Welcome To The Archive for "Twerking"! Yay!

Twerking is a type of dance originating from the island of Jamaica. Individually-performed, chiefly but not exclusively by women, dancers move by throwing or thrusting their hips back or shaking their buttocks, often in a low squatting stance. Twerking is part of a larger set of characteristic moves unique to the New Orleans style of hip-hop known as “bounce”. Moves include “mixing”, “exercising”, the “bend over”, the “shoulder hustle”, “clapping”, “booty clapping”, “booty poppin”, and “the wild wood”—all recognized as “booty shaking” or “bounce”. Twerking is but one choreographic gesture within bounce. Twerking traces its origins to the West African dance called Mapouka, which has existed for centuries.