Information About The Woah Dance & YouTube Examples Of That Dance

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part II of a three part pancocojams series on the African American Vernacular English word "woah" and the Hip Hop dance "[Hit the] Woah".

Part II presents some information about the [Hit the] Woah dance and showcases several YouTube videos of Woah dance battles.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/02/what-african-american-vernacular.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. Part I provides information about the meanings of the African American Vernacular English term "woah".

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/02/krypto9095-featuring-d3mstreet-woah_28.html for Part III of this series. Part III showcases the official YouTube video and includes the lyrics for one of the numerous songs that popularized the Woah dance. Explanations for some of the African American Vernacular English words in that song are included in this post.

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The content of this post is presented for cultural and entertainment purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE [HIT THE] WOAH DANCE
Excerpt #1
From https://www.thefader.com/2018/10/09/the-woah-dance-dallas-origin-10k-cash-tisakorean-dj-dangerous "Who Created The Woah Dance"
The Dallas- based dance craze is reaching the top markets of popular culture- and has been done by Lil Uzi Vert, Drake, and Travis Scott- while arguments over its creation are bubbling in Texas." by Ben Dandridge-Lemco, October 9, 2018

[...]

In a video from September 2017 by DJ Dangerous, one person claiming to have created the dance, outlines its basic steps: a general bounce with the arms and legs, a lock move ("like you're putting your car in park"), and a combination of the two, so the final result is a series of bounces, improvisations in between, and shimmied locks to the beat". As its soundtrack, the video uses "Hit My Woah" by A-1 SteakSauce, Lyric Melody, and Big Deuce. The song was also used in another dance video by students at Prairie View A&M who say the dance originated at their school."...
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This article contains various YouTube videos.

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Excerpt #2
From https://www.theodysseyonline.com/the-origins-of-the-woah
The Origins Of "The Woah" Sam Walters University of Georgia, Apr 16, 2019
"Lately, apps like TikTok and Twitter have been blowing up the newest dance trend to surface, "The Woah". Where did it come from? Where will it go? Where did it come from, Cotton-Eyed Woah?*

Ever since music has had the ability to go viral, dance crazes have followed. "(Watch Me) Whip and Nae Nae" may have been the first to exploit this in the YouTube age, but many others like "Crank Dat" by Soulja Boy and even "The Twist" by Chubby Checker came before to blaze the path. Now more than ever, dances blow up overnight thanks to social media, and "The Woah" is no stranger.

TikTok, formerly Musical.ly, is a controversial app circulating with the ability to snag sound bytes to songs and videos that can then be turned into new creations. This app has taken a place in the internet landscape still reeling from the loss of Vine, which met its end in 2016. The app is in the weird part of social media that comes across as just goofy enough to be seen as immature and just addicting enough to convince people that the trends it produces are worthy of fame, such as Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road".

[...]

The "Woah" is said to have its origins in Dallas, Texas, the home of the "Dougie", as it was first explained by DJ Dangerous on 2017 to be a "bounce" move that ends in a "lock", almost like putting your car in park. Two artists that had an integral role in spreading "The Woah" were Lil Uzi Vert and Ski Mask the Slump God. Both being very unorthodox and boundary-pushing artists from the SoundCloud rap wave, they take part in ransom social media posting to the tee. Uzi is notorious for dancing on Instagram stories where he first hit the "Woah" in the Summer of 2018.

[...]

Ski Mask, however, didn't hit the "Woah" until later in the year, but an in-studio video of his song "Foot Fungus" made waves on Twitter, having an infectious bassline that begged for a dance to be attached.

[...]

The "Woah" has now evolved into a meme, being captured by many Twitter users and dancers, alike. Some to do it wrong … but the simplicity of the dance also makes it very marketable.

It is hard to say if the dance has the chops to be a mainstay in pop culture, but it has definitely seen its fair share of popularity in 2019.”
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*The sentences “Where did it come from? Where will it go? Where did it come from, Cotton-Eyed Woah?” is a attempt at humorous play on words for the lyrics to the American folk song “Cotton Eye Joe” (Where did you come from and where did you go? Where did you come from, Cotton eyed Joe”. Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton-Eyed_Joe for information about the song and theories about the meaning of the term “cotton eye”.

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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Video #1: How to Hit The Woah! BEST DANCE TUTORIAL / Woah Tutorial


GregTheDancer, Feb 1, 2019

How to Hit The Woah: "Woah" EASY Dance Tutorial Step by Step. Secret to Hitting the Woah like a Pro. SECRET REVEALED to WOAH HOW TO.
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This dance tutorial is given with captions.
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When referring to Hip Hop dances, "hit" is a verb that means "to do" (to perform).

"Hit the [insert dance name] means "to do the [dance name]. For instance, "hit the quan" and "hit the dougie".

That said, the name of this dance may actually be "Hit The Woah" (and the name of those other dances may be "Hit The quan" and "Hit the dougie".

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Video #2: “WOAH” BATTLE |HIGH SCHOOL EDITION😳



WavyJayy, May 2, 2019

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Video #3: TOP 10 BEST WOAH CHALLENGE | NOTORIOUZ


NOTORIOUZ, Premiered Jul 21, 2019

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This concludes Part II of this three part pancocojams series.

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