Interesting thoughts about twerking

[muslimsoldier4life]

Twerking is to dancing, what Juicy J is to rap: they don't fit. Twerking is not dancing, but a means to get arousal out of the oppositte sex. It's focus was on a girl shaking her butt, showing how good it jiggles and originates with strippers. That should explain it all to you.

 

[Eudaimonist]

Twerking is not dancing, but a means to get arousal out of the oppositte sex.

Those are not mutually exclusive categories or aims! Dancing has always had a sexual element. Belly dancing, Polynesian dances, Latin dancing... there are many examples.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[RDKirk]

Those are not mutually exclusive categories or aims! Dancing has always had a sexual element. Belly dancing, Polynesian dances, Latin dancing... there are many examples.


eudaimonia,

Mark

I don't know about all Polynesian dances, but true Hawaiian hula is primarily religious and historiographical. The ancient Hawaiians transmitted both religious beliefs and cultural history through specific choreography, the way "Swan Lake" uses specific choreography to tell a specific story.

That's still the content of genuine hula today--as opposed to the tourist stuff. A boy or girl who endeavors to learn true hula must learn specific movements that tell the specific story--it's like learning to recite a passage of scripture (and, yes, there are male stories and female stories, as well as distinctly feminine and masculine ways to tell the same story).

It's interesting to watch the glee of an elderly man seeing a young boy hit a particular movement correctly. He sheds tears and nods his head, and says "Yes, that is just right."

That ain't happening with twerking.

 

[wintermile]

That ain't happening with twerking.

In Melbourne, they have twerkshops and a different attitude when it comes to white females twerking in underground hip-hop.

In Melbourne, it is not a fad.

“Anything to do with Miley Cyrus, I thoroughly hate,” says Dayani, founder of Melbourne’s Twerkshop classes. “It’s definitely had an impact, but in a really negative way. Twerking is and has always been underground. It’s part of a niche culture, and you can’t really bring it into mainstream society and expect people to accept it and take it on and everything it encompasses. It’s intrinsically linked with trap and southern hip-hop, so it doesn’t translate easily into mainstream culture. This whole commercialism of twerking is void, because you can’t isolate twerking from the culture it stems from.

Source-Everguide

 

[RDKirk]

In Melbourne, they have twerkshops and a different attitude when it comes to white females twerking in underground hip-hop.

In Melbourne, it is not a fad.

Well, let's see if that Melbourne lass teaches her daughter to twerk or expects her granddaughter to twerk as we see happening with native Hawaiians...or for that matter, let's see if that very same Melbourne lass is still twerking herself in 30 years.

 

[evoeth]

Even if it is some old tradition, its not beautiful like most dancing traditions I've seen. Its just people shaking their butts sexually and being perverse.

I believe they said the same thing about Elvis. Elvis the pelvis.

 

[RDKirk]

I believe they said the same thing about Elvis. Elvis the pelvis.

And they were right. Nobody's doing those dances anymore. Those were fads.

 

[Cearbhall]

I am not sure where to begin here, but I have seen both men and women, and children doing this dance. Twerking is like sexuality, where one has to show restraint. In other words, there is a time and place for everything. It is one thing to twerk at a club with other 20-somethings, but to do the same dance in front of your children, on a graveyard, and in a church would make it sinful in my opinion because it is so disrespectful.

I think it's disrespectful to say that it's sexual just because of the standards of our own culture. There's a reason why it's perfectly acceptable for children to "twerk" in some cultures. It's comparable to hula and belly dancing. They're just unfamiliar forms of performance art.

So yes, you could argue that it's inappropriate in certain spaces in the context of your own culture, but be careful about making blanket statements about the morality of the act.

 

[now faith]

Josephine Baker in the roaring 20s with her banana dance was very close to same thing.

But you don't have to put up videos of 90 somethings shaking either

 

[Eudaimonist]

I don't know about all Polynesian dances, but true Hawaiian hula is primarily religious and historiographical.

