Are These 1993 And 2019 Dances The Percolator Or Some Other Dance/s That Claim To Be The Percolator? - Part II

Edited by Azizi Powell

Lasted revision - October 15, 2026

This is Part II of a four part pancocojams series that explores the question "Why Are Some African American Social Dances With The Same Name Performed Differently By African Americans In Different United States Cities, States, or Regions?" 

The "Percolator" social dance is used in this series as an example of this custom.  

This post presents information about Detroit, Michigan's television dance series The New Show that documents African American teens and young adults performing dances that some people identify as the percolated.

This post also showcases a film clip of that television series that allegedly shows some African Americans doing the Percolator dance. A second dance of what is purportedly the Percolator  is also showcased in this pancocojams post. 

This post also presents selected comments from the discussion thread of those two showcased videos.  

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/10/why-are-some-african-american-social.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. That post presents opinions about why African Americans  (within the same period of time and/or during later periods of time)* have the same name for social dances that are performed differently depending on what city, or part of the same city, or state/region in the United States that the dancers live/d in. 

* Some African American social dances may have different names in different cities/regions of the United States. However, that custom isn't the focus of this particular pancocojams series.

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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/10/african-americans-in-2007-in-2019-doing.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. That post showcases two YouTube videos with selected comments from the discussion thread of Showcase Video #2.  

Click __ for Part IV of this pancocojams series. That post showcases two YouTube videos that focus on Sam Sanchez, a White (or White passing Latino) male from Chicago, Illinois who was videotaped in 2024 (without his foreknowledge) performing the Percolator dance while he was on a cruise. The first showcase video in this pancocojams post is a television interview of Sam Sanchez and the second video is from the YouTube channel that Sam Sanchez subsequently launched after that Percolator video went viral. In that video Sanchez instructs viewers how to do the Percolator. Selected comments from these two videos are included in that post.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to all those who are featured in these videos. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos on YouTube. 

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTES
This pancocojams post and Part III of this pancocojams series showcases some examples of what the video publishers and some of the commenters in those videos' discussion thread allege are the Percolator dance. 

Some YouTube videos of African American social dances and some commenters in discussion threads of those videos use the term "old school" or "new school" to refer to how those dances were performed and/or are performed at the time those videos were published.

With regard to the Percolator dance, "old school" means the way that dance was performed when it first was created in 1992, or the way that dance was performed in the 1990s to around 2000.

The meaning of "new school" with regard to the Percolator dance is more difficult to define since the dance styles that were "new" when that video what was filmed or taped were "old" when those videos were published on YouTube.

What those videos document is that there were (and there continues to be) multiple ways that the percolator was/is danced. Also, there was and still is a lot of disagreement about what dance moves are actually the Percolator dance. 

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It's difficult to showcase YouTube examples of  "old school" and "new school" versions of the Percolator dance because there were/are so many ways of performing that dance and there has never been any agreement about which old style/s of dancing actually represent that dance.

This lack of consensus about what constitutes the percolator's dance s reflected in most YouTube video discussion threads for videos of that dance. In almost all videos-including the two YouTube videos in this pancocojams post, some commenters praise the dancing and indicate that they are examples of the percolator while at least one commenter and usually many more commenters denounce the same dancing. Also, in most YouTube video discussion threads of the percolator some commenters write that  those examples aren't the "real" percolator and/or "the right way" and or the "old school" way or ways of doing the percolator.     
I'm showcasing the two videos of the Percolator that are embedded in this post based on their visuals and (even more that the visuals themselves) based on these comments that I have selected from these videos' discussion threads. 

These showcase videos are presented in chronological order with the oldest published video given first.

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Showcase Video @1 presents a film clip of a dance segment from The New Show, a Detroit, Michigan television series that featured African American teens dancing.

Here's some information about The New Show
from AI Overview
"The New Dance Show (often referred to as "The New Show") was a cult-classic, locally produced Detroit television dance series that aired from 1988 to 1996.

Overview and Origins 

• Creators: Created and hosted by R.J. Watkins and produced by Henry Tyler.

• Predecessor: It was a direct spin-off of The Scene, another legendary dance show hosted by Nat Morris that ran on WGPR-TV from 1975 to 1987.

• Station: Broadcast primarily on WGPR-TV Channel 62 in Detroit—the nation’s first Black-owned and operated television station—before later moving to other local outlets like Highland Park's public access and cable channels.

Style, Music, and Vibe

• The Music: Unlike Soul Train, which focused heavily on mainstream, radio-friendly R&B, The New Dance Show became a pioneering time capsule for Detroit techno, Chicago house, electrofunk, Miami bass, and ghetto-tech.

• The Dancing: It featured regular local teenagers and young adults doing high-energy dance lines, freestyle street moves, high kicks, and hip-locks. Regular dancers (such as LaWanda Gray and Jesse "The Body") became hometown celebrities overnight.

• Aesthetic: Known for its delightfully lo-fi, DIY studio aesthetic, R.J. Watkins’ signature fast-paced editing matched camera cuts directly to the beat of the underground tracks.

• Catchphrase: Host R.J. Watkins famously signed off with the mantra, “Keep it movin’, keep it groovin’.”

Cultural Legacy

• The show served as a crucial visual and auditory platform for the emerging global Detroit techno and electronic music culture, introducing cutting-edge underground sounds directly to local youth."...

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #1- The Percolator

Aseagris, Feb 16, 2007

TRACK: The Percolator

ARTIST: Cajmere (name changed to "Green Velvet")
-snip-
Selected comments from the discussion thread of this YouTube video (with numbers added for referencing purposes only.) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMEDZnM_TZE&t=59s

2007

1. @tropicalpancake56
"I love the Percolator!  Thank you Aseagris!!!!x"

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2. @cdm021
"The girl in the red, the girl with the braids, and the dude in the black were my favorites. Everybody else could've sat down. but those three were gettin it."

