Twerking From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "Twerk" redirects here. For other uses, see Twerk (disambiguation). This article may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may only interest a specific audience. Please helprelocate any relevant information, and remove excessive detail that may be against Wikipedia inclusion policy. (July 2014) A woman twerking in a contest Twerking ( / ˈ t w ɜr k ɪ ŋ /) is a type of dancing in which an individual, usually a female,[1] dances to music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low squatting stance.[2] Though the term seems to be of uncertain origin with common assumptions suggesting it represents a contraction of "footwork" or a portmanteau of the words "twist" and "jerk", the Oxford Dictionaries blog says "the most likely theory is that it is an alteration of work, because that word has a history of being used in similar ways, with dancers being encouraged to "work it". ("Twerk it" is a common phrase as well.) The "t" could be a result of blending with another word such as twist or twitch."[3] There is evidence from ethnographic interviews in New Orleans that the term began as street language in New Orleans with the rise of the local hip hop music known as Bounce.[4] Since the late 1990s, twerking was associated[by whom?] with Bounce music of the Dirty South and was disseminated via mainstream hip hop videos and popular video-sharing sites since the mid- 2000s. In 2013, twerk was added to the Oxford Dictionary Online.[5] According to Oxford dictionary, the word has been around for 20 years. The word was a runner-up in the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2013.[6] Contents [hide] 1 Background 2 Entertainment industry o 2.1 Influence 3 See also 4 References 5 External links Background The dance move originates from West Africa (for instance the Mapouka dance) and has been around for several generations.[7] It was then adopted by African American culture in the 1990s. The dance originally was not done with sexual intent until it hit the hip hop scene in America in the early 1990s, where it became sexualized as part of the hip hop industry performed by video models in rap videos.[8] Twerking can carry both gendered and racialized connotations, given its origins and the dance itself it is often associated with Black women as the Samba dance is with Latino women.[9] In the United States, twerking was introduced into hip-hop culture by way of the New Orleans bounce music scene. In 1993, DJ Jubilee recorded the dance tune "Do The Jubilee All" in which he chanted, "Twerk baby, twerk baby, twerk, twerk, twerk."[10] The video for the song increased the popularity of twerking. In 1995, New Orleans-based rapper Cheeky Blakk recorded the song "Twerk Something!" a call-and-response dance song dedicated to twerking. In 1997, DJ Jubilee recorded "Get Ready, Ready" in which he encouraged listeners to "Twerk it!". There is also the following logging for an ancient Greek dance that could be the ancestor of twerking who was called “Kordaks“ or “Kordax.“ The "Kordax" is a provocative, obscene dance of Greek comedy since antiquity. People were dancing with rocking waist to show that important region of the body. This dance was meant to draw erotic attention. Characterization of Kordax as a hip-shaking dance requires accurate investigation, allegedly as the foremost dance of comedy. Related comedies that described these dances, convey some idea of how the Kordax was danced in antiquity. The word "Kordax" appears the year 423 BC for the first time in the comedy Nefeles by Aristophanes, and Theophrastus reported that the Kordax was a folk dance which was danced in a state of foolishness. In ancient comedy, specifically in Kratinos (about 450 BC) there is a description of Kordax: With bent legs people performed movements with their bodies bowed forward and arms, alternately stretched - like a sword - forward and to the upper, so as to conspicuously protrude the hips. Entertainment industry Twerking first received national recognition in the United States in the early 2000s, when the song "Whistle While You Twurk" (2000), by Southern hip hop duo Ying Yang Twins, peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs component chart. It was later referenced in their later track "Say I Yi Yi" (2002), in which the lyrics "she got her hands up on her knees and her elbows on her thighs / she like to twerk and that's for certain I can tell that she fly" are heard. In her 2005 single "Check on It", American recording artist Beyoncé sings "Dip it, pop it, twerk it, stop it, check on me tonight."