How "The Wobble Line Dance" Got Its Moves From Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's 1990s "The Nasty Girl" Line Dance

 

wdasDancer, Mar 31, 2008

Nasty girl dance instruction

music: Lyn Collins- "Think About It (edit)
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The line dance begins at .048 in the video given above.

total # of YouTube views as of August 22, 2025 at 8:57 AM EDT= 28,724 

total # of YouTube comments as of August 22, 2025 at 8:57 AM EDT= 6 

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents information about the history of the Wobble line dance, with a focus on the "Nasty Girl" line dance that was eventually renamed  "The Wobble".

This post also showcases two YouTube videos of that Nasty Girl line dance*, two videos of The Wobble line dance, and one link to a very widely viewed YouTube video of The Wobble line dance..

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the creators of that Nasty Girl line dance* and thanks to all those who were associated with  that Nasty Girl song, all those who were associated with the Wobble song, and all those who were responsible for combining the Wobble song with the Nasty Girl line dance. Thanks to the publishers of the videos that are embedded in this pancocojams post and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. 
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*There are several other African American line dances that are named "The Nasty Girl". Those line dances have different moves than the Nasty Girl line dance that is showcased in this pancocojams post.  

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2 - Nasty Girl - recorded Nov 2004 (Now known as The Wobble)

Tamika Shipman (Paparazzi), Apr 28, 2014

"The Wobble did NOT originate in Texas with Jeremy Stong. Here is proof that the "Wobble" line dance is really a dance that originated out of Philadelphia called "Nasty Girl"choreographed by "Butterball's Posse" w/ the late Dave Bush, Jr (Godfather of Line Dance) in the mid 90s. Bernadette Burnette, formally with Dave Bush Dancers, had the honor of teaching and leading this dance back in 2004 at a Soul Line event hosted by DJ Butch Thomas! Who would have known back then that this dance would have swept the nation years later!!!! Let the truth be known now!!! Shout out to the late great Joe "Butterball" Tamburro

NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED. We do not own anything. The music played are hard to find original line dance music that has been mixed and created by different line dance dj's. All rights reserved to the respective music labels and dj's."...
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total # of YouTube views as of August 22, 2025 at 9:59 AM EDT= 9,003 

total # of YouTube comments as of August 22, 2025 at 8:57 AM EDT= 7 

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #3 -  Men Getting The Wobble In 

WeSteppinItUp, December 31, 2011

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total # of YouTube views as of August 22, 2025 at 11:14 AM EDT= 952,653 

total # of YouTube comments as of August 22, 2025 at 11:15 AM EDT= 726
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/08/2011-youtue-video-of-wobble-line-dance.html for a pancocojams post that showcases this video and multiple comments from its discussion thread. 

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #4 - Wobble Line Dance #itsthedanceforme 

It's The Dance For Me, January 14, 2011

Purple Charlotte Steppers doing the Wobble Line Dance. [Charlotte, North Carolina]

total # of YouTube views as of August 22, 2025 at 9:17 AM EDT= 19,517,257 

total # of YouTube comments as of August 22, 2025 at 9:18 AM EDT=  2,359
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFdeskwbhAM

Pancocojams Editor's Notes:
A lot of the commenters were particularly impressed with the ways that these members of that group performed this line dance: the woman in the second row with the flowered dress on, the woman in the first row with the high boots on, the man in the front row wearing a salmon colored shirt, and the man with the microphone (the instructor) wearing the stripped shirt. 

Several commenters noted that the man wearing the salmon colored shirt incorporated some Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity steps into his performance of that Wobble line dance.   

Some commenters mistakenly described the lightskinned woman in the second row as White, but the video publisher corrected that statement several times. Although anyone could come to that Charlotte, North Carolina bar, everyone in attendance at that time were Black.

Paraphrasing her (or his) comments, the publisher of this video wrote several times in that video's discussion thread that there are several ways that [Black*] people do The Wobble. In one comment after 10 million views, that video's publisher ,wrote that this Charlotte, North Carolina way of doing The Wobble may now be the standard way of doing that line dance because of that high number of views. 

The publisher repeated several times that he planned to publish a video of the Detroit way of doing The Wobble, but the only YouTube video of people from Detroit doing t he Wobble that I've found is given below as Video #5.

That Charlotte, North Carolina video publisher publisher repeatedly added to his comments about the multiple ways that The Wobble is danced that the way that (Black)* people in Detroit did The Wobble was her (or his) favorite.  In one comment, the publisher wrote that was because Detroit's way of doing The Wobble was more "hyped". I'm not sure what "hyped" means in the context of that line dance, but based on the video below, my guess is that it might refer to how those Detroit dancers had fun freezing and posing at specific times during that line dance.

