beat created by Orville “Buggs Can Can” Hall and Phillip “Triggerman” Price — collectively known as the Showboys — in 1986. With its roots in Africa, twerking would rise to prominence at local parties hosted by bounce deejays like legendary New Orleans DJs Jubilee and Jimi, and eventually spread to strip clubs, all the while becoming closely associated with Southern-bred hip-hop music. In the early aughts, crunk-based artists like Lil Jon and the Ying Yang Twins helped usher the dance into the national conversation with tracks like “Get Low” and “Whistle While You Twurk.” The popularity of YouTube videos also aided in pushing its popularity with fan-made twerking videos finding a home on the platform.
As hip-hop became the dominant culture in the early 2000s to the 2010s, it wasn’t just twerking that exploded all over social media. Hip-hop has paved the way for the popularity of several kinds of dancing, like breaking, C-walking, and Krumping. The former was developed by Crips in the 1970s as gang identifiers, initially using footwork to spell out words and to signify affiliations, amid their rivalry with the Bloods gangs, before being popularized by rappers like WC and Snoop Dogg. In response, the Bloods would develop their own eponymous “Walk” as a counterpoint, albeit remaining more underground and less commercially embraced.
Krumping, which evolved from the dance style “clowning” introduced by Thomas “Tommy The Clown” Johnson in the 1990s, is characterized by expressive and exaggerated physical movements and was created by Ceasare “Tight Eyez” Willis, Marquisa “Miss Prissy” Gardner, Christopher “Lil’ C” Toler, and Jo’Artis “Big Mijo” Ratti in South Central, Los Angeles, throughout the early 2000s. Rarely choreographed, krumping is often only danced in battles or sessions rather than on a stage. Krumping gained mainstream prominence thanks to the dance competition show, So You Think You Can Dance, and appearances in music videos by artists like Madonna, Missy Elliot, and the Black Eyed Peas. Krumping has also appeared in dance-centered movies like Bring It On, Step Up, and Stomp the Yard.
As dance provides Black people with a form of expression, ball culture or ballroom culture has provided a safe space for Black LGBTQ+ communities to gather. Drag ball originated in the 1880s and was a competitive event that featured categories like dance, fashion, and performance. Voguing, in particular, is a stylized dance form that includes spins, dips, and duckwalks, which are an essential part of ballroom culture, going back as far as the 1930s. William Dorsey Swann, who was born into slavery, hosted secret balls in D.C. and was the first person to describe himself as a drag queen. Despite experiencing numerous police raids throughout the years, they continued with balls being held in New York City. As communities advocating for transgender rights and safe spaces grew, drag balls became integrated and became white exclusive. The Black performers who originated these spaces were left out and faced racism, leading to the rise of Black balls in the 1960s. In the late 1960s, Harlem drag queens Lottie and Crystal LaBeija created the first house, the House of LaBeija. The evolution of drag to introduce house systems provided a space for performers to curate families and generate a sense of belonging.
A participant performs on stage during “The Fairy Tale Ball” ballroom event at Sala Cool on October 15, 2022 in Madrid, Spain.
Photo by Aldara Zarraoa/Getty Images.
Despite ballroom culture spreading to various cities, New York City is seen as the epicenter of ball culture. Cross-dressing and drag balls have existed in New York since the early 1800s. While ball culture began as an underground subculture, elements of drag and voguing have been captured by the mainstream by the 1991 documentary Paris Is Burning, Madonna’s hit song “Vogue,” and the cultural impact of dancer and choreographer Willi Ninja.
Ultimately, dance in whatever form is an important part of any community as it relates to cultural and political expression. For over a century, we have sought out dance to bring communities together and create joy, no matter the political or economic state of the world, because Black people understand that joy is resistance.
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