Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest Revision- October 14, 2018
This is Part I of a three part pancocojams series about the stomp and shake cheerleading custom of performing basketball chants in gym bleachers.
Part I presents information and commentary about this custom and customs that probably influenced it.
I'm interested in sussing out what influenced the custom of performing basketball stomp and shake chants in bleachers and when this custom may have begun. I'm also interested in documenting information and comments about this custom that I've found online.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/10/stomp-and-shake-cheerleaders-performing_13.html for Part II of this series. Part II showcases some YouTube video examples of stomp and shake basketball cheerleading in bleachers. The words to two of the bleacher chants that are found in these video are included in that post.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/10/a-video-of-2018-stomp-and-shake-cheer.html for Part III of this series [Added October 14, 2018]. Part III showcases a video of a cheer battle in the bleachers between two North Carolina High Schools. Selected comments from the Video given as #4 are also included in this post. Most of these comments are about "cheer battles in general and this cheer battle in particular.
This post is part of an ongoing pancocojams series on stomp and shake cheerleading. Click the "stomp and shake cheerleading" tag for other posts in this series.
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The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, and recreational purposes.
All copyright remains with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
I'm an African American woman who is a self-described "community folklorist". I'm especially interested in sussing out and documenting the history, performance descriptions, past and present examples of and opinions about stomp and shake cheerleading, foot stomping cheers, Greek letter fraternity and sorority stepping, and (marching band affiliated) majorette dance lines & (Hip Hop) majorette dance teams. All of these are group based movement arts/recreational activities (involving more than two people). Also, with the exception of historically Black Greek letter fraternity stepping, all of these activities have been and still are mostly performed by females.
Furthermore, I believe that all of these above named movement arts and/or recreational activities are African American originated and all of these performance arts/recreational activities are somehow related in performance practices and textual formats (composition) styles.
I'm also very interested in documenting contemporary (1960s on) examples of children's jump rope, hand clap, and circle recreational children's rhymes, with particular attention to (what I believe are) African American originated or African American adapted and performed children's rhymes.
I'm interested in documenting these movement arts/recreational activities and very much welcome comments about and text (word) examples from others.
With regard to stomp and shake cheerleading and majorette dance team performances, my research on stomp and shake cheerleading has been done online, and I've never experienced these performance arts in person, other than at a few games in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where I live.
Additions and corrections to this information and examples are very welcome.
Click the tags for these above named performance arts and recreational activities to find pancocojams posts on those subjects.
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DEFINITION OF STOMP AND SHAKE BLEACHER CHANTS/CHEERS
"Bleacher chants" is a term that is used for chants/cheers that pre-college/university stomp and shake cheerleader squads perform while standing or sitting in the bleachers* during basketball games. A chant is shorter and more repetitive than a cheer.
Stomp and shake cheerleaders perform these chants/cheers while doing rhythmic individual hand claps, alternating with bass sounding foot stomps on the floor of the bleachers, banging their hands on the bleachers themselves, and other characteristic stomp and shake cheerleader moves.
As far as I've been able to determine, college/university stomp and shake cheerleaders don't perform chants/cheers in the bleachers.
In one comment (given below from the discussion thread of a video that is showcased in Part II), "bleach banging" is a term that is used for cheerleaders performing cheers while standing or sitting in the bleachers. I don't know how widely that term is used.
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Here's a definition of sideline cheers from a website for "traditional cheerleading":
..."Sideline cheers are performed on the periphery of the field or court to encourage the team and keep the audience energized while the game is going on. General cheers, offense cheers, and defense cheers are all used on the sidelines for football and basketball, and are often short and performed in repetition." https://cheerleading.lovetoknow.com/Sideline_Cheers
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While this definition also applies to stomp and shake cheerleading, many stomp and shake cheers focus on the cheerleader squad instead of the game, the individual athletes playing in the game, and/or the audience at the game. Stomp and shake sideline cheers often include group bragging (on the cheer team as much as or more than the athletic team), and insulting (dissing) the opposing cheer team (as much as or more than the opposing athletic team).
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In addition to bleacher chants/cheers, different stomp and shake cheerleaders may perform sideline cheers [actually on the sideline of the gym during games, rallies, and other events], battle offs (competitive cheers against an opposing cheerleader squad before a game, during the game [?],and/or at a separate event); and half-time cheer performances. Cheer battles may be held in the bleachers, but are usually [?] held in the gym with one cheerleader squad facing the other. The concept of "cheer battle" is lifted from the "stand battles" that are part of HBCU marching bands' dance lines, and community majorette dance lines such as the Dancing Dolls (DD4L) who are showcased on American television. {Read the section below about marching bands' dance lines and click on of the video links given in that section).
