Hip Hop Dance and American Social Dance

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Twerking as an American social dance
Introduction
The topic of my paper is the twerking dance as one of the most popular social dances. A brief history about twerking reveals that it originated from Africa. However, it first emerged in America during the New Orleans’s bounce music scene that happened in the year 1993 (Lynch 2). Twerking dance was among the most exciting hip-hop dances that emerged during the beginning of the 1990s. The first song that prominently featured twerking dance was the DJ Jubilee’s song entitled ‘Do the Jubilee All” that was released in the year 1993. During his performance of the song, DJ Jubilee was fond of telling the crowd to Twerk, Twerk, and Twerk (Lynch 3). However, it was until the year 2003, when the urban dictionary defined twerking. It defined twerking as an act of working the body during dancing, especially with the female dancers by concentrating on the rear end. Therefore, twerking is a dance move that encompasses vigorous but rhythmic shaking of the butts especially by the females.
Twerking does not discriminate races or social classes; anyone can twerk either individually or as a group. Though twerking dance is popular in the social places such as the clubs, it can also be done privately as one wishes. Examples of the artists that have featured twerking dance in their songs include Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, Miley Cyrus, among the rest (Lynch 6). Currently, twerking is very popular among the partying youths in different social places across the world.

In this paper, the twerking dance will be covered with the aim of dispelling the misconceptions that are surrounding it. Moreover, the paper will look at how it has cut across different races, and cultures to be one of the most popular dances across the globe.
The outline of the paper
Title: Twerking as an American social dance
Introduction
Twerking dance is one of the social dances that is associated with the hip-hop music. Everyone can twerk regardless of the race, age, or even social class. Several misconceptions have emerged about twerking as one of the social dances. In this paper, the twerking dance will be covered with the aim of dispelling the misconceptions that are surrounding it. Moreover, the paper will look at how it has cut across different races, and cultures to become one of the most popular dances across the globe.
Body of the paper
Twerking process, which will highlight the basic twerking procedure
After learning the basic twerking move, the paper will look at the relationship between the twerking, hip-hop music, and the American social dances.
The third paragraph will cover perception of the twerking dance among the Americans.
After covering the misconceptions surrounding the dance, the paper will feature facts about twerking dance to assist in dispelling the misconceptions.
Conclusion
Twerking is a social dance, which is closely associated with the hip-hop music. Linking the dance with the immorality is wrong because it is just like any other social dance. It is important for those against the dance to do more research about the dance to dispel all the misconceptions that have been linked to it.
Twerking process
Everyone has either twerked or seen people twerking either in the social places or the music videos. Anyone who has tried twerking will admit that it is not easy, as it seems. This is because it is more than just moving the butts up and down. It involves well-coordinated moves that are governed by mostly the beats of the songs. Besides, different twerking styles have emerged, but the basic twerking move that is common to everyone being as follows: the first move is to assume a squatting position. Then the legs are spread slightly apart with the toes pointing outwards. The second step is to place the hands on the hips with the thumb resting on the hipbone to assist in the moving of the hip forward. Rhythmic movement of the butts up and down follows this while the upper parts of the body are kept straight. For a better phrase, hands can be placed on the knees, or the squatting can be lowered further (Reese 5).
The twerking, hip-hop music, and the American social dances
In the United States of America, social dances have been closely associated with the hip-hop music. Social dances are not only common in America, but also the rest of the world. It is important to note that most of the social dances have their origins from African-American communities. It can be argued that the origin of twerking in America was from the African-American communities because it has numerous elements of the African-American culture. However, twerking dance and most of the social dances have undergone modifications. Moreover, twerking dance is common among the African-American communities, though it is fast gaining popularity among the white Americans (Yoruba 5).
