RockKG973, May 8, 2013
One of my favorite movie scenes ever!
-snip-
This video clip is the end scene for the 1999 American movie
entitled "The Best Man".
****
Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post documents the use of the funk group Cameo's 1986 record "Candy" as the music for the "Electric Slide" line dance instead of Marcia Griffiths' the "Electric Boogie" ("Electric Slide") record. For that reason, particularly in the United Kingdom, "Electric Slide" is known as the "Candy dance."
Video #2 in this pancocojams post showcases a video of the Electric Slide line dance that is done to Marcia Griffiths "Electric Boogie" ("Electric Slide") record.
The other videos that are embedded in this post showcases the use of Cameo's "Candy" record for the Electric Slide line dance.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Bunny Wailer for composing "Electric Boogie" ("Electric Slide") and Marcia Griffiths for recording that song. Thanks to Cameo for recording their song "Candy" and thanks to the choreographer/s of the line dance that is used for the Electric Slide. Thanks also to all those who are featured in these showcase videos and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE ELECTRIC BOOGIE (ELECTRIC SLIDE) RECORD & LINE DANCE
From
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/jun/11/how-the-electric-slide-became-the-black-lives-matter-protest-dance "How the Electric Slide became the Black Lives Matter protest
dance" written by Sanjoy Roy, 11 Jun 2020
" The protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd have
spread across the world and as many have said: this is not a moment, it’s a
movement. But it is also a moment of movement, as the protests have been
accompanied by outbreaks of dancing. A common sight on social media and light
news spots are the Electric Slide and the Cupid Shuffle, but you can also see
the Cha-cha Slide, Macarena, krumping and the haka dance.
[…]
Right now, the people’s movement of choice looks to be the
Electric Slide. Why? Like the Cupid Shuffle and Cha-cha Slide, it’s a four-wall
line dance with a 90-degree turn between each repeat, so you can keep it going
for as long as it takes. The basic sequence – sidesteps and step-touches – are
simple, though the Cupid Shuffle is even simpler. Once you have the steps, you
can style the rest how you like.
The dance has a long pedigree, with black roots and widespread branches. The step sequence was first devised by Broadway dancer Ric Silver in 1976 to an upbeat reggae song by Bunny Wailer, Electric Boogie, a hit in Jamaica that went on to become a more mainstream US success for his compatriot Marcia Griffiths, in 1982 and 1989.
Interestingly, Silver tried very hard to authorise his original 22-step sequence (his birthday being 22 January, he was very attached to the number), but despite takedown notices and copyright claims, it’s an unauthorised 18-step version that took hold. You can see why the people’s version won out. After a regular 16 counts, those extra 2 to swivel are like a cute little touch, sending you a notch round the phrase; add in another 4 and you’ve lost the tickle.
In the 1990s, the sequence was styled for American
line-dancing and became a genre staple. It got another big boost through the
1999 black romcom The Best Man, here danced to Cameo’s 1986 hit single Candy.
It has become massively popular at parties and weddings, and is often called
the Candy Dance."...
-snip-
Ric Silver is a White American dancer/choreographer. Two comments from Ric Silver are included in this post from the YouTube discussion thread for Video #7.
Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Slide for more information about the "Electric Boogie" ("Electric Slide")
****
INFORMATION ABOUT CAMEO’S RECORD “CANDY”
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_(Cameo_song)
" "Candy" is a song by funk group Cameo, released as the second single
from their 1986 album Word Up!. The song features a solo by saxophonist Michael
Brecker. "Honey", a reworked version with different lyrics was
included on their next album, Machismo.
Charts
In the US, "Candy" reached number twenty-one on
the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the R&B charts in 1987 in the
U.S.[1] "Candy" also made the Top 10 on the US Dance charts. It also
reached the top 40 in the UK, peaking at number 27 on 30 November 1986.”…
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WHY THE "ELECTRIC SLIDE" LINE DANCE IS CALLED ”THE CANDY
DANCE” IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
Line dancing is choreographed dance steps that are
done in a horizontal line to recorded music.
Line dancing can be done to actual line dance records that are
specifically made for that dancing or line dancing can be done to records that aren't specifically made for line dancing. Records that are specifically made for line
dancing (that I refer to as "actual" line dance records) have
"call outs" throughout the entire record or through most of the
record. "Call outs" are instructions that tell people what to do. As
such, line dance records are a modern form of the African American originated
tradition of square dance and contra dance "callers".
There are fewer actual line dance records (i.e. records that have call outs/dance instructions throughout the entire recording or through most of the recording) than there are records that are used for line dancing. Records that are used for line dancing can be from almost any music genre. Usually, a specific choreographed step sequence becomes recognized as the way that people are "supposed' to do the line dance to that specific record.
