The Oxford English Dictionary's definition of the term may fuel the stigma around twerking as a sexual and provocative dance. Merriam-Webster gives the definition as a 'sexually suggestive dancing characterized by rapid, repeated hip thrusts and shaking of the buttocks especially while squatting'.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines twerking as dancing 'in a sexually provocative manner, using thrusting movements of the bottom and hips while in a low, squatting stance'. A Google Trends search reveals that interest in the word 'twerk' arose in November 2011. The word became popular in the 2000s, when it was used by Atlanta rapper Lil Jon and The East Side Boyz. However, a possible earlier use is in Funkadelic's 1979 song (Not Just) Knee Deep, which contains the lyrics 'It didn't twerk, no' (often misquoted as 'It didn't work, no') at 1 minutes 20 seconds. On record, the 1993 song 'Do the Jubilee All' by DJ Jubilee - which contains the lyrics 'Twerk baby, twerk baby, twerk, twerk, twerk' - has been cited as its earliest use. The word is said to have originated from the inner-city of New Orleans and was used frequently in New Orleans bounce music by rappers and DJ hosting block parties in the housing projects. The Oxford English Dictionary defines an early 19th-century use of the word as a blend of ' twist' and ' jerk' (or ' twitch'), which was reported by the BBC in conjunction with the black cultural context. Local bounce practitioners attribute the term to a contraction of 'to work' ('t'work' or, spelled as it's pronounced, 'twerk'). (video) Backup dancers twerking at a 2015 Pharrell Williams concert in Japan Etymology Ī 2013 Oxford Dictionaries blog post states, 'the most likely theory is that it is an alteration of work, because that word has a history of being used in similar ways, with dancers being encouraged to 'work it'. In 2013, it became the top 'what is' search on the Google search engine following pop artist Miley Cyrus performing the dance at the MTV Video Music Awards. Twerking is one among other types of choreographic gestures within bounce.Īs a tradition shaped by local aid and pleasure clubs, block parties and second lines, the dance was central to 'a historical situating of sissy bounce-bounce music as performed by artists from the New Orleans African-American community that a meteoric rise in popularity post-.' In the 1990s, twerking had widespread appeal in black party culture throughout the hip-hop/rap region known as The Dirty South, including New Orleans, Memphis, Virginia Beach, Miami, Atlanta, and Houston. Moves include 'mixing', 'exercising', the 'bend over', the 'shoulder hustle', 'clapping', 'booty clapping', 'booty poppin', 'the sleeper' and 'the wild wood'-all recognized as booty shaking or bounce. Twerking is part of a larger set of characteristic moves unique to the New Orleans style of hip-hop known as 'bounce'.

Individually performed chiefly but not exclusively by women, performers dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving throwing or thrusting their hips back or shaking their buttocks, often in a low squatting stance. Twerking ( / ˈ t w ɜːr k ɪ ŋ/ possibly from 'to work') is a type of dance that emerged from the bounce music scene of New Orleans in 1990, which has a broader origin among other types of dancing found among the African diaspora that derives from Bantu-speaking Africans of Central Africa. For other uses, see Twerk (disambiguation).

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