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3. @RegCrowd
"I remember watching this and dancing to the music. I couldn't wait to get old enough to go on the show. It stop before my time. Boy that was a year."

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4. @igouge
"This song has been stuck in my head for the last 16 or so years thanks to the New Dance Show."

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5. @MercedesSantiaga
"This is so old school its not even funny. I saw a few dudes with high top fades and gumbys. Please don't tell me this is Detroit in 2007, im begging you. That said they KILLED it, made me want to get up and percolate lol. Even though, chicago has a different style of percolate (if your'e good you do the tramp split) lol"

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2008

6. @ccricers
"The first time I heard Percolator was in grade school- some dance group came to perform and one of them said to prepare for the future of music. After the show I knew this was my type of music."

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7. @Jolar70
"GOD BLESS "THE NEW DANCE SHOW"!  I know "The Scene" came first, but this sh-t* is CRAYZEEE!!!!! Detroit is AMAZING!"
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled in that comment in that discussion thread.

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8. @Adamoda14
"Now I know why Detroit defines the height of American culture."

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Reply
9.@runway2007
"but this kind of musik was born by chicago's house musik"

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10.@BaldAmbition
"The girl with the braids at the 02:00 mark wins.  LOL"

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11. @OTERO81
"Chi town sh-t* right there son"
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled out in that discussion thread comment.

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2009

12. @notoriouslyNAY
"datz they original percolator"

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13.  @Darkcloud935
"How old is this?"

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Reply
14. @jpenn311, 2011
"@doa1120  Judging by the clothes I'd say 1992 or 93!"

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Reply
15. @TheMsKHall004
"dis da 90s boo boo"

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16. @X-101
"You know how old this video is and how old this track is? it came out in 1992 been funny seeing these vids on utube wondering how this tracks spread :D"

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17. @alexisp18
"That is not the damn Perculator!!!!"

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18. @liljeff2008
"LMAO. THIS OL SCHOOL ASS VIDEO"

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19. @RioXavier
"Worst video quality ever. What is this VHS?"

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20. @alluring1one
"Oh hell naw. All these dancers are weak. The only one that made an effort was the guy in the stripes that got on the floor.

Although props to Public Access TV Detroit? for playing this song. hahaha"

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Reply
21. @mspubquiz83
"lol dont even try dissin this"

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22. @LINDASCHANNEL
"WHAT IS A PERCOLATOR ???"

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23. @Jude300c
"The girl with the braids owned everyone before and shut down everyone after"

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2010

24. @devlino
"This is classic material. I used to watch this show just about every afternoon after school. Why was this on in the middle of the afternoon? So not a good time for a dance show!"

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25. @SlikkTim
"Cajmere is from Chicago son..."

-snip-
Cajmere composed and recorded "Percolator". He later changed his screen name to "Green Velvet".

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26. @Cynicalese
"zelma12312, This track was adopted by Baltimore Club & Philly Club music fans. It's actually a House Music track. I remember hearing it almost twenty years ago. The footage of this video is early 90's and that's around the time that 'Percolator' track came out by a DJ from Chicago. This was probably the track that lead to the Baltimore and Philly club music scene.

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2011

27. @Dom_Zero0
"i used to watch this show.. on the public acess channel.. 60 something or 38"

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28. @nessam72
"LOL....You took Me way back on this! I still love it!"

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29. @slickhector
"Oh, the memories.  In Grade 6, in small town Ontario, across the border from Detroit, where this show was made, we used to make fun of how low budget this show was when it came on the TV after school.  Must have been about 1988.  That blue neon signage just kills me, and was way past its prime even then."

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30. @mostwanted11
"Ole boy at 3:30 almost got a 'jit' off. Classic 90's detroit sh-t*
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled on in that comment.
-snip-
"The Detroit Jit (or "Jitting") is a high-energy, fast-paced street dance style that originated in Detroit, Michigan, during the 1970s and 1980s (source: https://www.facebook.com/VisitDetroit/videos/no-one-makes-the-world-move-like-detroit

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31. @marailius
"who used to make this beat on the lunch table?"

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2012

32. @MDplaful
"The dude @ 2:28 is the best! He destroyed it. Ah, I miss the 90's."

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33. @RealRayaRose
"all the lyrics is is its time for the percilator like 50 times duhh"

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2013

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2014

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2015

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2016

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2017

34. @gingerbreadgal30
"No matter where you are when this joint comes on , you immediately stop what you doing and start dancing"

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35. @MikeAbe100
"Love this song so much, Makes you want to get up and boogie, woogie, woogie, till you just can't do it no more ;)"

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36. @metalmatic8993
"Weakest percolators ever"

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Reply
37. @QUICKNESSN3
"Metal Matic I said the same thing. Before reading your comment, I said, "Where did they get these oeopke from?  Is that the best percolator they can do?

I actually never seen one person do the percolator in this video. Or if they did, it was so mundane, that it went right pass me. Lol."

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2018

38. @YouKnowHowIDo420
"before twerk there was perc"

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39. @pamelahendricks1637
"Ppl have diff versions of this dance"

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Reply
40. @slloyd5124
"Yup it's regional. Chi town is pretty good tho, lookup "Percolator-chi town"
-snip-
"Chi-town" = "Chicago, Illinois"

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41. @mathisbailey794
"It used to fascinate me whenever I saw guys Jit to this mix. 1:08 ...always appreciated the footwork."

