Translate

Friday, April 8, 2022

A Partial List Of Mostly 20th Century & 21st Century African American Social Dances (from a 2015 lipstickalley.com discussion thread), Part I

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series which presents selected comments from a 2015 lipstickalley.com discussion thread that list and discuss some mostly 20th century and 21st century African American originated social dances. 

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/04/a-partial-list-of-mostly-20th-century_14.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. Part II presents additional comments from that 2015 lipstickalley.com discussion thread/

The content of this post is presented for historical, informational, socio-cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
WARNING AND DISCLAIMER
The title of the lipstickalley.com discussion thread that is excerpted here is "White people haven't created a dance since The Monster Mash."

It appears that only Black people participate in lipstickalley discussion threads. The lipstickalley.com discussion thread that is excerpted in this pancocojams post is full of GIFs and YouTube videos and some comments that are published to "clown" (make fun of) what the commenters believe is White people's lack of dancing abilities.

The selected comments that are given in this pancocojams post are presented without any GIFs, photographs, or embedded videos. This pancocojams post also doesn't include any of the video links in those comments that make fun of any person or of any group of people. I also believe that calling people "Neaderthals" is an example of bigotry.

I do not approve of people making fun of any individual or of any population. Furthermore, I don't agree with all of the statements that commenters made about some of the dances that were discussed. 

Because pancocojams is a family friendly blog, it should also be noted that-as is the case with other lipstickalley.com threads- that discussion thread includes profanity. However, any profanity in the selected comments included in this pancocojams post are given with amended spelling. 

That lipstickalley.com thread is full of GIFs, YouTube videos, and photographs that are published to "clown" (make fun of) what the commenters believe is White people's lack of dancing abilities.

These selected comments from that discussion thread are given in this pancocojams post without any GIFs, embedded videos, photographs, or video links that make fun of any person or of any population of people.

In spite of all of the concerns that I've noted, I believe that some of the content of that lopstickalley.com discussion thread is worthy of being archived and shared for historical and informational purposes.

****

SELECTED COMMENTS FROM A 2015 LIPSTICKALLEY.COM DISCUSSION THREAD ABOUT AFRICAN AMERICAN ORGIINATED SOCIAL DANCES

 [Pancocojams- This discussion thread has 11 pages and a total of 315 comments.]

 The number that the comments had in that discussion thread are retained for this excerpt.

 In this pancocojams post (but not in the original lipstick alley discussion thread), comments that are quoted in another comment are given in italics.

 In this pancocojams post, comments that are quoted by another commentor or commentors are usually only given in that quote.]

https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/white-people-havent-created-a-dance-since-the-monster-mash.926182/  White People Haven't Created A Dance Since The Monster Mash

perolike
Sep 15, 2015
#1

"and even that was stolen from James Brown's Mashed Potato. Madonna stole Vouging from us, Miley Stole Twerking, and white people all over the world are doing the Nae Nae. When are they going to stop stealing everybody's sh&t* and create their own? The only dance that they have kept somewhat relevant is that Line Dancing Boot Scootin Boogie.

No seriously, what have they came up with in the past 50 years? The Twist and TYMC? Boring!"

We got The Electric Slide

The Wobble

The Nae Nae

Thriller

The Dougie

Two Stepping

The Cha Cha Slide

The Moonwalk

The Wop

The Stanky Leg

The Tootsie Roll

The Kid & Play Kick Step

The Humpty Dance

The MC Hammer Dance

The Harlem Shake

Chicken Noodle Soup

The Cabbage Patch

The Butterfly

Walk it Out

The Souljia Boy

The Humpty Dance

The Train

The Funky Chicken

ect. ect.


even our brown and yellow cousins stepped in and showed us The Macarena and Gangnam Style.

Can ya'll please list some white American dances created in the past 50 years. I wan't to learn something new today. Air Guitaring and Most Pitting don't count."
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled out in this comment.

TYMC may mean 1978 hit song "The Y.M.C.A" by The Village Voice.

****
Perfection
Sep 15, 2015
#27

"TONYC said:

i think they've got something called a 'boot scootin boogie"

no idea what it looks like, but it sounds like fun for the whole family

Growing up in Texas, we learned how to line dance in P.E., or at least I did. I enjoy country line dancing, but there aren't that many dances to do. Every year at the Houston Rodeo tent parties, the blacks know all of the country line dances and our own dances. The whites crowd around trying to learn old ass dances like The Bunnyhop.

I still remember the boot scootin' boogie dance. It was something like "touch down, turn around, go to town...boot scooting boogie.

That made me think of another form of black dance in addition to The Bunnyhop - Zydeco dances."

****
Roxanne Ford
Sep 15, 2015
#26

"OP, The Twist doesn't belong to white folks either. Chubby Checker, one of rock & roll's pioneer, is behind that dance:

[...video link no longer active]

I'm sure white folks abroad have come up with dances, within their respective nationalities / ethnicities. But white Americans? Nah......"

****
https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/white-people-havent-created-a-dance-since-the-monster-mash.926182/page-2

Roxanne Ford
Sep 15, 2015
#43

"TaylorRCannon said:

I'm surprised no one mentioned The Hustle as an appropriated dance, considering that John Travolta became a box office superstar off of it almost 40 years ago...