The line dance that is known as the "Electric Slide" was originally done to the record of that name that was released in the early 1980s by Jamaican singer Marcia Griffiths. However, by at least the early 2000s, thanks in part to the 1999 American movie The Best Man, it appears that Cameo's record "Candy" is the record that is usually used for the Electric Slide dance.
Neither the "Electric Boogie" (Electric Slide) record nor the "Candy" record have call out dance instructions. Therefore, according to the definition for line dance records that is given above, neither "Electric Boogie" ("Electric Slide") nor "Candy" are actual "line dance records". However, they are certainly examples of records that are used for soul line dancing. Cameo's "Candy" is line danced the same way that the Electric Slide is danced.
In the end scene of the hit 1999 African American movie The Best Man, the cast is shown doing the Electric Slide (line dance) to Cameo's record "Candy". It's possible that the custom of doing the Electric
Slide to Cameo's "Candy" may predate that movie scene, but there's no question that the use of Cameo's song in the line dancing scene that ends that African American movie helped popularize the custom of doing the Electric Slide to Cameo's Candy record in the United States and in the United Kingdom (and elsewhere) Read Showcase Video #7 comment #28 below in which Ric Silver, the choreographer for the 22 step version of "The Electric Slide" writes that The Best Man's use of the record Candy for the Electric Slide (line dance) introduced the United Kingdom to the use of that record for that dance.
Although Cameo's "Candy" record is often used for the Electric Slide line dance in the United States (particularly by African Americans) instead of Marcia Griffiths' record "Electric Boogie" ("Electric Slide"), based on my experience, and based on comments from people in the United States writing in YouTube discussion threads for Candy dance videos such as some of the comments included in this pancocojams post , I believe that few people in the United States call that dance "the Candy dance".
In addition to Cameo's record "Candy being used as the end
scene for The Best Man movie, the Wikipedia page on that record notes that "British
comedian Javonne Prince finishes each episode of The Javone Prince Show with
'Candy Time', during which the audience and cast dance to the song"
(2015) and "The song [Candy) appears as part of a line dance at the
end of Ep.4 of Series 2 of the British comedy-drama, This Way Up" (August 29,2019)
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/11/19th-century-black-americans-created.html for the pancocojams post entitled "19th Century Black Americans Created The Tradition Of Calling Steps & Figures In American Square Dancing".
Also, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/12/seven-soul-line-dances-with-most.html for the pancocojams post entitled Seven African American Line Dances (also known as "Soul Line Dances") With The Most YouTube Views (as of Dec. 20, 2023). That post showcases the top seven "call out" soul line dance videos with the highest numbers of YouTube views at the time of that post's publication.
SHOWCASE VIDEO #2 - How to do the Electric Slide
Brendan Eggers, Jun 26, 2015
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ADDITIONAL YOUTUBE VIDEOS OF THE CANDY DANCE
These videos are given in no particular order. Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.
SHOWCASE VIDEO #3 - Candy Electric Slide Dance to Cameo's 80s song
Shom, Nov 28, 2016
A well executed electric slide carried out at a wedding in the Brewery Moorgate London. If you don't know the dance then now you do. The original electric slide is actually from Marcia Griffiths - Electric boogie song in 1976 (released 1982)
****
SHOWCASE VIDEO #4 - The best wedding candy dance/electric
slide - High Quality
Allure Events, Mar 11, 2020
Amazing UK wedding electric slide / candy dance. I hope this video brings a smile to your faces. Learn the candy dance steps from the few. Electric slide your way through life.
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SHOWCASE VIDEO #5 - Cameo Candy/ Electric Slide Wedding
Dance
Syrena L'Aimable, Jun 2, 2018 WARLIES PARK HOUSE
Adam & Katie’s Wedding 28.05.2018
****
Magda O, Aug 26, 2018
Candy Dance with a Police Officer at Notting Hill Carnival
2017
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SHOWCASE VIDEO #7- Candy Dance @ Capital Xtra
CandyDance UK, Dec 9, 2013
Do You Know The Candy Dance???
Have you ever seen a whole street packed full of people (teenagers and Adults), from the top to the bottom of the street, doing the same dance in Unison? Join Candy Dance UK to be part of the FIRST EVER RECORD ATTEMPT of the Candy Dance!!!
Its going to be AMAZING!!!