*I believe that the Black American racial referent is implied in the publisher's comments. There were then and are now some "White country line dance" and other White influenced ways of doing The Wobble. However, I don't include those variant forms of the Wobble line dance in this post.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #5 - DETROIT STYLE WOBBLE

Dave N Penny Carver, May 28, 2012

LIKE ONLY DETROIT CAN DO!

Recorded on May 19, 2012 using a Flip Video camera.
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total # of YouTube views as of August 22, 2025 at 12:51 PM EDT= 39,909 

total # of YouTube comments as of August 22, 2025 at 12:53 PM EDT=  20
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Here are two comments from this video's discussion thread (with numbers added for referencing purposes only):
1. @ljo2cute, 2012
"Awesome, they had me jigging. Think Imma bring some of these moves to B'ham"
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In this comment, the word "jigging" probably refers to the Detroit Jit.
Click https://www.dancepolicy.com/stream/a-short-history-of-detroits-jit-scene "A Short History Of The Detroit Jit"
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"B'ham" = Birmingham, Alabama

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2.@shannonlatrise, 2014
"Detroit know how to party!!!!! Yeah, purple vest, burgundy suit and white and cream was getting down....it looks like a lot of old school playas in there.... or some Sugardaddies....lol"
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Read my note after Video #4 about this video.

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INFORMATION ABOUT HOW PHILADELPHIA'S 2004 "THE NASTY GIRL" LINE DANCE WAS RENAMED "THE WOBBLE" LINE DANCE 
Excerpt #1
AI Overview [retrieved August 21, 2025] 

The "Wobble" line dance, popularized by the 2008 V.I.C. song, originated from the 1990s "Nasty Girl" line dance choreographed by the late Joe "Butterball" Tamburro and the late Dave Bush, Jr in Philadelphia. Jeremy Strong later changed the name to "The Wobble" and associated it with the song, leading to its widespread national adoption. This community dance is a staple at weddings, nightclubs, and family gatherings across America.

Origins in Philadelphia

The dance's true origins can be traced to Philadelphia in the mid-1990s, where it was known as the "Nasty Girl" line dance.

It was choreographed by the legendary Joe "Butterball" Tamburro, along with "Butterball's Posse" and the late Dave Bush, Jr., who was known as the "Godfather of Line Dance".

The Transition to "The Wobble"

In 2009, Jeremy Strong of Texas renamed the dance "The Wobble".

This coincided with the rising popularity of the song "Wobble" by the Atlanta rapper V.I.C., released in 2008, which became the standard music for the dance.

Widespread Popularity

The combination of Strong's rebranding and the catchy song led to the dance becoming a national phenomenon, becoming popular at various events.

It is now considered a community dance, performed at weddings, family reunions, nightclubs, and other social gatherings.

The dance is often performed at African American events and is a symbol of community and connection.

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Excerpt #2
From https://www.facebook.com/groups/164844910212525/posts/759384654091878/ "The "wobble" line dance originated in Philadelphia"

UniverSOUL Line Dancing  

Tamika Tammy Simmons Shipman, April 28, 2014

"Just a Lil history lesson about "The Wobble"

The Wobble did NOT originate in Texas with Jeremy Stong. Here is proof that the "Wobble" line dance is really a dance that originated out of Philadelphia called "Nasty Girl"choreographed by the late great Joe "Butterball" Tamburro and "Butterball's Posse"  w/ the late Dave Bush, Jr (Godfather of Line Dance) in the mid 90s. Bernadette Burnette, formally with Dave Bush Dancers, had the honor of teaching and leading this dance back in 2004 at a Soul Line event hosted by DJ Butch Thomas! Who would have known back then that this dance would have swept the nation years later!!!! Let the truth be known

Mark Wynn:
Tamika Simmons i want to chime in and add some more proof. You can also add this video of Ed Williams teaching the Nasty Girl back on March 31st 2008. and yes on youtube it has the date and year posted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GetejAIUe6o

The "WOBBLE" by V.I.C wasn't even out yet then neither,,,, The Wobble song came out July 15th 2008, but it didn't do anything.... But in June 2011 it became known and popular after someone in our Linedance community taught the Nasty Girl Dance to an old WOBBLE song and DID NOT GIVE Credit to the actual Choreographer and the name of the actual dance, LIKE IT'S SUPPOSE TO BE DONE,.. Thats how everything got so twisted. Even V.I.C did not know it was a LineDance to his song, until we had a show together and the promoter told him all the people want to hear is the Wobble and he was tripping out saying they play that old song? But when he performed it the who** club started Line Dancing and it blew his mind and the rest is history."
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The link in this excerpt is for the video that is embedded at the top of this pancocojams post.

**who= whole
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Here's the only comment from that Facebook post:
Aline Goodman, 2014
"the person who changed the music is not going to speak up because they now see the controversy they caused by not giving credit where credit is due and i am gonna assume it's because they didn't know. now we can correct it with this proof" 

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