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2019

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2020

42. @markeitajohnson8495
"I use to watch this show faithfully in Detroit as a youth.  Classic"

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2021

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2022

43. @QUICKNESSN3
"This is not Chi/G.I. (the rink) percolator I know. shrugs shoulders"

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2023

44. @mlayne2022
"I remember watching this show in High School. This song was 🔥 at every event"

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Reply
45. @RomyIlano
"That dance floor is legendary I wish I was there"

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2024

46. @JayDeeSea
"Cajmere (Green Velvet) is still playing The Percolator.  It isn't going anywhere and we don't want it to."

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47. @Authenticjarrette
"Notice their not doing any thing close to the way the do the peculiar. It evolved over time"
-snip-
"Peculiar" is a mis-spelling of "percolator"

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2025

48. @andraemoore9258
"Classic 90's Michigan"

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49. @MatthewSwanson-f5v
"Guy in the striped sweater with red stripes was going to work. He’s the number one dancer according to me and my 5 yr old and 8 yr old kids."
-snip-
"Going to work"- a complimentary saying meaning "doing something (in this case dancing) very good" (same meaning as "killed it"; "ate it") 

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50. @josetrujillo2392
"Probably one of the corniest, goofiest, addicting songs around"

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51. @gj4650
"Dude in black and girl with braids killed it"

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2026

52. @anastasialee5056
" So where did people get them tiktok dances from this?"

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2- It’s time for the perculator



precious common, May 1, 2019

My mom enjoying her Birthday night out with some good ol school house music with my brother in the background as her hype man our mother is all we ever had and she sacrifice having a good time every single day just to make sure everything is taken care of fir our family ...love your mother you only get one
-snip-
Here are selected comments from the discussion thread for this YouTube video, with numbers added for referencing purposes only.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpBE-_QkcEE

2019

1. @themoor66, 2019
"Her son is her hype man for real.😊😊 She getting it!!❤"

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Reply
2. @kimberlylindsey1205, 2021
"I LOVE HOW HE CHEERING HIS MOMMA ON...."C'MON MA"...."THATS MY MOMMA".....I LOVE THAT 😍"

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3. @Setschosen090
"That was the most Brutal Perculation I have ever seen. I got nothing on that. Repsect."

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4. @parenthoodparables
"Yeaaaaa she threw dooooooown 🙌☺"

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Reply
5. @TheCharlaB, 2025
"Now this is the percolator I grew up on"

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2020

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2021

6. @veronicamcdowell2371
"That's the percolator"

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7. @tonyaglenn2116
"She was getting it in. Movin better then them young people. They better be lucky she didn't hit the slits."

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8. @stampdouglas1461
"See gettin it... "Westside Percolator"
-snip-
"Westside Percolator" = the way the percolator was danced in Chicago's Westside.

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9. @mrfixit8312
"Chi-Town westside baby"
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2021

10. @quielaivory9104, 2022
"Go momma go with her bad self!! she wasn’t playing as she tearing up the dance floor."

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11. @SavvyCarla
"Yessss she did that 🔥🔥🔥🔥"

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12. @lashawndaruffin9632
"Go Mama)))!!! She was getting it!!! That's how it's done!!! Yaasss!!"

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2022

13. @ToccaraLHyde
"Waiting on the split"

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14. @raerae3455
"yes mama show how we used to do it"

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15. @spicy1ize
"She the Only video I seen do it Properly .... Every other video people Wild Legs going Every which way,just Acting a Fool. 😂😂"

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16. @fairygamer77
"this sista snapping!!!. my love from West side Chicago. woot. 😍😎😎😎"

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2023

17. @desmondstrose8582
"She ate it up"

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18. @heymisswest
"She killed it"

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19. @WDW100Yrs
"I give her credit for her effort and energy but that's NOT the perulator lol!"

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20. @johnharrison5098
"go hed mama.... get low on dey azzzzz🥰🥰🥰🥰"

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21. @QuandriaLaunese
"Mother not playin wit y’all…. Westside, ChiTown 🙌🏽🥰"

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2024

22. @bgknowable
"That last part—those Perc Chi girls always got us MN girls. Still ain’t😊😂 mad."

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2025

23. @janicecoleman8239
"I love the fact that her son is her biggest cheerleader. You go Son. ❤😂❤"

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This concludes Part II of this pancocojams series.

Thanks for visitingpancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Four Motown Recordings Of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post provides information about the Rhythm & Blues song "I Heard It Though The Grapevine" and showcases four Motown examples of that song. The featured artists who are featured in this post are Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Marvin Gaye, and The Temptations.

Note: These four examples aren't the only recordings of "I Heard It Though The Grapevine" by Motown recording artists.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, the composers of this song. Thanks also to all the featured singers and musicians. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and the publishers of these examples on YouTube.

Hat tip to Mitchell McCann who sent me an email requesting a pancocojams post about "I Heard It Though The Grapevine".

Click https://play.google.com/music/preview/T6sajmrpnxg2jcq4zawy2lvdbk4?lyrics=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=lyrics&pcampaignid=kp-lyrics for lyrics to this song.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Heard_It_Through_the_Grapevine
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is a song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for Motown Records in 1966, and made famous by Marvin Gaye in a single released in October 1968 on Motown's Tamla label.

Smokey Robinson & the Miracles released a cover in their 1968 album, Special Occasion. Whitfield produced a version with Gladys Knight & the Pips, which Gordy releases as a single in September 1967, and which went to number two in the Billboard chart. The Marvin Gaye version was placed on his 1968 album In the Groove, where it gained the attention of radio disc jockeys, and Gordy finally agreed to its release as a single in October 1968, when it went to the top of the Billboard Pop Singles chart for seven weeks from December 1968 to January 1969 and became for a time the biggest hit single on the Motown label (Tamla).
The Gaye recording has since become an acclaimed soul classic, and in 2004, it was placed on the Rolling Stone list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. On the commemorative 50th Anniversary of the Billboard Hot 100 issue of Billboard magazine in June 2008, Marvin Gaye's "Grapevine" was ranked 65th. It was also inducted to the Grammy Hall of Fame for "historical, artistic and significant" value.

