Category Archives: Folk Dance

The Papantla Flyers

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 34
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 5/1/13
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

“Okay, so there’s that this really tall pole and there’s five people around it. One of them is this Indian priest dude and the other four guys are called flyers. The flyers are supposed to represent the…the four elements like air,water, fire and ummm, earth. Oh also, they’re the four points like north, south, east and west. Okay, so the dancers and the priest climb the pole, one at a time, and they’re climbing and climbing. Then when they get to the top, the priest starts playing and dancing on a…it’s like a stage or a platform or something. And he has a flute and a drum and the dancers just fall – they like, throw themselves back but they’re like, tied to the pole by their ankles. Then as they’re moving downwards, they’re supposed to make like, 10 or 13 what do you call that…circles around the pole and that’s supposed to mean something. Yeah, you can look that up or something. But you can see this in a lot of tourist places in Mexico. Yeah, you should see it sometime.”

After talking with Tony, I looked up the story and the 13 cycles are supposed to be the cosmic cycle in pre-Hispanic times. The costumes of the fliers are also supposed to represent “the beauty of nature, the purity of humans, and the reflection of life” (Cit.) This goes back to an ancient idea of admiring the universe and nature in its entirety and recording its way through calendars and rituals. It also ties to the old Totonac culture, and the the Totonac were the people who lived on the coast before the Spanish settlers came. Since it is a significant tourist attraction, it presents current Mexican culture as still heavily tied with cosmic and ancient reverence, which is like that authenticity that tourists are looking for. Tourist attractions are often trapped in an idealistic past so though the Totonac have been long gone and present day Mexico is closer to hispanic heritage, the flyers show is the piece of Mexican history that tourists want to see and therefore Mexico chooses to present. Unfortunately, I was not able to witness this personally, though I did look up some Youtube videos of it afterwards and I suggest that readers do the same.

Citation: http://visitpuertovallarta.com/news/2012/01/los-voladores-de-papantla-regresan-al-malecon/

Lebanese traditional singing and dancing

Nationality: Lebanese
Age: 20
Occupation: Architecture student
Residence: Los Angeles,
Performance Date: 5/1/13`
Primary Language: English
Language: Arabic/Lebanese

“There’s dabke, it’s a really cultural thing where everybody holds hands in a large line, and there’s steps. Like a really simple one is a step to the right, a step to the right, and then a kick, and everyone does those together, so it’s like a large of people who that are kind of like holding, and jumping up and down. Also, I don’t know what it’s called in English or Arabic, but essentially, there’s a LALALALALA [higher pitched las] and the girls do that, it’s like a celebratory thing. So when they do something that’s really happy like “Oh my son came back from the war,” or “Oh we’re getting married,” like yeah, they do this really high pitch LALALALALA and it takes skill to do it, but yeah women do that and it’s like a really old school way of being happy.”

I unfortunately did not witness either of these live, but these musical traditions are nice ways to embrace community. Dancing is usually an easy way to get a group of people together and have fun, and for dabke especially, holding hands in a line and jumping up and down together is a direct way to celebrate together and spread the energy. The high pitched “lalalas” are also like loud crying calls to celebrate, and it’s interesting that the women are mainly responsible for this. This may be because the men are at war or are put to more “serious work” and can’t be bothered with lala-ing, or just due to the natural higher pitch of the women’s voices. In either case, dancing and singing are possibly the most basic traditional forms of celebrating.

Moshing

Nationality: American; Half-white, "an amalgamation"
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Pasadena/Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/26/2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish, Latin

(For the best presentation of the data collected for this entry on the folk dance form of Moshing, I have provided a transcription of my interview with the informant. Interviewer input/clarification is in brackets[] for the duration of the interview.)

“I guess [moshing] is the process of…of, like, uh, throwing yourself against other people in, like, kind of a dance that can look, sometimes, like it’s like fighting, but it’s more, like, just bumping up against each other, like, kinda hard. Usually associated with, like, uh, heavier music, so like uh punk or metal or hard rock or something like that. Although I’ve seen it happen at rap concerts too. Usually any kind of aggressive or loud music. I’ve seen it happen at a dubstep concert once, too, that was weird.