Looks like a variation of the Electric Slide to me, that they appropriated (as you mentioned). According to my Google search, the Hustle (originally called the Spanish Hustle and then the Latin Hustle) was developed by Puerto Ricans in the Bronx....which means that the dance has AFRICAN origins."

****
Pressley
Sep 15, 2015
#45

"Then, what everybody forgets is, those "line dances" are based off of OUR sh&t*. It's nothing but the electric slide for folks who can't f&&king* dance and are as stiff as Frankenstein. :dead:"
-snip-
*These words are fully spelled out in this comment.

****
Teardrops
Sep 15, 2015
#52

"Mrs Henson said:
Y'all, don't sleep on Irish step dancing (not created by white Americans, but still....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgGAzBDE454


Hey, Irish step dancing made it into Missy Elliott's "Pass That Dutch" video.....

Many Irish dances were inspired by Roma ...this dance looks good though."

-snip-
That v
ideo link is for “Irish Dance Group - Irish Step Dancing (Riverdance) 2009”.

****
https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/white-people-havent-created-a-dance-since-the-monster-mash.926182/page-3

PowerPuffBarbie
Sep 15, 2015
#76

"There's actually some white country dance called "Cotten eyed joe" lmao my white friends love this dance and the song too"

****
https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/white-people-havent-created-a-dance-since-the-monster-mash.926182/page-4

Jane Williams
Sep 15, 2015
#120

"Trick or Treat said:
Did they invent those country dances like line dancing and the chicken dance and all those boring dances? If so, they gotta step it up. Maybe if they focused more on creating a fun white culture they'd stop being black culture vultures.

They ain't creating nothing! The Madison was the first line dance from 1959. Hell Black people even created the Cotton Eyed Joe!"

****
https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/white-people-havent-created-a-dance-since-the-monster-mash.926182/page-5

AutumnShadow
Sep 15, 2015
#121

"Perfection said:
Adding to the list of black dances....

The Running Man, the Quan (sp?), the uh-oh dance, Josephine Johnny and a ton of other Louisiana dances, The Snake...the list goes on. We are such a creative people.


BR jig, Shreveport jig, NOLA bounce moves, zydeco, even though it's old, the ratchet, etc"

****

Jane Williams
Sep 15, 2015
#124

"LucyMoran said:
Axl appropriated the snake from the Monkeys Davy Jones who appropriated the move from someone Black, most certainly. :struggle:

Davy was doing the Neanderthal version of a Black dance called the skate."

****

Sessay Peeta
Sep 15, 2015
#128

"ROADMAN WILLIAM said:
I thought 'the twist' was a black dance? You missed the hokey pokey though. I'm pretty sure they still do that at their weddings. I think that's more UK though..


The twist was originated by black people Chuck Berry

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twist_(dance)

'The twist is a dance that was inspired by rock and roll music. It became the first worldwide dance craze in the late 1950s, enjoying immense popularity among all people and drawing fire from critics who felt it was too provocative. It inspired dances such as the Jerk, the Pony, the Watusi, the Mashed Potato, the Monkey, and the Funky Chicken, but none were as popular. The dance was inspired by "The Twist", Chubby Checker's 1960 cover of the B-side of Hank Ballard and The Midnighters' 1959 single, "Teardrops on Your Letter".'

[…]

[h=2]Please note all the dances that were inspired by the twist are also all black!!![/h]

****

Jane Williams
Sep 15, 2015
#147

"The twist has been around since slavery, most believe it came from the Congo."

**** 
Roxanne Ford
Sep 15, 2015
#148

"Calafia said:

Riverdancing is tap dancing without arms.

To be fair, Irish stepdancing precedes tap dancing. Irish stepdancing has been around since the mid-1700s, tap dancing since the mid-1800s. More likely -- in THIS particular case -- tap dancing is black Americans' version of Irish stepdancing (let's not forget all the Irish folks who were living in the South during slavery).....with soul!" 

****
This concludes Part I of this two part pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.


3 comments:

  1. That 2015 lipstickalley.com discussion thread is only a partial list of 20th century social dances and 21st century social dances up to Sept. 2021.

    If the discussion thread participants had spent more energy on naming dances than they had on putting down White folks' dancing than they probably would have made a more complete list of dances.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Off the top of my head (without google searching it), I can think of these additional 20th century R&B or Hip Hop dances which I think weren't mentioned in that lipstick alley discussion thread:

      The Slop
      The Grind
      The Football
      Twine Time
      Shotgun
      The Bus stop
      Break dancing
      Popping and locking (Actually those two dance movements were mentioned in a comment that I didn't include.)

      What other 20th century R&B or Hip Hop dances can you name?

      Delete
  2. Here's some other 21st century R&B or Hip Hop dances prior to 2015 or after 2015 that I can think of:
    Cupid Shuffle
    The Whip (The Nae Nae was mentioned in that lipstick alley discussion thread but not the Whip. In my mind those two dances go together because of that hit song by ??.)
    Crip Walk (C Walk)
    Do the Superman (and other "do the ___" dances

    I'm drawing a blank right now.

    What other 21st century R&B/Hip Hop dances can you think of?

    ReplyDelete