Who said anything about hula? I was talking about Tahitian dance. Or are you calling all Polynesian dances "hula"? That's very Hawaii-centric.

I realize that many dances are very old and are part of cultural, and even religious, identity. Those same dances may also have an overtly sexual element that involves significant shaking of the female posterior. Nothing stops being a dance because is has a sexual element, or because it is fairly new on the scene and lacks "history".

You may disapprove of twerking, but it is dance.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[RDKirk]

Who said anything about hula? I was talking about Tahitian dance. Or are you calling all Polynesian dances "hula"? That's very Hawaii-centric.

You did not say "Tahitian dance," you said "Polynesian dances," which includes hula.

I said "I don't know about all Polynesian dances, but true Hawaiian hula..." so I was clearly specifying true Hawaiian hula was clearly not calling all Polynesian dances hula.

Mark, that response is below your usually high standard of discourse.

I realize that many dances are very old and are part of cultural, and even religious, identity. Those same dances may also have an overtly sexual element that involves significant shaking of the female posterior. Nothing stops being a dance because is has a sexual element, or because it is fairly new on the scene and lacks "history".

But it does invalidate comparison of the dance that is "fairly new on the scene and lacks 'history'" to a historically cultural dance except in the very superficial comparison of one particular movement.

You may disapprove of twerking, but it is dance.

Twerking is a movement, not a dance, just as the grande jete is a movement, not a dance.

 

[Eudaimonist]

You did not say "Tahitian dance," you said "Polynesian dances," which includes hula.

Now that I look back at my past posts, you are correct that I written "Polynesian dances". I misremembered. I thought I had only mentioned Tahitian dancing.

I didn't mean hula dancing in particular. The movements aren't quite the same. There is far more upper body, including arm, movements in hula dancing, and that doesn't make as good an example of what I mean.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Lik3]

I am not sure, but one of the other posters mentioned putting up a lot of videos. I just find twerking an interesting dance. Is it fair to link twerking with a person's intellect or morality? Rather, is there a link between dancing and immorality? Hear me out. Would you find it immoral if you see a six year old twerking as opposed to hula dancing or ballroom dancing? I understand there may be a difference, but why would a six year old do that unless it is the parents' responsibility? Would allowing a child to twerk reflect on the morals of a parent because of the seemingly sexual nature of twerking? I was looking at a cartoon about the effects of a lack of morality on the black community and one of the characters was a woman twerking or shaking her booty. Is it really fair to associate twerking with societal mores?

Case in point:

 

[evoeth]

The author. Who seems to be a quite the moralizer. Little O and the Hill Cutnedge Cartoons

 

[now faith]

I have a problem with this cartoon and post in general.
Seems that either we are to condemn blacks for immoral dance or teach them not to be immoral.

Either way the we are the problem.

Immorality is a us thing no matter your race,because we are them and they are us People

 

[RDKirk]

I have a problem with this cartoon and post in general.
Seems that either we are to condemn blacks for immoral dance or teach them not to be immoral.

Either way the we are the problem.

Immorality is a us thing no matter your race,because we are them and they are us People

So you have a black cartoonist criticizing immorality in his own community and you have a problem with that?

 

[Cearbhall]

So you have a black cartoonist criticizing immorality in his own community and you have a problem with that?

I'm generally not a supporter of internalized racism/sexism/etc. Just because some people in a community think that something is immoral doesn't mean that others in the community have to conform to that opinion.

 

[Embedded]

My thoughts on twerking are that people who don't twerk have been thinking about it entirely too much.

 

[HitchSlap]

I don't consider it dancing. Back in my day, we danced. In think dancing stopped somewhere when hip-hop took over.

Racist comment noted.

 

[RDKirk]

Originally Posted by RDKirk

I don't consider it dancing. Back in my day, we danced. In think dancing stopped somewhere when hip-hop took over.
​

Racist comment noted.

How do you figure that's racist? Do you think all blacks embrace hip-hop? How racist is that?