Let's Discuss Blacks Dancing Sexually And It's Cultural Meaning

[frau]

if you have an account with youtube you will be able to view the following flagged video from the movie Rize:


going to an all black middle and high school at parties we used to dance in a manner that was seen as sexual, but really imo, it was about being able to dance well. just because you moved in a sexy manner with your partner didn't mean you wanted to have sex with him. sometimes the best guys to dance with were gay. i see that expressed in the video above. some people may dance suggestively, even the little girl, but it's about the movement not the meaning. i mean, no one is planning on having sex on the dance floor.

however, i remember when i was younger and i would invite my white friends to our parties (this was the mid to late 80's) and they would freak out and get afraid and want to leave. when guys would dance with them they felt that they were being attacked almost.

times have changed, thank goodness.

but...i notice at white clubs, when the white kids dance sexy or suggestively it goes to the next level. i saw some party filmed where the kids are actually having sex or doing sex acts on the dance floor.

is this happening at black parties too? i was wondering if perhaps the white kids still don't get that you can dance sexually without having sex?

[bootzey]

I'm not going to object to the dancing, kind of...

I object to the dancing, with the scantily clad clothing. The combination of the two making the dancing too sexual. Especially that poor little girl lifting her shirt up. That's too much. It didn't seem as suggestive when the people had loose pants and shirts that covered their bodies.

I remenber when I was a kid, my parents objected to the wop, and the pee wee herman.

[mydestiny]

About 10 years ago when I was going to a "teen club" there were a few incidents were people had sex on the dance floor or danced way too suggestively and had to be kicked out. This was the fall/winter of 1996 and I was 16. The age limit of the club was 13-17.

[PuffieGrl]

I've heard of these things happening at Black clubs. I would like to ask, why dance suggestively if you're not trying to attract anyone? Why go out of your way to do these sexy dances just for "fun"? I'm not critisizing, I'm just asking an honest question. To me, it seems you would do dances that are less sexy if you're not trying to have sex with anyone.

[BlakMagic]

<_< Hmm...I&#39;m not sure about this one.

I really don&#39;t think that the intentions behind it are sexual. These kids can actually dance. Wasn&#39;t the purpose of Rize to move away from the whole sleazy rap video dances? I think it&#39;s kind of creative. Yes they didn&#39;t have to be half naked but I have to admit that I was kind of relieved to see the guys in it just as much as the girls. The little girl though that was a bit much, she could show her dancing skills up without lifting her shirt.


But then again my brother and I like to krump...

[bajanempress]

I was about to come and post that I didn&#39;t think it was sexual at all to me its just dancing I come from Barbados and sometimes wukking up looks more suggestive than that. However the little girl at the end ummmmm no holding up her shirt and grinding on the floor? Her parents are crazy. Yes no one is touching her as the guy said but seriously there are child molesters who right now are watching that and wanking off. Disgusting.

[frau]

i wasn&#39;t really trying to make commentary on that particular clip in the sense that i was asking if it was appropriate for the little girl to dance that way. i would not let my daughter dance that way at her age or even now actually.

i was just wondering if there were cultural differences. i mean, think about dancehall or soca, it is very suggestive, but i don&#39;t think it&#39;s a direct line to sex even though it&#39;s implied.

for those that go to clubs do the best dancers portray the image of being easy to go to bed? i think not. i think no matter how good you are at dancing, your sexual behavior is seperate.

[bajanempress]

Dancing for me is not sexual. My traditional dancing involves a man behind you (on your bumper) and both of you wining either fast or slow. We call that wukking up and I can do that with my bf, mother or brother or a random guy its not sexual. Grinding however, especially if you are facing the person is sexual............ My bf and I have gotten a little heated over a slow grind on the dancefloor before.

[BlakMagic]

Ohhh...That&#39;s a hard one because it would be hard to ban her from doing it, "do as I say and not as I do"... but in the end I know I would be horrified if my daughter (I don&#39;t have children) were to start gyrating on the ground at such a young age.

[Nina]

I have responded to a similar topic before and, because I am feeling lazy, will just find/post what I said before...

When I was about 9 or 10 my mother caught about 7 of us girls doing The Butterfly in the dressing room at her studio and lit every one of us up. She stung legs and butts and didn&#39;t care if she gave birth to you or not.

We still did it - away from adults and on the low - but we damn sure knew it was unacceptable. At the time I felt my mother was being weird and unfair and didn’t quite understand how it was that we perfected the Raqs Sharqi, Hula etc. that she taught us...yet The Butterfly was off limits, but now I understand. I bow down to and love native dances and, OT, but a lot of people thought Beyoncé originated that ‘bootie dance’ she did in Crazy in Love when that move has been alive and well on the continent for eons.

Cultural and ethnic dances are not ‘nasty’ nor do they have the same ‘2006 American connotations’. To not realize that would mean folks could call kids who study Raqs Sharqi (belly dancing), La Cumbia in Columbia or even Hula in Hawaii lewd and obscene as all those dances, and more, entail moving the hips and abdomen in a sensuous way. But historically these dances were done to worship, tell stories, flirt, celebrate femininity, appease the gods etc. and, though sensual, just did not have the same “dance, too much bootie in the pants” connotations that is in evidence today.