“[So what is generally the process for the formation of…] a mosh pit? Generally you need, like, one guy who is not afraid to be a little out there. Cause like you need one person to be a catalyst. No one wants to be the asshole who just starts pushing people around, you know? But someone who doesn’t mind being the asshol e will start, and then it’s kind of like uh, a space, and people will recognize the mosh pit, especially if it’s at a music venue, or like a uh, uh, type of music where like, it’s commonplace. And they’ll kind of see it, and they’ll kind of spread out in a circle and they’ll kinda like back everybody up, um, and then uh, and then it’s just kind of like a circle, I guess, and, people just come in from the sides of the circle, almost like a dance circle.

“There’s kind of two parts to the mosh pit, there’s  the people who are inside the mosh pit, and then there’s the people on the edges who are still participating in it because they’re kinda like pushing people back in, like, people bump up against the side, and they’ll kinda push them back. Then there’s the people in the mosh pit, which is like…basically, there’s a direction around the circle, like they’ll be going around the circle like this (making a circular motion with hand) like against each other, and sometimes people will go the opposite way if they want to get beat up a little bit, like, more intensely. And then there’s different variations on it depending on what kind of show you’re going to.”

[What kind of variations would that be?]

“Well a big one is, um, skanking, which is, uh, you do at ska concerts, which is, uh, ska is a mix between, um, punk and reggae, but, skanking is basically like almost dancing but you’re kicking out your legs and kinda like throwing your head down a little bit and moving your arms around, but you’re also kinda bumping into people so it kinda looks like a mosh pit and feels like one, but it’s not as intense, usually. Then sometimes, uh, I don’t really have words, like a vocabulary for what these other ones are called, but, like…okay, there’s just your average one, which I guess is just called a circle pit, is what they call it, uh, and that’s people, like, running around a circle, and like pushing each other. That’s like what you’ll usually see. Sometimes in really, really crowded places it could be like a mass of people just, like, so, like, bumping up against each other. They’re just, like, swaying back and forth and like, because there’s no room to even have, start a circle pit. Um, and then…there’s other stuff too I’m not that familiar with. There’s like hardcore dancing, which is like, throwing your legs around and like, I don’t know. I don’t really know how to describe it. It looks very odd. Um, yeah, let’s see…that’s most of it. Sure, I guess.”

[So it seems like, from former experience, there are, like, rules to the mosh pit?]

“Yeah, there are definitely rules that are associated with it. A lot of it is like safety stuff, so, if somebody gets knocked down you definitely are gonna clear a space around them. Everybody in the mosh pit, like, they won’t necessarily stop but they’ll clear a space around them, and like, have people around the person, and then, uh, you’ll help them up too, I mean, it’s just common courtesy. And then, if there’s like a fight or something, they’ll try to break them up, unless it’s, kinda like a for fun fight, like that you can tell, but sometimes people get actually mad.”

[When would someone get mad?]

“Well, like, back in the day, like 1980s and shit when this stuff was like super intense, it’d be over like, almost like gangland stuff. So like, oh you’re not from, you know, my crew of like…this would happen mostly in like hardcore, especially in Los Angeles, so this is kinda specific, but, um, people get in fights over like not being in the right group of friends, or like, if you’re like associated with certain stuff. So let’s say you were, like, a Neo-Nazi or something like that, you’d probably get beat up by, you know, like anti-fascists or whatever. Um, or, uh, a lot of straightedge guys, back in the day, they’d use to, there were some straightedge militant groups that would beat up on people that were like drinking and stuff like that at shows. So there was like some stuff, but there was like regular stuff of like people just getting mad at each other, um, you know, like tensions could run high sometimes.

“Rules…well there kind of are, there’s like a structure to it, yeah, it’s just kind of funny cause like music associated with it, being just like an all-out melee but that doesn’t usually happen. I’ve never seen a total all-out melee at least. I dunno.”

[Now there’s obviously an element, of like, at least flirting with danger, would you say that’s a main draw to it?]