[11] Beyoncé's single reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, following its release. "Twerk" was also sung in Destiny's Child's pop hit "Jumpin' Jumpin'." In 2006, the song "Pop, Lock & Drop It", by American rapper Huey, reached number six on the US Billboard Hot 100. Also in 2006, the hit single "Sexy Back", by American popsinger Justin Timberlake, featuring Timbaland, from the former's second studio album Futuresex/Lovesounds, featured Timbaland rapping the lyrics "Let me see what you're twerking with / Go ahead, be gone with it, Look at those hips". During her tenure in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Eve Torres would twerk before performing a standing moonsault on her opponent.[12][13] In 2011, a group of female dancers who call themselves the Twerk Team and have posted several videos of themselves twerking on YouTube were mentioned during the song "Round of Applause" by Waka Flocka Flame featuring Drake, in the line "Bounce that ass, shake that ass like the Twerk Team".[7] Australian rapper Iggy Azalea has incorporated twerking into her live shows since 2011.[14][15] In July 2012, during the Workaholics episode "The Lord's Force", Anders Holm says "Let's just, uh, put on some twerk videos or something, right?".[16] The 2012 single "Bandz a Make Her Dance" by Juicy J, contains the lyric "Start twerking when she hear her song", [17] while French Montana questions the ability of a girl to twerk by asking "What you twerkin' with," in his respective 2012 single "Pop That", featuring fellow rappers Drake, Lil Wayne and Rick Ross.[18] The aforementioned songs, along with "Express Yourself" by Nicky Da B and Diplo, "Made twerking the most popular dance move since the Dougie".[19] In March 2013, American pop singer Miley Cyrus posted a video on Facebook which featured her performing a twerking routine while wearing a unicorn suit, to the 2011 single "Wop" by J. Dash. The popularity of the video, along with parodies and responses made by fans, influenced the song's re-emergence on the Billboard Hot 100.[20] Miley Cyrus's "Wop" video would go to become viral; by April 9, 2013, copies of the video had amassed over 4 million views on YouTube. Also in March 2013, Mollie King, an English singer-songwriter and lead vocalist of British-Irish girl group The Saturdays, was seen twerking when her bandmate Rochelle Humes, uploaded the footage on YouTube.[21] American actress and singer Vanessa Hudgens was also seen twerking in March on American late-night talk show The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.[22] In September 2013, Hudgens was later seen twerking, this time to the song "Bubble Butt", during her performance at Bootsy Bellows in West Hollywood, with her girl group YLA.[23][24] Hudgens was again seen twerking in a video for Shade 45's radio show Sway in the Morning.[25][26] American actress and singer Ashley Tisdale can also be seen twerking in a video for Shade 45's radio show Sway in the Morning.[27][28] On July 9, 2013, a video was posted on the Twitter-owned video sharing service Vine entitled "Twerk Team", which featured a group of five women provocatively twerking to "Don't Drop That Thun Thun". The clip was shared by users over 100,000 times, and users created their own responses and parodies featuring the song, collected under thehashtags "#dontdropthat" and "#thunthun". The viral popularity of the Vine clips led to an unexpected increase in sales for the song; prior to the posting of the "Twerk Team" clip, only 4,000 copies of the song had been sold; in the following weeks, sales went up to 34,000, then to over 72,000. By late-July, "Don't Drop That Thun Thun" had reached #5 onBillboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Songs chart, and it eventually peaked at #35 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.[29] Both "Wop" and "Don't Drop That Thun Thun" have been cited as examples of how viral and user-created videos can bring renewed interest to songs; Spin writer Jordan Sargent considered "Wop" to be rap music's "Harlem Shake moment", but not a meme to the same extent as it.[29][29][30] In April 2013, American rapper Danny Brown released the song "Express Yourself", inspired by music producer Diplo's song of the same name. The song, produced by Trampy, features a fast-paced electronic beat and is a composition about the popular dance craze twerking.[31] Brown dedicated the song "to all the ladies that like to turn up and have fun," in which he raps "Toes on the wall and her ass in the air / And she twerk that thing like she ain't have a care".[32][33] In the music video for Barbadian singer Rihanna's single "Pour It Up", which was released in May 2013, the singer can be seen twerking.[34] In June 2013, American rapper Busta Rhymes released a Jamaican dancehall-inspired single titled "Twerk It", featuring Nicki Minaj, who has been featured on several other "twerking songs", including "Shakin' It 4 Daddy" by Robin Thicke, "Dance (A$$)" by Big Sean and "Clappers" by Wale.