The spreading of twerking dance and the rest of the social dances can be because of the fact that most of the Americans have accepted the fact that African-Americans have greatly influenced both the social dances and music, especially the hip-hop music. At this point, it is very clear that twerking dance as one of the social dances is closely related to the hip-hop music (Dani 4). Besides, just as the hip-hop music has changed from how it was perceived to be a ghetto music, the perception of the twerking has also changed from being an African-American dance to a dance that cut across different American cultures (Yoruba 8).
Perception of the twerking dance among the Americans
The sudden rise in the twerking dance from the year 2013 has elicited divergent reaction among the American populations. Some of the Americans think that the dance is fine with them while the other fraction of the Americans believe that the dance is very immoral. Most of the Americans that are fine with the dance are the youths while those against the dance are the elderly, some section of the religious leaders, and the parents. One of the Americans who is against the dance claim that it is highly sexualized. Additionally, they purport that the dance is promoting immorality among the youths and those associated with it (Reese 6). The parents also echo similar sentiments by claiming that the dance invokes negative influence among the young girls. Therefore, there are some suggestions that it is the responsibility of the parents to educate their young children, particularly the girls to differentiate the twerking dance that is broadcasted in the media from the original twerking that originated from the African-American cultures (Kincaid 12).
On the other side, the proponents of the twerking dance believe that it is one of the methods of entertaining themselves. In addition, those supporting the twerking dance, arguing that twerking by the females does not mean that they are inviting for sex (Dani 6). They went further to claim that linking twerking to the sexual immorality is like insulting the rape culture. Therefore, it is quite incorrect to link twerking dance with the sexual immorality. The proponents of the twerking dance also made it clear that it is the responsibility of the dancer to choose the dancing collaborates or even whom to touch them. However, as to the mode of dressing, the proponents of the twerking dance revealed that the dancers have their right to dress as they wish (Kincaid 13).
Facts about twerking dance
Twerking dance is the latest dance that has rocked America. Though it was first associated with the African-Americans, everyone seems to enjoy doing it irrespective of age, color, or social class. One important fact about twerking is that it is good for the health. This is because it is a form of exercise. Consequently, it has the ability to burn more than 500 calories per hour (Kincaid 14). Therefore, it helps in the keeping the doctors away by promoting good health by reducing the chances of contracting diabetes and heart diseases. Moreover, twerking is not promoting immorality; it is just like any other social dances. Stereotyping that when a woman twerks is a sign of sex invitation is wrong because twerking is just like any form of entertainment (Dani 8). Twerk did not start in America because history indicates that that Africans were the first to twerk during social celebrations or when performing certain rituals. Moreover, twerking has more to do with the rap and hip-hop culture than the African culture because of the series of the modifications that it has undergone for a long period (Reese 7).
Conclusion
Twerking dance deserves respect. When a woman decides to twerk, she does it with numerous reasons other than what is always perceived to be sex invitation. It is worth noting that dances keep on changing with time making them be born as well as reborn in different forms. This is true to the twerking dance. Therefore, the critics should keep in mind that twerking dance cannot be the same as the original one. One aspect of twerking dance is that it allows women to claim ownership of their bodies together with the asserting their sexuality. Additionally, twerking dance is a form of exercise as well as entertainment. Therefore, there is a need for the Americans as well as the rest of the world to acknowledge and appreciate the twerking dance, even if the dance is not your favorite.

Works cited
Lynch, Joe. “A Brief History of Twerking.” Fuse. N.p., 28 Aug. 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2016.
Yoruba, Cosmic. “Twerk: Booty-dancing a White Privilege? – This Is Africa.” This Is Africa. 05
Feb. 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2016.
Dani Deahl. “Body Positivity, Twerking, and Safe Spaces:How Orlando’s Shake ‘n Bass Is
Redefining Nightlife.” Nylon. N.p., 1 June 2016. Web.
Kincaid, Hunter N. “Twerking and Teen Mom: Analysis of Current Discourses on Adolescent
Sexuality in Online News Media.” PsycEXTRA Dataset 1st ser. 2.1 (2015): 12-15. Web.
Reese, Ashley. “Everything You Need To Know About Twerking – Gurl.com.” Gurl.com. N.p.,
25 Sept. 2014. Web. 10 Dec. 2016.