“Yeah, well like it’s a good release of energy. I know, like, at least for me, like once I started going to it, I kind of have to go every once in a while just to get rid of, like, any kind of tension I have. I dunno. I have this theory, this is gonna be really stupid. I have this theory that, like, it’s kind of related to, like, our primal need for like war-dancing and stuff like that because, um, well I was watching some stuff about, like Native American stuff, it’s just kinda like a similar kind of process. You need some way to get out aggression and stuff like that, like it’s a weird kind of way that would seem taboo, normally, but like, yeah, so that’s why people…I think that there’s something kind of primal about it, I guess. Yeah”

[So would you say this is tied to the music this is normally associated with it? Like does it spring from the music or is it more like applied to it?]

“Well it is, because the music is pure emotion. It’s definitely not, like, I mean, it’s not musicianship, that’s not why people go. It’s not like you’re like, a good-sounding show. People like it when it sounds, like, crappy or something sometimes. So it’s definitely about the energy of the moment, and the kind of emotional release it’s giving you. Um, but yeah. I don’t really know. I’m kind of bad with describing it, it just kinda feels like, you know, like a good release, I guess.”

[So, first show you ever went to, where you first saw moshing?]

“That I saw moshing? I think I went to, like, a Warped Tour with my friends, back in, like, sixth grade maybe. Fifth or sixth grade. And…oh, I remember what happened. So, it was the first show of the day, cause Warped Tour is set up, like, there’s like a bunch of bands or whatever, so first show of the day. Uh, my friends were more into this kind of stuff than I was, I was more into listening to stuff like industrial and stuff like that. I had like never really gone to shows because my parents had never really let me to. So this was the first show I was at, so this band called TSOL comes on, it was like this old-school punk band from like back in the day, and uh what happened was I was with my friends, and uh this humongous skinhead guy, like, uh comes over, grabs my friend by the neck, and like pulls him in as soon as the music starts playing, and there’s like this mass of people, and we were all like, ‘oh shit oh no, he has our friend’. Turns out my friend knew him, from like, it was like really weird to us so I didn’t even participate that first time I saw it. I didn’t participate until…I actually started out with doing, like, skanking and stuff first cause it’s a lot easier, like, and, in terms of getting over it, cause it looks more like dancing. And then I kind of moved into, I kinda go to like hardcore shows a lot and mosh.”

[When would you say you started getting into the more hardcore stuff?]

“Oh that was definitely when my brother, he was like always the person who, uh, who would be into the heavier music, so I think that was, like, around, let’s see…when I actually started going to hardcore shows and hardcore moshing was probably around, uh, eighth grade, ninth grade. Yeah.”

[Did you know about moshing before the first time you actually saw it?]

“Yeah, there was Youtube and stuff, so if you start off looking for your bands, you know some band or whatever on Youtube and you find some live show and you see what’s going on. It’s kinda just part of the vocabulary. I had already listened to punk music to so it was like, just like, I dunno when I first learned about it, but I’m sure it was pretty early.

“My friends were really into it, and also like the only two CDs I owned, my mom actually gave them to me, which was really funny, was like a Public Enemy CD and a Clash Greatest Hits CD, so you know I was just like listening to that kind of loud, aggressive music, I guess.

“I think it’s interesting that it’s not really limited to, like, just punk bands, it’s kind like funny when I saw it at a Dubstep thing, and then, um, I’ve seen it happen at Rap shows like twice now, and I don’t even go that often to those, so, it’s kind of funny to me.”

[Would you say there’s a kind of aspect to the music for when, like, a mosh pit usually starts?]

“Well, there’s definitely like, uh…usually it will start, like in the beginning or when they’ll do like their first little build-up. So like, okay, basically punk songs are like two minutes long so there’s not a lot of buildup but like you’ll hear a song start up and people just start going at it. But there’s usually just like some kind of um, oh I don’t know what the word it, uh some kind of, in the chorus like that they’ll usually speed up a certain part, just like ‘duh duh duh duh duh’ like that and that’s when, like, crazy, they start jumping off, like people will just start like jumping on the stage and jumping off, like doing backflips into the crowd and stuff.”