In addition to being released several times by Motown artists, the song has been covered by a range of musicians including Creedence Clearwater Revival, who made an eleven-minute interpretation for their 1970 album, Cosmo's Factory; and has been used twice in television commercials – each time using session musicians recreating the style of the Marvin Gaye version: the 1985 Levi's commercial, "Launderette", featuring male model Nick Kamen, and the 1986 California raisins promotion with Buddy Miles as the singer for the clay animation group The California Raisins.

Composition
By 1966, Barrett Strong, the singer on Motown Records' breakthrough hit, "Money (That's What I Want)", had the basics of a song he had started to write in Chicago, where the idea had come to him while walking down Michigan Avenue that people were always saying "I heard it through the grapevine".[1] The phrase is associated with black slaves during the Civil War, who had their form of telegraph: the human grapevine.[2][3] Producer Norman Whitfield worked with Strong on the song, adding lyrics to Strong's basic Ray Charles influenced gospel tune and the single chorus line of "I heard it through the grapevine".[4] This was to be the first of a number of successful collaborations between Strong and Whitfield.[5]

Motown recordings
Producer Norman Whitfield recorded "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" with various Motown artists. The first known recording is with the Miracles on August 6, 1966, though there may also have been a recording with the Isley Brothers, or at least Whitfield intended to record it with them; however a track has not turned up – some Motown historians believe that a session may have been scheduled but cancelled.[4][7][8][9] The Miracles' version was not released as a single due to Berry Gordy's veto during Motown's weekly quality control meetings; Gordy advised Whitfield and Strong to create a stronger single.[7] The Miracles version later appeared on their 1968 Special Occasion album, and a slightly different take, possibly from the same session but unreleased, appeared on the 1998 compilation album, Motown Sings Motown Treasures.[10]

Marvin Gaye's version was recorded in spring 1967, and is the second known recording, though was also rejected by Gordy as a single, and would also later go onto an album, In the Groove. The third recording was in 1967 with Gladys Knight and the Pips in a new, faster arrangement. Gordy accepted the new arrangement and the Gladys Knight version was released as a single in September 1967, reaching number 2 in the charts. When Gaye's album with his version of Grapevine was released in August 1968 radio disc jockeys were playing the song, so Gordy had it released as a single in October, and it went to number one in December.

In 1968, Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers recorded a version for their debut album based on Gladys' recent hit; however, after hearing the Marvin Gaye version, they felt they'd made the wrong choice.[11] In 1969, Whitfield produced a version for the Temptations "psychedelic soul" album, Cloud Nine, in which he "brought compelling percussion to the fore, and relegated the piano well into the wings".[12] In 1971, the Undisputed Truth became the final Motown act to record the song in its Marvin-styled version. The song was also covered by the Chi-Lites on their 1969 debut album Give It Away.

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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
These videos are presented in chronological order by their publishing dates on YouTube with the oldest video given first.

Example #1: I Heard It Through The Grapevine-Gladys Knight and the Pips [1971]



wingtipvortex Uploaded on May 14, 2008

Love this tune to bits! Creedence version is brilliant, this one is double brilliant!!
-snip-
Here's a link to the Creedence Clearwater Revival version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93S_l0qZrXA
-snip-
Selected comments from this video's discussion thread:
Okon “Herbsman” Umoh, 2014
"No disrespect to Marvin, but this version takes the biscuit. There is just so much funk, soul, personality and attitude in this one."
-snip-
The idiom “takes the biscuit” is usually given as “takes the cake” (meaning, “wins the prize”).

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Lou Hutson, 2014
"Motown had the genius idea of having more than one of their artists record the same song. Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight hit heard it through the grapevine out of the park!"

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iluvmusicals21, 2014
"Love Gladys' version, though Marvin's has more airplay."

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kelamo, 2014
"This is from the very first episode of Soul Train!"

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Example #2: Marvin Gaye I Heard It Through The Grapevine (1968)



Rene Zwaap, Uploaded on Feb 25, 2009
Favorietje

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Example #3: Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - I Heard It Through the Grapevine



KingRizlaa, Uploaded on Jan 27, 2010

Original version
-snip-
Selected comments from this sound file's discussion thread:
Matt S, 2014
"This was the first recorded version, in 1966. It wasn't released until much later. Marvin Gaye's version was the second one RECORDED (1967) but was initially rejected as a single and put on Gaye's "In The Groove" album (1968). DJs played the song on the radio and forced Motown to make it a single. Gladys Knight and the Pips' version was the first one RELEASED but the third RECORDED..."

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shomzlezilebovic, 2014
"what about temptations version?"

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Frank Janssen, 2014
"+shomzlezilebovic According to The Originals.be this is the sequence of recording (not release!!) Smokey Robinson & The Miracles (1966), Isley Brothers (1967) [unreleased], Gladys Knight & The Pips (1967) [n°1 R&B], Willie Bobo (1967) , Marvin Gaye (1968) [n°1 R&B, US & UK], King Curtis (1968) , Temptations (1969), Chi-Lites (1969) , Creedence Clearwater Revival (1970) , Undisputed Truth (1971) , Maggie MacNeal (1971) , Average White Band (1977) , Joe Cocker (1978) , Slits (1979) , Bettye LaVette (1980) , Roger (1981) [n°1 R&B], Flying Pickets (1984) , Tuxedomoon (1987) , Marisa Monte (1989) , F.M. (1991) [hardrock-version], B.J. Scott & Doug Duffy (1994) , Soultans (1996) , The King (1998) , Michael McDonald (2003) , Amy Winehouse & Paul Weller (2008)
NB: these are the well-known versions, not every version nor the best .... The Slits did a good job butchering this song! ;-P"

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Example #4: The Temptations - I Heard It Through The Grapevine



Will Common Published on Sep 15, 2013

Copyrights owned by Motown Records (1969). Lead by Eddie Kendricks & Dennis Edwards, Narrating of a man hearing of his own relationships deception through the grapevine. This is their cover version. Originally done by Glady Knight & The Pips in 1967 and was made famous by Marvin Gaye a year later.

