Waacking

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An example of waacking

Waacking (also whacking) is a street dance style with origins stemming from punking, a dance created in the gay clubs of Los Angeles [1] [2] during the 1970s disco era. [3] The style is typically done to 1970s disco and 1980s post-disco music [4] and is mainly distinguishable by its rotational arm movements, posing and emphasis on expressiveness.

Contents

History

In the early 1970s a dance style known as punking emerged, [5] with "punk" being a derogatory term for gay men at the time. The term "whack" was a specific movement within the punking style which involved moving the arms over the head in a rhythmic fashion. Although the wider club-going community took part in punking, they did not want the dance to have negative connotations attached to it and therefore renamed the genre "Waackin". Later, Jeffery Daniel added the "g" to waackin to make it "waacking", the name by which the style is commonly known today. [6] The terms 'Whacking' and 'Wacking' are also occasionally used to refer to the dance style.

The originators of waacking were said to have danced to underground and imported Disco music, which was often sped up to create a more energetic atmosphere on the dance floor. The style remained largely underground until it became popularized by the American music-dance television program Soul Train and influenced the creation of Outrageous Waacking Dancers, a Los Angeles–based waacking dance group. [7] [8] Waacking gained renewed attention through the American TV series So You Think You Can Dance in 2011 when a dance routine was choreographed by Kumari Suraj. [2] [9] Over time the dance style has received growing recognition and has been incorporated by dance programs such as the Department for Theatre and Dance at University of South Carolina. [3]

Influences

As with many other street dance styles that emerged from the late 20th century, waacking picked up various influences from other forms of movement and dance such as jazz, gymnastics and martial arts. [10] Its visual similarities with the dance style locking can be attributed to the fact that both styles were developed around the same period of time in the Los Angeles club scene. The main differences lie within the communities that created them. Whereas waacking was created mainly in LGBT clubs, locking was created by the wider club-going community. Furthermore, the music of the two styles differs, in which waacking uses disco and locking uses funk music.

Another big influence on waacking was Hollywood, whereby dancers took inspiration stylistically from movie stars such as Lauren Bacall, Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis and James Dean. [1] These inspirations manifested themselves not only through the movements and poses but also through other aspects of the dance such as dress styles and facial expressions.

In modern pop culture, the style of dance is famously likened to the movements of the character Garnet in the cartoon show Steven Universe as a catalyst for many of her magical powers, including summoning magical weapons and fusing with other characters. [11]

During the 2022 Winter Olympics, the ice dance duo Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron famously won the gold medal and set a world record with a short program [12] mainly influenced by waacking (choreographed by Axelle Munezero). They stated in an interview the primary choice (while training with Kim Gingras) was voguing, but shifted for waacking when their coach Marie-France Dubreuil brought the idea. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of the United Kingdom</span>

Throughout the history of the British Isles, the land that is now the United Kingdom has been a major music producer, drawing inspiration from church music and traditional folk music, using instruments from England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales. Each of the four countries of the United Kingdom has its own diverse and distinctive folk music forms, which flourished until the era of industrialisation when they began to be replaced by new forms of popular music, including music hall and brass bands. Many British musicians have influenced modern music on a global scale, and the UK has one of the world's largest music industries. English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh folk music as well as other British styles of music heavily influenced American music such as American folk music, American march music, old-time, ragtime, blues, country, and bluegrass. The UK has birthed many popular music genres such as beat music, psychedelic music, progressive rock/pop, heavy metal, new wave, and industrial music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Line dance</span> Choreographed dance

A line dance is a choreographed dance in which a group of people dance along to a repeating sequence of steps while arranged in one or more lines or rows. These lines usually face all in the same direction, or less commonly face each other. Unlike circle dancing, line dancers are not in physical contact with each other. Each dance is usually associated with, and named for, a specific song, such as the Macarena or the Electric Slide which are a few of the line dances that have consistently remained part of modern American culture for years.

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Street dance is an umbrella term for a large number of social dance styles such as: breakdancing, popping, locking, house dance, waacking, voguing etc. Social dance styles have many accompanying steps and foundations, created organically from a culture, a moment in time, a way of life, influenced by natural social interaction. A street dance is a vernacular dance in an urban context. Vernacular dances are often improvisational and social in nature, encouraging interaction and contact with spectators and other dancers. These dances are a part of the vernacular culture of the geographical area that they come from.

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Punking is a street dance from the underground gay community of Los Angeles that was developed in the early 1970s.

References

  1. 1 2 Edrich, Carole. The Joy of Dance: For Those Who Have Rhythm in Their Feet. Summersdale Publishers.
  2. 1 2 McKay, Mary Jayne (2011-08-04). ""So You Think You Can Dance" introduces "waacking"". cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2012-12-08.
  3. 1 2 Overstreet, Amy (November 2012). "USC Dance Students Present Original Choreography in Fragments of Light". free-times.com. Retrieved 2012-12-08.
  4. ↑ Fogarty, Mary (2011). "Waacking, (Punking), Recycling, Schooling: Disco Dance on the Move". Hotfoot. The Association of Dance of the African Diaspora.
  5. ↑ Durden, E. Moncell (2019). Beginning Hip-Hop Dance. Human Kinetics. p. 91. ISBN   978-1-4925-4445-6.
  6. ↑ Kumari Suraj (2016-07-03), EP 13 | WHAT IS WAACKING? | History of Punking, Whacking, Waacking 1970-2003 | PT 1 | #KUMARISWORLD , retrieved 2017-03-03
  7. ↑ "Waacking - What is "waacking"?". toomuchflavour.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-12-08.
  8. ↑ Outrageous Waack, Ebony , August 1978, p. 64-66.
  9. ↑ Abraham, Neena (19 October 2016). "Waacking Ambassador and Globetrotter Kumari Suraj is Leading the Way for Dance Fusion and Education". Brown Girl Magazine. Archived from the original on 15 December 2017.
  10. ↑ Zevenbergen, Tess (2012-06-01). "So You Think You Can Waack!".
  11. ↑ "I am Rebecca Sugar, creator of Steven Universe, and former Adventure Time storyboarder, AMA!". Interviewly. Retrieved 2016-08-22.
  12. ↑ "World Record! | Papadakis and Cizeron ice dance highlights | Figure Skating Beijing 2022" (video). youtube.com. 2022-02-12.
  13. ↑ "Team Papadakis-Cizeron-Haguenauer. Journey to the Top". Inside Skating. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
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