[So I guess a big thing is just, like, the emotion of the music which can kind of transcend genre.]

“It’s just fun, too, you know. Kinda just…I really don’t know why it’s fun. I have my theories, like I was saying, but it’s just, like, weird.”

 

Analysis:

Having sprung from Punk and Hardcore culture,

The Melbourne Shuffle

Nationality: Half-white; Half-Filipino
Age: 20
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Chicago, IL
Performance Date: 4/29/13
Primary Language: English

Video Demonstration of The Melbourne Shuffle

“It’s called shuffling…actually scientifically it’s called the Melbourne Shuffle. It is a now-popular dance form, recently popularized by the band LMFAO*…it’s mainly used to dance to electronic music at clubs, raves  (mostly) and parties.

“It pretty much looks like a person who is running in place while sliding in a completely opposite direction at the same time.

“When I was in high school, sophomore year, a couple of my Filipino/Asian friends came over, we went into my basement and one of them just started putting on electronic music and started doing it [shuffling] and he showed me how to do it. And then after that I just learned from Youtube videos.”

My informant, who is a hobbyist freestyle dancer, tells me that the Melbourne Shuffle is one of the few defined moves that he uses in his freestyle dance routines. Other moves he uses do not have official names (to his knowledge) and are often improvised on the spot, but the Shuffle was one that captivated him enough to learn about and make a normal part of his freestyling. The popularity of the Melbourne Shuffle, according to my informant, peaked at about mid-2012, so it similarly captivated many others as well.

Concerning the state of the Melbourne Shuffle now, my informant explains, “it got mainstream pop, you know? It wasn’t as cool any more after that…it’s kinda out of style now, but it’s still fun to do.”

Analysis:

The Melbourne Shuffle has an element of mystique to it: the way the dancer moves his or her legs while performing the move seems to contradict what the eyes perceive. The mind-bending aesthetic of the movement perhaps contributed to its spread and popularity. Though my informant learned the move from a friend, he mentions that the videos he then went to to learn more have hundreds of thousands of views, showing the vast popularity of the move. The views did not necessarily have to come from people wanting to learn the move, because the mind-bending element translates well to the screen, similar to how Michael Jackson captivated popular culture with his videos featuring Moonwalking. The Melbourne Shuffle, however, is more fast-paced and frantic than the Moonwalk, perhaps showing origins in a bass-thumping, uptempo rave culture, where the move remains popular.

*Citation: LMFAO’s Party Rock Anthem, the music video my informant mentions here, which he attributes to the boom in the Melbourne Shuffle’s popularity, prominently features the move and references it in the lyrics (“Everyday I’m shuffling”). See 3:39 for copious shuffling.

Jump, Shake Your Booty

Nationality: American
Age: 17
Occupation: Student
Residence: Norfolk, Virginia
Performance Date: 4/28/13
Primary Language: English

My informant has been a dancer since elementary school, and currently dances with her performing arts high school. She told me the following piece of folklore about a pre-performance tradition:

So, after everyone gets ready and is about to go onstage for opening night before a show, everyone like gets together in a big group, and usually we turn off the lights but not always depending on where we are, but we usually turn off the lights, and then we all like get in a circle and its quiet for a few seconds and then sort of spontaneously it starts, we all start like shouting JUMP SHAKE YOUR BOOTY, JUMP JUMP SHAKE YOUR BOOTY and we all jump up and down and shake our butts along with the chant, and I guess it’s for good luck on opening night, I’m not really sure, but, like, we all do it before opening night and I’ve done it at, like, pretty much every show I can remember.

My informant told me she and the other members of her cast would perform this tradition for good luck before a show. She does not know when or where it began, but said it has been around for as long as she can remember. Although my informant is a dancer, she said many of her other friends in other disciplines celebrate this tradition as well, and it appears to be a long standing theatrical tradition across all disciplines. It could be a way to get the cast excited before the show, and to loosen up through the motions in the chant, or simply a way to remind everyone to have fun and enforce comradeship in the cast.