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Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Waacking and Voguing (Street dances) Part II

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part II of a two part series on the styles of street dancing known as "waaking" and "voguing". This post provides information & comments about voguing and showcases six videos of styles of vogue dancing.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/03/waacking-and-voguing-street-dances-part.html for Part I of this series.

Parr I provides information & comments about waacking and showcases two videos of that dance.

The content of this post is provided for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all the featured dancers. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of this video on YouTube.

WARNING: Music played for street dancing may contain mild profanity (such as the word that rhymes with "ditch") or more than mild profanity. Also, a number of YouTube street dancing comment threads contain profanity, homophobic content, and other content that may be considered objectionable.

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INFORMATION ABOUT VOGUING
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vogue_(dance)
"Vogue, or voguing, is a highly stylized, modern house dance that evolved out of the Harlem ballroom scene in the 1980s.[1][2] It gained mainstream exposure when it was featured in Madonna's song and video "Vogue" (1990),[3] and when showcased in the 1990 documentary Paris is Burning (which went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival)...

Inspired by Vogue magazine, voguing is characterized by model-like poses integrated with angular, linear, and rigid arm, leg, and body movements. This style of dance arose from Harlem ballrooms by African Americans and Latino Americans in the early 1960s. It was originally called "presentation" and later "performance".[2] Over the years, the dance evolved into the more intricate and illusory form that is now called "vogue". Voguing is continually developed further as an established dance form that is practiced in the gay ballroom scene and clubs in major cities throughout the United States—mainly New York City.

Formal competitions occur in the form of balls held by "houses"—family-like collectives of LGBT dancers and performers.[2][5]... ("Legendary" in ballroom terms refers to a house that has been "serving", that is, walking or competing on the runway, for twenty years or more). The House of Ninja was founded by Willi Ninja, who is considered the godfather of voguing.[5][6] Members of a house are called "children". Sometimes children legally change their last name to show their affiliation with the house to which they belong.[2]...

Styles
There are currently three distinct styles of vogue: Old Way (pre-1990); New Way (post-1990);[7] and Vogue Fem (circa 1995).[2] Although Vogue Fem has been used in the ballroom scene as a catch-all phrase for overtly effeminate Voguing as far back as the 1960s, as a recognizable style of Voguing, it only came into its own around the mid-1990s.

Old way
Old way is characterized by the formation of lines, symmetry, and precision in the execution of formations with graceful, fluid-like action. Egyptian hieroglyphs and fashion poses serve as the original inspirations for old way voguing. In its purest, historical form, old way vogue is a duel between two rivals...

New way
New way is characterized by rigid movements coupled with "clicks" (limb contortions at the joints) and "arms control" (hand and wrist illusions, which sometimes includes tutting and locking)...

Vogue Fem
Vogue Fem (the spelling being an English appropriation to fr. femme, feminine) is fluidity at its most extreme with exaggerated feminine movements influenced by ballet and modern dance. …There are five elements of Vogue Fem: hand performance, catwalk, duckwalk, floor performance, and spins and dips. When competing in a Vogue Fem battle, contestants should showcase all five elements in an entertaining fashion.

Hand performance refers to the illusions and movements of the arms, wrists, hands, and fingers. The catwalk is the upright sashaying in a linear fashion. The duckwalk refers to the crouched, squatted, foot-kicking and scooting movements requiring balance on the balls of the feet. Floor performance refers to the movements done on the floor using primarily the legs, knees, and back. The dip is the fall, drop, or descent backward onto one's back with one's leg folded underneath. Mainstream dance forms popularized the dip, which is occasionally called the "death drop" when done in dramatics style. Due to popular media, the dip is sometimes incorrectly termed the "5000", "shablam", and "shabam"; such misnomers likely stem from older commentators chanting the word "shawam" when a voguer successfully completed a dip"...
-snip-
Additional information about voguing is also included in Part I of this series.

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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
These videos are posted in chronological order with video with the oldest date posted first.

Example #1: Vogue Classique



trill, Uploaded on Jun 10, 2006

Energetically edited clips of all the legendary children (Willi Ninja, José and Luis Xtravaganza, et al) of the New York houses from the late 80's to early 90's. A handsome portion of New Way style thrown in with mostly Old Way (no Vogue Fem Queen this time; sorry Miss Dramatics) stylings. Features clips from the video for Malcolm McLaren's "Deep in Vogue," public access television demonstrations, and ball performances.

The soundtrack opens with the intro to "Happiness" by the Pointer Sisters and segues quickly into "Dub Break" by Ellis D, one of Junior Vasquez's monikers.

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Example #2: Old School Vs. New School Vogue



chuckiechuckles2006, Uploaded on Jul 3, 2006
Vogueing ball footage from the guys at Sterile Cowboys & Co. Uploaded on Jul 3, 2006...

