woowooworkit, Feb 3, 2007
SASSY does a new cheer!
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Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post archives a number of comments from the discussion thread of a 2007 YouTube video of the Sassy cheerleaders performing the cheer "Roll All Over".
The content of this post is presented for historical, linguistic, and socio-cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are featured in this video and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
I decided to archive these selected comments from this embedded YouTube video because I noticed that some YouTube videos that had been embedded in this pancocojams post that compiled text (word only) examples of stomp and shake cheerleading cheers: https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/06/examples-of-stomp-shake-cheerleading_29.html were no longer available. Since those videos are no longer available on YouTube, their discussion threads are also lost forever unless those comments are quoted elsewhere.
I consider some YouTube comments to be worthy of archiving, study, and sharing because of their historical, linguistic, and other socio-cultural content. The selected comments in the discussion thread for this embedded video include some examples of African American vernacular English (such as "thick") and also include some comments about stomp and shake cheerleading and how high school stomp and shake squads' routines can come from various sources such as historically Black Greek letter organizations and a Spike Lee's School Daze movie.
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VIDEO DESCRIPTION OFPART OF THIS ROUTINE
"Sassy" is the name of the cheerleading squad from Prince Edward County High School in Farmville, Virginia, USA.
In several other pancocojams posts including this one http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/01/stomp-shake-cheerleading-who-cheers.html, I wrote that members of the Sassy cheerleader squad learned cheers (including their performance routines) from cheer camps that were hosted by Virginia State University's Woo Woo cheerleaders. I got this information various comments that were found in discussion threads of various Sassy YouTube videos.
In this 2007 video the cheerleading squad is all female and predominately African American (There is one White cheerleader).
The squad performs this stomp and shake cheer in the middle of the gymnasium floor during what a commenter guessed was a pep rally (comment #11). I believe this comment refers to a basketball pep rally.
This video's visual quality at this time is poor and, as is the case with many stomp and shake cheers, the words that are chanted are mostly indistinguishable. However, a member of that squad posted the words to that cheer (given as comment #17 below).
Particular attention in these comments is given to the routine that is done beginning at .26 to around .35 of this video. This movement, referred to as a "log roll" in these comments, occurs when all of the cheerleaders lay in a vertical line on their stomachs in a push up position. The first person rolls toward the other girls and continues to roll to the end of the line. As she approaches each girl, they quickly push their body off of the floor so that she can pass underneath them. This simultaneous leaping, rolling movement creates a ripple effect.*
This "roll over" or "log roll" routine has been performed as part of the steppin routines of at least one historically Black Greek letter fraternity. My adult daughter and I recall seeing this floor ripple movement performed by members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. However, I can't identify any video with that movement. Furthermore, we remember seeing that floor ripple routine performed during a dance show in the mid 2000s in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania fby a Hip/Hop/acrobatic group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, I can't remember the name of the group.
Spike Lee's movie School Daze features a similar floor ripple ("log roll'). Here's a Wikipedia summary of that movie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_Daze
"School Daze is a 1988 American musical comedy-drama film, written and directed by Spike Lee, and starring Larry Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, and Tisha Campbell-Martin. Based in part on Spike Lee's experiences as a Morehouse student in the Atlanta University Center during the 1970s, it is a story about undergraduates in a fraternity and sorority clashing with some of their classmates at a historically black college during homecoming weekend."
Here's a link to the YouTube video of that floor ripple that is performed by the fictitious Black fraternity Gamma Phi Gamma (GPhiG):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5xp1GrQV2k&ab_channel=imwithstupidx2.
Here are two comments from that video's discussion thread.
"Mehrunissah93, 2013
"So many real fraternities aren't this creative. This is my favorite scene of the whole movie."
-snip-
Note that the movie School Daze also featured some real fraternities and sororities such as Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (APhiA) and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. (AKA) I think that GPhiG's name and floor ripple ("log roll") routine is largely based on APhiA Fraternity.
Read the comments below that refer to the Sassy stomp and shake cheerleaders performing this "fraternity" routine.
-snip-
*Please help improve this description by re-wording it in the comment section of this post below. Thanks.).
Some of these comments also present opinions about Virginia State University's WooWoo cheerleading squad. (Notice that the publisher of this video includes the name "Woo Woo" in their name.)
****SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD
Numbers are added for referencing purposes only. I added the "Reply" citation even though in the early years of YouTube commenting, "Reply" wasn't noted.
"That was so VSU. No disrespect to my Woo Woo's, because again, they taught me what I know. But they should REALLY leave the step shows to the Greeks & Step Teams. Like the whole clapping under an upstomp thing... I mean, that's the only reason people don't take them seriously as a squad.
But the girls did what they did beautifully. I loved the execution, but I hated the cheer."
**
REPLY
2. blkmaverick03, 2007
"That is their thing though and personally it works for them.
Seeing as to how long the woo woos have been around there is no telling if
these stepshow tricks came from them or greeks."
