waacking
{{Short description|Type of dance}}
Waacking (also whacking) is a street dance style with origins stemming from punking, a dance created in the gay clubs of Los Angeles{{cite book|last1=Edrich|first1=Carole|title=The Joy of Dance: For Those Who Have Rhythm in Their Feet|publisher=Summersdale Publishers}}{{cite news|last=McKay|first=Mary Jayne|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/so-you-think-you-can-dance-introduces-waacking/|title="So You Think You Can Dance" introduces "waacking"|date=2011-08-04|publisher=cbsnews.com|access-date=2012-12-08}} during the 1970s disco era.{{cite news|last=Overstreet|first=Amy|url=http://www.free-times.com/index.php?cat=1992912064188399&ShowArticle_ID=11012011123866460|title=USC Dance Students Present Original Choreography in Fragments of Light|date=November 2012|publisher=free-times.com|access-date=2012-12-08}} The style is typically done to 1970s disco and 1980s post-disco music{{cite journal|last=Fogarty|first=Mary|date=2011|title=Waacking, (Punking), Recycling, Schooling: Disco Dance on the Move|journal=Hotfoot|publisher=The Association of Dance of the African Diaspora}} and is mainly distinguishable by its rotational arm movements, posing and emphasis on expressiveness.
History
In the early 1970s a dance style known as punking emerged,{{cite book| author=Durden, E. Moncell| title=Beginning Hip-Hop Dance| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VVJVDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA91| year=2019| publisher=Human Kinetics|isbn=978-1-4925-4445-6| page=91}} 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, dancer and singer-songwriter Jeffrey Daniel added the "g" to waackin to make it "waacking", the name by which the style is commonly known today.{{Citation|last=Kumari Suraj|title=EP 13 {{!}} WHAT IS WAACKING? {{!}} History of Punking, Whacking, Waacking 1970-2003 {{!}} PT 1 {{!}} #KUMARISWORLD|date=2016-07-03|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l62XRkUym2Q|access-date=2017-03-03}} 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 The Outrageous Waacking Dancers, a Los Angeles–based waacking dance group.{{cite web|url=http://toomuchflavour.co.uk/waacking/index.html|title=Waacking - What is "waacking"?|publisher=toomuchflavour.co.uk|access-date=2012-12-08}}[https://books.google.com/books?id=Sc0DAAAAMBAJ&dq=Waacking&pg=PA64 Outrageous Waack], Ebony, August 1978, p. 64-66. In the 2010s, the style gained renewed attention through the American TV series So You Think You Can Dance in 2011, when a waacking dance routine was choreographed by Kumari Suraj.{{cite web |last1=Abraham |first1=Neena |title=Waacking Ambassador and Globetrotter Kumari Suraj is Leading the Way for Dance Fusion and Education |url=https://www.browngirlmagazine.com/2016/10/waacking-ambassador-globetrotter-kumari-suraj-leading-way-dance-fusion-education/ |website=Brown Girl Magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215104935/http://www.browngirlmagazine.com/2016/10/waacking-ambassador-globetrotter-kumari-suraj-leading-way-dance-fusion-education/ |archive-date=15 December 2017 |date=19 October 2016}} 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.
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.{{Cite web|url=https://theprovince.com/health/diet-fitness/so-you-think-you-can-waack|title=So You Think You Can Waack!|last=Zevenbergen|first=Tess|date=2012-06-01}} 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. 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.{{Cite web|url=http://interviewly.com/i/rebecca-sugar-aug-2014-reddit|title=I am Rebecca Sugar, creator of Steven Universe, and former Adventure Time storyboarder, AMA!|website=Interviewly|access-date=2016-08-22}}
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{{cite web |title=
See also
References
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