More info at www.sterilecowboys.org Video by Nicolas Jenkins
-snip-
Comment:
Franklin M. Lopez, 2012
"Those who comment negatively about "VOGUING" have no concept about the culture and its importance. VOGUING is about BELONGING, FAMILY, PRIDE, EXCELLENCE and is also a GATEWAY to MUCH greater things...Where "Kids" prove themselves by earning their "10's" and many get discovered by artists and accept CAREERS as professional dancers, models"

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Example #3: Best VOGUE CLIPS you can't stop watching


PhillyProdigy09, Uploaded on Jun 27, 2010

some performance battles I just can't stop watching
-snip-
Comments:
Koleton Cox, 2012
"Can someone explain to me why is it this big deal when someone falls down to the beat? like i have seen this in every video i have seen on youtube and i never really got the history behind it? where does it come from and why is it used so much when dancing to this beat?"

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LadyOrnitia, 2012
in reply to Koleton Cox
"It's called a dip, one of the elements of Vogue Fem."...

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Example #4: Battle the Kings -vogue myzak-neu & beck be fab vs Honeysha Khan & amber lee revlon(2)*



Bruno Marignan, Published on Jan 4, 2013

Battle the Kings 2vs2 hiphop, house dance, popping, break et waacking-voguing.
-snip-
Comments:
itzpokey891, 2013
"yall betta work honey...a lil to wild but it was awsome where yall frm?"

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*Corrected video title as per the dancer's comment:
Roseau Sabin Kevy, 2013
"from paris !! n thx u but my name is honeysha khan , from house of khan n not honey shak lmao !! but thx :) i appreciate that"

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swaid wise, 2013
"How the hell you expect to win a vogue battle with no dips, no dives, or deathdrops?"

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FERN IGU7, 2013
"two different era of vogin"

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cojack424, 2013
"WHy am i just seeing this.......Work out.......I love a good old fashion vogue battle.....Although this is vogue fem vs new way vogue, but it's cute.......I'm sorry but the guy in all black is serving......He has all the elements of vogue,,,,arms, hands,.....He gets 10's across the board....... plus he's a cutie"

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Example #5: STREETSTAR 2013 - Vogue Femme Final Battle Lasseindra (FRA) vs Ida"Inxi" Holmlund (FIN)



Published on Aug 22, 2013

Streetstar Vogue Femme Final Battle: WONDER WOMAN Lasseindra (FRA) WINNER against SAILOR MOON Ida "Inxi" Holmlund (FIN) at the Streetstar festival february 2013 in Stockholm, Sweden.
Judges: Archie Burnett (US), Javier Ninja(US) and Leiomy(US).

Dj: Vjuan Allure.

Comentator: Dashaun Wesley (US).
-snip-
Comments:
Naiilah Raks, 2014
"Actually Inxi (Sailor Moon) is a woman and Lasseindra (Wonder Woman) is a drag queen from the famous House of Ninja. Both are feeeeeeerce though!

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Helen Preis, 2014
"...Women dance differently. Which is why ideally there should be separate categories for femme queen performance and women's performance. Girls are a bit more cautious if they do dramatic dips. But Streetstar did a great job doing old way, new way, femme and runway that year. "

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Example #6: JAVIER NINJA - Vogue Demo at STREETSTAR 2013



streetstar, Published on Aug 22, 2013

Fantastic dancer Javier Ninja presents a New Way Solo at Streetstar.
-snip-
Note that the commenters on this video's viewer comment thread loved the dance but had less praise for the announcer as demonstrated by this comment:
Down Clown, 2014
"...the commentor was attempting to chant which is distracting to the dancer if not done right. Chanting is just as much part of vogue as are the angles of the dance, so you can't say that it isn't a big deal. Again, you don't know what your talking about homie.”

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Waacking and Voguing (Street dances) Part I

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part series on the styles of street dancing known as "waaking" and "voguing". This post provides information & comments about waacking and showcases two videos of that dance.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/03/waacking-and-voguing-street-dances-part_5.html for Part II of this series. That post provides information & comments about voguing and showcases six videos of that dance's styles.

The content of this post is provided for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all the featured dancers. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of this video on YouTube.

WARNING: A number of YouTube street dancing comment threads contain profanity and homophobic content.

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INFORMATION ABOUT WAACKING
From http://dancepundit.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/strike-a-pose/
"Waacking and voguing both fall under the “urban” or “street” dance genres. Waacking began in the 1970s on the West Coast, more specifically in Los Angeles. It can be recognized by it’s wild yet controled arm movements and posing. Waacking incorporates arm movements, footwork, and elements of drama as well as the dancer’s personal and unique style. There is also a wonderful aspect of musicality because the dancers are specifically tailoring their movements to the beats and the rhythm of the song.

Voguing, while very similar to waacking, began on the East Coast and became popular in the 80s. This dance emerged from the Harlem ballroom scene (and I am not talking about the waltz). Voguing is characterized by model-like poses integrated with angular, linear, and rigid arm, leg, and body movements. In its original form, it served as a non-aggressive battle between two feuding individuals. Just in case you were wondering, the term voguing was influenced by the poses models often take when gracing the pages of fashions magazines, like Vogue"...

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From http://danceparade.org/wp/dp2012/genre-buzz-celebrating-the-waacking-style-of-street-dance/
"The dance style called Waacking involves fast and dynamic movements of the arms, which resemble the wrist roll in locking but more exaggerated and extended. This style of dance also incorporates sharp angular poses, which is called Voguing, a style commonly done together with Waacking. Essentially, I like to think of waacking as elements of jazz dance combined with locking because of the distinct arm actions and styling involved...

Disco Music was the perfect vehicle for Waacking, with its driving rhythms and hard beats. In the early 1970s in Los Angeles, dancer Lamont Peterson was one of the first to start using his arms and body to the music...
-
At the time Waacking was primarily a gay Black and Latino dance. Many people mistakenly believe that “Waacking” came from “Locking” because some of the movements are very similar. The Gay community is solely responsible for the creation of Waacking style of dance. Waacking and Locking do have some similarities but they are different dances. Waacking is the original name of the dance...