-snip-
Here are selected comments from this video's discussion thread, with numbers added for referencing purposes only:
1. @blueberries147, 2015
"This the electric slide. Not the "candy dance""
Reply
2. @TheIraqiforce, 2015
"No it's the candy dance, here in the UK we call it the candy
dance"
**
Reply
3. @blueberries147, 2015
"+Taha Hasan in America its the electric slide"
**
Reply
4. @TheIraqiforce, 2015
"blueberries147 fair enough, but just like in America you
call football soccer we call the dance candy dance which does sound slightly
better than electric slide."
Reply
5.
"+Taha Hasan fair enough"
Reply
6.
"In the the 70s, it use to be called the Hustle."
**
Reply
7. @Monaedeezy, 2019
"floppy disc it’s crazy because in the black community in
Chicago, we particularly love dancing the electric slide to cameos song. For
the longest time I thought it was an isolated dance in the Midwest from the
disco era. But hey!
**
8. @dandycult, 2015
"Only English people would call it the candy dance lol.
Electric slide people."
Reply
9.
"Exactly! The dance got a song its called the electric slide!"
**
10. @tinkercedes, 2017
"Lol have I been living under a rock? Lol when was this
called candy dance? It's the electric slide"
**
Reply
11. @zhane1611, 2018
"mercedes corral UK WAY"
**
Reply
12. @madjames2392, 2019
"Its basically referenced that off the movie best man
13.
"We do it all over the world U.S Africa,Caribbean,South and
Latin america.LBB love being black.I have nothing against others but damn we
bring it to the world mostly without other recognizing it.just like some whites
in the U.S they change it to Achy-Breaky heart line dance.Give Credit where its
do"
**
Reply
14. @noors7754, 2019
"cb 97 they are expressing positivity stop ruining the fun ."
**
Reply
15. @ainsbrittain8954, 2019
"I'm a black person and this dance isn't just about black
people."
**
Reply
16. @hello-it4vw, 2020
"@ainsbrittain8954 um chile anyways..."
Reply
17.
"hellooo 😭😭😭"
**
Reply
18. @aaliyahdenny5695, 2022
"@ainsbrittain8954 nobody said it was but who created the dance?
Oh okay"
**
Reply
19. @NYCSDancer, 2022
"@aaliyahdenny5695 The Dance "The Electric" also known
as The Electric Slide was created by ME !!!!
Ric Silver - and I'm English and Portuguese..... I Beg Your Pardon!"
**
20. @patriciahawkins7867, 2019
"Look at them doing "The Electric Slide" to the
candy song! 😏"
**
21. @AnniePJones, 2019
"it may be the electric slide but its great with the candy!!
love it! I call it either!!"
**
22. @blackamericanlesbianprofes4357, 2020
"The title of this video needs to be changed. This line dance is called The Electric Slide. Obviously someone watched the movie The Best Man (1999) and didn't know this is The Electric Slide. In the movie The Best Man (1999), the ending scene where the movie characters do the line dance The Electric Slide to the song Candy by Cameo at the wedding reception. Thumbs down to this video."
Reply
23.
"Lighten up, in the UK we call it the candy dance, just like you call soccer in the USA we call it football"
**
Reply
24. @blackamericanlesbianprofes4357, 2020
"@doopdapps1088 I am Black American living in the UK for 5 years now so you aren't telling me anything new, Doop dapps. And some British individuals know it is called the Electric Slide."
25.
"Imagine my surprise when I clicked on this video to see a
dance I've never heard of called The Candy Dance, and see my people doing The
Electric Slide that we've been doing at EVERY family gathering FOREVER 🤣😂"
**
26. @Feliososarky, 2021
"Soooo yall been doing the electric slide
to candy this whole time?!?! When was this a thing?
I NEED ANSWERS "
-snip-
This is the way this comment was written in that discussion thread.
**
Reply
27. @MegaREALdiva, 2021
"At least for 20 years
Lmao
I learned it when I was 7ish (in the
90s) to this song and I’m 30 now
If this song isn’t Available then Before
I let you go might work 🤦🤣"
**
Reply
28. @NYCSDancer, 2022
" @MegaREALdiva
"The Electric" (c)1976 was done to this song "Candy"
in the movie "The Best Man" and was the first time the British got to
see the dance and so they called it The Candy Dance..."
**
29. @bruelelungu1056, 2021
"Every black wedding ive been to this has always been there
and everyone knows the dance 😂"
Reply
30.
"Yes. It's called The Electric Slide"
**
Reply
31. @keepingitreal.544, 2023
"Every predominantly white wedding,party,get togethers it's
played too... Great song and dance"
**
32. @CAPOEIRYDA, 2021
"ELECTRIC...
SLIDE!!
Yall need to stop with this Candy Dance crap"
**
33. @shademanirvanipour6870, 2022
"This video recording done in west end of London near Piccadilly Circus and Regent street"
****
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