[Additions and corrections are welcome.]
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*Definition for "bleachers"
from https://www.dictionary.com/browse/bleacher
"bleachers (noun)
Usually bleachers. a typically roofless section of inexpensive and unreserved seats in tiers, especially at an open-air athletic stadium."
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Historically Black colleges And universities marching bands and their dance auxiliaries refer to "bleachers" as "stands". Read the section below about these groups' custom of performing in the stands, including having "battles" in the stands between two opposing bands/dance lines.
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WHEN DID THIS CUSTOM BEGIN?
It appears from comments that I've read online that cheerleaders performing "sideline" cheers while standing or sitting in bleachers isn't done by "traditional" cheerleaders. While stomp and shake cheerleading appears to have started in the 1970s, it appears that those cheerleaders performing "bleacher cheers" is relatively new (around 2005?).
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Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/06/when-did-stomp-shake-cheerleading-begin.html for a pancocojams post entitled "When Did Stomp & Shake Cheerleading Begin? (Online Comments & Website Statements)".
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INFLUENCES ON THIS CUSTOM
While cheerleaders banging on bleachers is probably quite new, the custom of fans banging on bleachers is a very old tradition.
In a brief google search on that subject, I found several references to fans in the United States banging on or hitting on bleachers during a sports game. Here's an excerpt of one such article:
From http://didthetribewinlastnight.com/blog/2013/08/24/after-40-seasons-the-beat-still-goes-on-for-adams/
After 40 Seasons, the Beat still Goes On for Adams by Steve Eby | On 24, Aug 2013
"For the past 40 seasons of Indians baseball, Tribe home games have had quite the beat.
In 3,212 of the past 3,250 ballgames played in Cleveland, superfan John Adams has been sitting at the top of the bleachers, banging away on his bass drum.
It all started on August 24, 1973 when the Indians routed the Texas Rangers by a score of 11-5. Tom Timmermann pitched the complete game victory for the Tribe and shortstop Frank Duffy homered twice for the victors. A pair of bombs for the not-so-powerful Duffy was a strange enough site, but it was nothing compared to seeing a man bring a 26-inch bass drum out to the Cleveland Stadium bleachers—which was the 21-year old Adams’ seat preference in the ballpark.
“There were no seats to bang in the bleachers,” Adams said. “Everybody in Cleveland was a seatbanger as a kid. I did play the drums so I thought I would bring a drum down to the game and sit out in the bleachers because of the bench seats and be able to cheer the team on. So I bought a drum set for $25 and took the bass drum.”...
The seat-banging that Adams speaks of was a tradition of fans at The Stadium. Fans would bang the empty, wooden seat next to them—and they usually were empty—making a loud banging sound that would echo throughout the cavernous, C-shaped ballpark."...
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Italics added for emphasis.
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HBCU MARCHING BANDS AND THEIR AUXILIARY DANCE LINES INFLUENCES ON THIS CUSTOM
Stomp and shake cheerleaders' familiarity with the custom of historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU) and their dance line auxiliaries performing in the "stands" (bleachers) during football games probably influenced the stomp and shake custom of performing in bleachers during games.
However, the location and not the performance styles of stomp and shake cheerleaders who cheer in the bleachers is the same as the earlier HBCU majorette dance line custom of performing in the bleachers (also known as the "stands") during a football game.
[Added October 14, 2018] My statement that stomp and shake cheerleaders who perform in the bleachers during basketball games are modeling themselves after HBCU majorette dance lines with regard to the location of their performances but not the performance styles isn't entirely accurate. The movements performed by stomp and shake cheerleaders aren't the the same or similar to the movements of HBCU (and other majorette dance lines). AMong the major differences is that [majorette] dance lines perform to live or recorded instrumental or vocal music while stomp and shake cheerleaders perform while they are vocalizing cheers or chants. However, stomp and shake cheerleader have modeled their cheerleading format after historically Black colleges and university's dance lines. Here's an excerpt from the Wikipedia page on "J-setting":
"This dance style is characterized by a lead and follow format where one dancer initiates a series of high-energy dance moves, and the other dancers join in the movement."
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This sentence also describes the way that stomp and shake cheerleaders initiate their cheer/chant performances.
Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62GcqLRqXdcfor a video example of a stand battle (in the bleachers) between two HBCH marching bands and their dance lines. (Alabama A&M University v.s. Miles College - Stands Battle - 2015; published by Killa Kev Productions, on Aug 29, 2015
Also, click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIvdaLbBZ6o&t=19s for a video clip of a stand routine from the American television show Bring It!. That show focuses on Hip Hop majorette dance routines performed by pre-college age dancers, almost all of whom are Black females. These pre-college majorette dance lines are modeled after the HBCU dance lines.
(Bring It!: Stand Battle: In the Stands - Parts 1 & 2/4 (Season 3, Episode 20) | Lifetime)
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OTHER POSSIBLE INFLUENCES ON THIS CUSTOM
I'm wondering if stomp and shake cheerleading teams performing in the bleachers during the game are held because the gymnasiums where middle and high school basketball games are held are too small for cheerleaders to perform on the sidelines.
Also, the cheerleading team may have been too large for the smaller gym. Or the rules for the number of cheerleaders who could perform on the sidelines may have caused the cheerleaders to start performing in the bleachers (if there were no rules prohibiting them performing or the number of cheerleaders who could perform.
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OPINIONS ABOUT THIS CUSTOM AND RELATED RULES PROHIBITING THIS CUSTOM
Negative attitudes and opinions about this custom
I happened upon the following comment while surfing YouTube for examples of stomp and shake cheers:
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hag7M9EgGZA Cute Stomp and Shake cheers for sideline!!!! | Upload #2 published by meleah moon on Jun 12, 2018:
She Got Next, September 2018
"i dunno im in a white school they think “bleach banging” is ghetto😰😢honestly an embarrassment."
That comment motivated me to research this topic and publish this post.
"She Got Next" also wrote this comment immediately after her first comment
"i hml i wanna move a black person should never be this uncomfortable about their skin color."
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"hml"= hate my life
Although I didn't respond to that comment on that discussion thread and don't address it in this post, I find the first two sentences in that comment to be heart wrenching and the third sentence to be powerfully true.
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The word "ghetto" in that comment is used in a negative sense as a referent for Black American communities/culture.
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[Added October 14, 2018]
From the discussion thread for https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG71y-ygtFQ Cute Stomp and Shake cheers for Basketball!!!! | Upload #3 [This video is showcased in the pancocojams post https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/10/six-2018-youtube-compilation-videos-of.html
Heaven Lampkins, October 2018
"Okay I used to do cheerleading in middle school I'm in high school right now and honestly the way cheerleading used to be is better. You can barely understand what they are saying when doing the cheers and chants which is very important when doing competition, also they are in the stands when they should be on the floor so they can do tricks. Only majorette should be in stands and on the floor like how in the reality TV show bring it sometimes Coach diana had the team compete in up in stands or on the floor. The girls and cheers in this video are good and have a clean routine but they should be more clear in what they are saying insead of sounding like a boys stepping sorority in college"
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Notice the use of the word "stands" instead of the equivalent word "bleacher". The word "stands" is used in majorette dance lines such as Historically Black colleges and university (HBCU) marching bands' auxiliary dance lines and the community based (Hip Hop) majorette dance lines shown on the American television show Bring It. Those community dance lines are modeled after the HBCU dance lines.
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Also, note that banging on bleachers is prohibited by some athletic associations or cheerleader rule books, as indicated in this quote:
From http://ociaa.ouboces.org/CHEERBY.html http://ociaa.ouboces.org/CHEERBY.html ORANGE COUNTY INTERSCHOLASTIC ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION CHEERLEADING REGULATIONS
Adopted June 7, 2006
"During basketball, cheers that lead to kicking and stomping in the bleachers are not to be used at anytime. Enforcement of this regulation is the responsibility of the cheerleading advisors and the cheerleaders."
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It's important to note that this quote doesn't indicate that cheerleaders themselves were "kicking and stomping on bleachers". This quote refers to cheers that lead to such actions. These cheers may have been chanted on the sidelines and the fans may have responded to the directions given in those cheers to kick and stomp in the bleachers.
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Some cheer handbooks indicate that cheerleaders aren't permitted to sit in bleachers:
Excerpt from a 2018 cheer handbook - Amazon AWS
https://bsbproduction.s3.amazonaws.com/portals/.../2018%20cheer%20handbook.pdf
"I would like to welcome you to the Centerville Wee Elk Cheerleading program! ..... 12.4 Cheer Agreement and Code of Conduct . ... Cheerleaders are not permitted in the bleachers during the game."
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If cheerleaders aren't permitted to sit in the bleachers, they certainly would be permitted to "stomp", "shake" and "rhythmically hit" the bleachers.
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This concludes Part I of this three part series.
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