The name “Waacking" originated from The Soul Train Dancer Tyrone Proctor and Jeffrey Daniel’s of the Outrageous Waack Dancer’s in 1972 themselves (Because of the thrusting of the arms). “Garbo” is another name given to the dance by Andrew because of the posing he did (like the pictures of the glamour women of the 40’s) ...

The difference between “Waacking” and “Voguing” is “Waacking” became popular in the early 70’s on the West Coast. “Waacking” is mostly done to Disco Music. “Voguing” became popular in the late 70’s on the East Coast.”Voguing” is done to mostly House music.”…
Over 35 years “Waacking” is still going strong..."

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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
These videos are posted in chronological order with video with the oldest date posted first.

Example #1: WAACKING DANCE: Step Ya Game Up (NYC 2009)



TheRussianTiger, Uploaded on Jul 30, 2009

Waacking preliminary at a hip hop jam called Step Ya Game Up. Battles in wacking (whacking), popping, locking, hip hop and house all took place directly after this. This jam happened in New York City on July 25th from 2:00pm to 4:00am. Very cool and rare dance style to see in battle. Battles judged by Tyrone Proctor! Enjoy the footage :)...
-snip-
Here are three comments from this video's viewer comment thread:
tenchichrono, 2010
"This dance started out in the gay dance clubs in LA/Hollywood. It's really similar to locking in a way."

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baeksoltang, 2011
"I have first watched this vid in 2009 at the time when it was posted. I don't know what is going on in US, but waacking scene in East Asia (including Korea, Japan, China) has grown so big that it is almost as big as that of popping and locking now. It is getting recognized as a disdinct style under the umbrella of funk styles, as popping and locking do. You can see Pop&Lock events are transitioning to Pop&Lock&Waack events nowadays. As a locker my self, it's nice that Funk Style is flourishing"

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Laggin6, 2013
"I love watching this very dramatic style of dance, but can't help thinking about people dancing like this in clubs and getting WAACKED in the head by those flying arm movements. I'm guessing that's where it gets that name? LOL!"
-snip-
“whack” = slang word for forcefully hitting (striking) someone or something
Note that "wack" also is a slang word that means "foolish" and "uncool" but that definition doesn't apply to this dance form.

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Example #2: WAACKEISHA (CAN) vs PRINCESS MADOKI (FRA) Whacking Finals I STREETSTAR 2013


Published on Mar 22, 2013

Dazzeling Final Whacking Battle at Streetstar festival 2013. Winner is Waackeisha from Canada. www.streetstar.se
-snip-
Here are four comments from this video's viewer comment thread:
exit planet dust, 2013
"It's not "Whacking". It's Waacking."

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Luiss Mota, 2013
"YASS Ms. Princess Madoki was giving me life honey she was serving WAACKeisha"

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MrDambiSchool, 2014
"I have to strongly disagree with that. Madoki was a crowd pleaser, she gave face and attitude and sexiness and she grooved a lot, which was nice, but at the end of the day it's a waacking battle and girl you need to waack at some point. From 1:10 to 2:00, which is almost her entire round. She did 6 waacks... 6 And they were sloppy. Shes great at doing lines and feeling the music but like I said It's waacking and Waackeisha will give face while still showing that her technique is amazing and her waacks are just powerful and clean. It was a pretty obvious choice. "

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Geoff Simmons, 2014
"waackeisha was hellllla clean though - they are both amazing and their styles are off the charts, but waackeisha was more on-point"

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RELATED LINK
Here's a link to a Soul Train video that I believe showcases some of the dancers waacking:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P-TXxoWTSE
"Soul Train Line Don't Stop Til You Get Enough Michael Jackson"

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The Roots Of The Soul Train Line Formation

Edited by Azizi Powell

[revised 3/29/2013]

Soul Train Line Dance to Earth Wind & Fire's - Mighty Mighty



Uploaded by carwashlondon on Dec 22, 2009

Disco Dance Moves

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This pancocojams post is Part 1 of a two part series on the Soul Train Line. Part 1 explores the roots of the Soul Train line formation.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/02/soul-train-line-formation-video.html for Part 2 which provides examples of the Soul Train line and, in so doing, showcases how that line changed over time.

As an update to Part 2, I posted a video, with comments, and a link to another video of this Time Square Flash Mob tribute to Don Cornelius and Soul Train.

This post is not a comprehensive study of the Soul Train line, but is published with much respect & appreciation for the memory of Don Cornelius and the enduring legacy he has left African Americans and the rest of the world.

Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul_Train for general information on Soul Train television show.

Click http://www.freep.com/usatoday/article/52913978?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CEntertainment%7Cs for additional information about Soul Train television show and Don Cornelius.

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PART 1
Don Cornelius, the creator and host of the iconic American television show Soul Train is no longer with us. But his wonderful legacy lives on. The Soul Train line is one enduring and much loved aspect of Don Cornelius' legacy.

From http://www.racialicious.com/2012/02/02/voices-remembering-don-cornelius-culturelicious/#disqus_thread

...[Don Cornelius] had the satisfaction of knowing that he'd left behind an influential legacy that made an indelible and lasting mark on American popular culture.
-Aidea, 2/2/2012

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...Soul Train was a visionary program that stands on its own (and anyone who has ever been in a 'Soul Train Line' at a party knows that the program's influence transcended television).
- KristenWright, 2/2/2012
-snip-
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul_Train:
"There was also the popular "Soul Train Line", in which all the dancers form two lines with a space in the middle for dancers to strut down and dance in consecutive order. Originally, this consisted of a couple - with men on one side and women on the other.

