"STOOKIE" - QQ; A SIMPLE REGGAE DANCE

History, A New Understanding! Yayy!

According to an internet Jamaican guide, “Dance is a part of Jamaican culture and everyday life, and it always has been. Whether European settlers or African slaves, every new Jamaican brought their own native dances, and many have evolved and combined to form traditional Jamaican dances” (http://jamaica-guide.info/arts.and.entertainment/dance/). Although the style of dancehall movements was and still is the most popular style of dancing, another style came before. This genre of dancing was called Ska. Ska steps came along when the dances and the music were starting to slow down and the fast beat type of music was not being favored as much. Jamaicans loved to dance, so in order for them to stay on the dance floor just a little bit longer, the tempo of the music was forced to slow down. “In the UK, Ska was also known as "blue beat" music. Rock steady, and later, reggae sprang from the loins of Ska in the late 1960s”, reported Paul Saxby, a journalist who wrote the article on Jamaican dance music. Examples of slow reggae music that we still dance to today would be some of Sean Paul’s music like Slow Motion, and Bashment Party sung by another artist. Another famous song, that has aired in the movie, “Save the Last Dance”, was the song, Murder She Wrote sung by Chaka Demus & The Pliers. So as years passed, both fast tempo upbeat songs mixed with slow motion tunes are played and enjoyed by everybody.

Balfour! A Hands-on Approach

Over the past weekend, Wheaton College hosted a Halloween dance. I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to observe the reggae dancing that I was studying. At the start of the dance they played a few reggae songs that I and many others danced too. We danced by winding our hips, and we also did some free style dancing. One person that I interviewed said, “Balfour is a place where we can dance and just have fun with our friends.” This person was of Jamaican and Panamanian decent. She, who would like to remain anonymous, said that she feels like she has a special bond with other people of Caribbean heritage, especially Jamaicans. Another associate stated that “It is also a place where we can do the type of dancing that we like without have to go to some specified club made just for reggae dancers.” Being around, not just Jamaicans, but everybody “from the islands” brings about a new and different vibe and sense of energy. They look so confident when they dance and it make you feel confident too, because it is really about having fun and moving your body in a way they you never though you would. The more fun, I found out, that you have with it the more you can feel how they feel when they hear “their” music. Now that I have really had hands on, first approach encounter with this culture, I want to actually study more and go in depth about how it is in the country of origin, Jamaica.

DANCE!!

Reggae dance also known as dance hall can be expressed by many various dances. This includes call and response, freestyle and "riddim" dancing. Call and response is when the dances are called out either in or outside the song. Dances called in the song are dances already written in the song. An example of this is “Merital dance” or more commonly known as “Everybody Dance” written by the Merital family. This song involves at least ten dances all mixed in with each other, such as Raging Bull, Tek Weh Yuself, Ever Fresh and So Clean and Stookie. The other form of call and response is when the dances are called out while a song is playing and made to go to the beat of the song. An example of this is the Elephant Man song called “Willie Bounce”. In this song, dances such as the rocky dip, bogle dip and the willie bounce are called out by elephant man in the song, a hype man, or the DJ. The second style of dancing is freestyle dancing. It’s when any type of song can be played and people can do a number of dances all to the same beat. An example is a girl winding to the beat of any song whether it has a fast or a slow beat. The last type of dancing is called “riddim” dancing. A riddim is a beat or rhythm that can be the exact same for various songs. A certain dance is done to one specific riddim but that riddim could be played to various songs. Examples of certain riddims are the Orgasm Riddim and the Villian Medley Riddim. To the Villian Medley Riddim, there are over fifteen songs all with the same riddim but used for many different songs. Dancing is just something fun to do and many people just go crazy when they dance and put a different spin to the dance to make it their own.