-snip-
"Greeks"= historically Black Greek letter fraternities and sororities
**
REPLY
3. KORTNI HERNANDEZ, 2011
"@grammerpolise
every team "borrows" a move or two from someone else. Don't get mad because they did it WELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
-snip-
"grammerpolise" might be a previous name that was used by MiQuelW or by some other commentor. I added this comment and the next one as replies to MiQuelW's comment because the subject matter is the same.
**
REPLY
4. Mrs. Roc Royal Babee, 2011
"@grammerpolise actually the stole it from strikers allstars who stole it from school days who stole it from traditional stepping."
-snip-
I believe that it's possible that this movement could have originated with the army or from another military basic training routine or from a circus/acrobatic group.
**
Rod Cooper, 2018
"they actually got this from real BGLO fraternities.."
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5. JDavis032, 2007
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REPLY
6. Azizi Powell, 2020
"JDavis032, you asked this question 13 years ago and haven't
received a reply. Here are my guesses:
The "Woo Woo" for Virginia State University
(VSU)'s cheerleading squad came from the exclamation "woo woo".
Generally speaking, in the United States, along with
"wolf whistles", sometimes males make the "woo woo" sound
when they see an attractive young female. (Note that this type of attention is
often not welcome.)
One theory is that the name "Woo Woo" is said to
have been given to Virginia State University's cheerleading squad because
that's the sound that men made when they saw the attractive cheerleaders.
Another theory is that some people from the crowd shouted shouted "Woo
woo!" when they became hyped after watching those cheerleaders perform.
Both of these theories could be true.
Perhaps as support for the second theory, when the Virginia
State University cheerleaders ended their performance of "Work it" in
a 2008 YouTube video of that cheer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blDqcHBu-Cs&feature=emb_logo an excited man in the crowd can be heard
spontaneously shouting "Woo Woo!"
**
REPLY
7. Azizi Powell, 2020
"Also, here's a link to a 2012 YouTube video compilation of
Virginia State University's Woo Woo cheerleaders:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DZ1I-w2cAA&ab_channel=TrojanNation1882
Throughout one of those cheers (whose words I can't
decipher), they say the exclamation "Woo!". The first time I heard it
in that cheer was around .21 in that video. So the name "woo woo" may
have started out as an exclamation of excitement and approval. In this context, "woo" is a synonym for the word "wow!"
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8. GoTrojans, 2007
"Little Woo Woo's..."
-snip-
The commentor called the Sassy cheerleader squad "little WooWoos" because that squad appears to purposely model themselves after and perform cheers that originated from Virginia State University's Woo Woo cheerleaders.
**
REPLY
9. naiya k, 2018
"GoTrojans woo woos fell off now unfortunately"
-snip-
This comment suggests that naiya believes that Virginia State University's Woo Woos haven't retained or improved the quality of their cheerleading performances.
10. Akilah Brown, 2009
"GREAT JOB Ladies!!!!! I love the school daze log roll hot. I think that they need to have a competition not based on all the technical stuff. WE (Black people) have been doing cheers like this for years and never get any credit. Good job ladies from PHS in chicago."
**
11. johnathondwight, 2009
"i think that was at a pep rally"
**
12. selectedandelected, 2010
"OK that was cute (the lil fraternity move) but Seriously...
check the motions of the ladies!! Their arm motions... Not good! What has
cheerleading gone to these days!!! Who can drop it like its hot?? SAD!!"
-snip-
"The lil fraternity move" is the aforementioned "log roll".
**
13. Raylisha Godbolt, 2010
"@MsGymnast77 you and TheLipcious are both rude these
cheerleaders are not fat they are thick. Two totally different things."
**
14. howizzle, 2012
"Thire loud, obiously proud, but this is NOT real
chherleaidng sorry."
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REPLY
15. Tashana Wade, 2012
"Well in my opinion , this style of cheering is unique and original. It might not be the "traditional style of cheering" , but who cares? It's nice to shake somethings up and this by far is one the best cheer squads I've seen. My squad also does this type of cheer and I'm not being cocky but ANY cheerleader could careless what you think about our style of cheer and what we do. I give this a HUGE thumbs up, GOOD JOB!"
16. Karen Midgett, 2014
"I know it has been a while since this came out but I was looking through the cheers and dances and found this. I am an elementary coach and I am always looking for something that is different. I love this and thought it would be good for my girls to learn it if it is okay by the owner of the cheer. Could anyone please help me out and let me know the cheer and words?"
**
REPLY
17. starquality90, 2014
"Hi @Karen Midgett , I was a cheerleader on this squad (I'm
actually in the video). The words are" Let's get physical, get down get
funky get mean, watch those mighty Eagles, roll right over you team.... It's
time to get physical it's time to get mean, watch those mighty Eagles roll
right over your team". We had a lot of fun doing these cheers! Good luck
with your cheer squad!!"
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