In later years, men and women had their own individual line-ups. Sometimes, new dance styles or moves were featured or introduced by particular dancers."

In a television documentary on "Soul Train" (one whose title unfortunately I didn't document), Don Cornelius indicated that he got the idea for the soul train line from his memory of Black teens in Chicago doing that type of dance formation at their house parties. At least one of the dances that Don Cornelius may have remembered teens doing was The Stroll. Here's information about The Stroll from "Line Dances From the 1960s By Douglas Quaid, eHow Contributor http://www.ehow.com/list_7271106_line-dances-1960s.html
"The Stroll started in the 1950s, but its popularity lasted into the early '60s. The song, by a group called The Diamonds, was released in 1957 and became a big hit on "American Bandstand." The dancers form a line of men and a line of women, facing each other. Couples peel off the end of the line in turn and dance their way down the center to the end of the line, showing off their best moves."
-snip-
Click http://zumalayah.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-stroll-model-for-soul-train-line.html for information & comments about and videos of The Stroll.

Whoever invented the Stroll may have gotten that idea for that formation from their memory of the play experiences of Black children, particularly Black girls. Notice the line formations that are used in the clips of the first three games that are highlighted in this 1967 film of African American girls at play:

Pizza Pizza Daddy-O



Uploaded by folkstreamer on Aug 3, 2006

A 1967 film by Bob Eberlein and Bess Lomax Hawes that looks at continuity and change in girls' playground games at a Los Angeles school
-snip-
Among the traditional African American singing games that I recall learning in my childhood in New Jersey in the 1950s was a game called "Zoodio" (also given as "Zudio". Here's a 2009 video of an African American family gathering in which various age groups sing & play that game:

Zoodio



Uploaded by JustTheFam on Aug 2, 2009
-snip-
This description of basically the same game called "Zodiac" played by "Washington D. C. schoolgirls" is given in the notes to the record Old Mother Hippletoe: Rural and Urban Children's Songs (New World Records, 1978:
"Zodiac" is generally played in two lines. It ends with the children "walking down th alley" by ones or in couples between the lines."
-end of quote-

That description conforms with what is shown in both the 1967 children's play video and the 2009 family gathering video. In each of these descriptions the participants stand in what is called a "longways set".

Set: The overall arrangement of couples for a given dance, such as a big circle, square formation, longways, etc.

Longways Set: Two lines, usually made up of partners facing each other in the opposite line. Used for contras and reels.
- http://www.fred.net/tds/contra-the-short.answer/glossary.htm

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"The longways set in which the men form a line facing the women, who form a second line is the most common formation of country dancing."
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_dancing

In the 1967 children's play video the girls aren't shown "walking down the alley" (the space formed between the two lines".)* However, that is a part of some Black game songs. In the family gathering video, one or two people at a time are shown dancing down the middle of the lines in Soul Train-like ways. It isn't far fetched to think that an African American man like Don Cornelius would have observed and even participated as a child, teenager, or adult in similar game activities and would have remembered those activities when he was conceptualizing the Soul Train music & dance television show.

*The word "alley" in these children's singing games may have been a folk etymology form of the word "isle"

But what gets deep is when we explore where Black children got the idea for that longways game formation. A lot of children's game songs and rhymes are lifted from songs that the entire family sang and danced. And I believe that the original source of the formation of the "Zudio" game song and the other African American game songs such as those shown in the above posted video came from the once very popular longways set that was called "Sir Roger Coverly" in England and the Virginia Reel in the United States.

From http://www.phantomranch.net/folkdanc/dances/virginia.htm:
"The Virginia Reel, named after the state of Virginia, is an American dance in contra formation. The dance was first published in England in 1695 in John Playford's "English Dancing Master" by the name "Sir Roger De Coverly." It was danced by New World colonists. Perhaps because movie directors have used the Virginia Reel in many films portraying early American life, it has often been thought of in Europe as "THE" American folk dance. A similar Greek Pontic dance / game is called Miteritsa, whose origins, however, are thought to be Russian...

Sir Roger is cool because it is mentioned in "A Christmas Carol" by Dickens in the Fezziwigs warehouse scene. The 1936 Alistair Simms version on film actually includes the correct dance."

The dance may be done to a live caller, a recorded caller, or according to the dancers' memories to strictly instrumental music. The Virginia Reel is a "living" dance, and as such, has developed several variations."
-snip-
In the United States, simply put, "contra formation" is another way of saying the longways set. Here's a video of the Virginia Reel:

Virginia Reel



Uploaded by jschultz78 on Apr 12, 2008

Leo and Krista as lead couple in the Virginia Reel
-snip-
The Atlanta Bazaar scene in the movie Gone With The Wind includes the Virginia Reel dance. What most interests me about that scene is that the music was played by Black men: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4c5AoqUIZU

For those interested in the significant African American contribution to contra music, I highly recommend watching http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG6vVoiFT9c "The new Contra commercial - A short history of Contra - Part 2 of 7". Thank goodness that video is honest in its telling of the history of contra music. All too often articles about that music's Appalachian roots fail to mention the contribution of  Black folks. And all too often readers forget that Black people lived and made music in Appalachia and Black people still live and make music in Appalachia today.

That said, I'm not sure if Don Cornelius was hip to the Virginia Reel or contra music. But he certainly should go down in history as the person who used a revised form of the Virginia Reel to show the world how Black people dance.
-snip-
This concludes Part 1 of this two part post on the Soul Train line. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/02/soul-train-line-formation-video.html for Part 2 "Soul Train Line Formation - Video Examples.

For more information on the Virginia Reel, click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_reel_(dance).

For the words to "Here We Go Zoodio" and other African American game songs and movement rhymes, click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/02/five-traditional-african-american-game.html "Five Traditional African American Game Songs". 

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