WEBVTT 00:00:00.439 --> 00:00:02.423 This is the Bop. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:03.014 --> 00:00:05.528 The Bop is a type of social dance. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:09.109 --> 00:00:10.749 Dance is a language, 00:00:10.773 --> 00:00:14.592 and social dance is an expression that emerges from a community. 00:00:15.238 --> 00:00:18.583 A social dance isn't choreographed by any one person. 00:00:18.607 --> 00:00:21.172 It can't be traced to any one moment. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:21.196 --> 00:00:24.203 Each dance has steps that everyone can agree on, 00:00:24.227 --> 00:00:27.793 but it's about the individual and their creative identity. 00:00:29.772 --> 00:00:30.927 Because of that, 00:00:30.951 --> 00:00:32.343 social dances bubble up, 00:00:32.367 --> 00:00:33.534 they change 00:00:33.558 --> 00:00:35.333 and they spread like wildfire. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:36.962 --> 00:00:39.678 They are as old as our remembered history. 00:00:41.492 --> 00:00:43.733 In African-American social dances, 00:00:43.757 --> 00:00:45.505 we see over 200 years 00:00:45.529 --> 00:00:50.143 of how African and African-American traditions influenced our history. 00:00:52.329 --> 00:00:54.841 The present always contains the past. 00:00:55.388 --> 00:00:57.877 And the past shapes who we are 00:00:57.901 --> 00:00:59.493 and who we will be. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:59.517 --> 00:01:01.860 (Clapping) NOTE Paragraph 00:01:03.304 --> 00:01:06.451 The Juba dance was born from enslaved Africans' experience 00:01:06.475 --> 00:01:07.823 on the plantation. 00:01:08.312 --> 00:01:09.497 Brought to the Americas, 00:01:09.521 --> 00:01:11.756 stripped of a common spoken language, 00:01:11.780 --> 00:01:16.052 this dance was a way for enslaved Africans to remember where they're from. 00:01:16.076 --> 00:01:18.593 It may have looked something like this. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:24.556 --> 00:01:25.723 Slapping thighs, 00:01:25.747 --> 00:01:26.981 shuffling feet 00:01:27.005 --> 00:01:28.805 and patting hands: 00:01:28.829 --> 00:01:32.400 this was how they got around the slave owners' ban on drumming, 00:01:32.974 --> 00:01:35.077 improvising complex rhythms 00:01:35.101 --> 00:01:37.976 just like ancestors did with drums in Haiti 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:40.648 or in the Yoruba communities of West Africa. 00:01:44.804 --> 00:01:47.921 It was about keeping cultural traditions alive 00:01:47.945 --> 00:01:50.278 and retaining a sense of inner freedom 00:01:50.302 --> 00:01:51.555 under captivity. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:53.555 --> 00:01:57.492 It was the same subversive spirit that created this dance: 00:01:58.191 --> 00:01:59.361 the Cakewalk, 00:01:59.385 --> 00:02:03.161 a dance that parodied the mannerisms of Southern high society -- 00:02:03.185 --> 00:02:06.387 a way for the enslaved to throw shade at the masters. 00:02:06.849 --> 00:02:08.800 The crazy thing about this dance 00:02:08.824 --> 00:02:11.761 is that the Cakewalk was performed for the masters, 00:02:11.785 --> 00:02:14.616 who never suspected they were being made fun of. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:17.069 --> 00:02:19.197 Now you might recognize this one. 00:02:19.805 --> 00:02:20.975 1920s -- 00:02:20.999 --> 00:02:22.454 the Charleston. 00:02:25.715 --> 00:02:29.466 The Charleston was all about improvisation and musicality, 00:02:29.490 --> 00:02:31.505 making its way into Lindy Hop, 00:02:31.529 --> 00:02:32.689 swing dancing 00:02:32.713 --> 00:02:33.950 and even the Kid n Play, 00:02:33.974 --> 00:02:36.551 originally called the Funky Charleston. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:41.088 --> 00:02:45.222 Started by a tight-knit Black community near Charleston, South Carolina, 00:02:45.246 --> 00:02:47.238 the Charleston permeated dance halls 00:02:47.262 --> 00:02:50.416 where young women suddenly had the freedom to kick their heels 00:02:50.440 --> 00:02:52.177 and move their legs. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:57.273 --> 00:03:00.931 Now, social dance is about community and connection; 00:03:00.955 --> 00:03:02.309 if you knew the steps, 00:03:02.333 --> 00:03:04.267 it meant you belonged to a group. 00:03:04.291 --> 00:03:06.855 But what if it becomes a worldwide craze? 00:03:07.257 --> 00:03:08.925 Enter the Twist. 00:03:08.949 --> 00:03:13.256 It's no surprise that the Twist can be traced back to the 19th century, 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:15.177 brought to America from the Congo 00:03:15.201 --> 00:03:16.408 during slavery. 00:03:16.872 --> 00:03:18.085 But in the late '50s, 00:03:18.109 --> 00:03:20.183 right before the Civil Rights Movement, 00:03:20.207 --> 00:03:23.938 the Twist is popularized by Chubby Checker and Dick Clark. 00:03:23.962 --> 00:03:26.533 Suddenly, everybody's doing the Twist: 00:03:26.557 --> 00:03:27.750 white teenagers, 00:03:27.774 --> 00:03:29.361 kids in Latin America, 00:03:29.385 --> 00:03:32.092 making its way into songs and movies. 00:03:32.116 --> 00:03:33.303 Through social dance, 00:03:33.327 --> 00:03:36.209 the boundaries between groups become blurred. NOTE Paragraph 00:03:39.196 --> 00:03:42.445 The story continues in the 1980s and '90s. 00:03:42.866 --> 00:03:45.102 Along with the emergence of hip-hop, 00:03:45.126 --> 00:03:49.068 African-American social dance took on even more visibility, 00:03:49.092 --> 00:03:51.318 borrowing from its long past, 00:03:51.342 --> 00:03:53.953 shaping culture and being shaped by it. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:02.364 --> 00:04:07.011 Today, these dances continue to evolve, grow and spread. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:08.020 --> 00:04:09.535 Why do we dance? 00:04:09.559 --> 00:04:10.728 To move, 00:04:10.752 --> 00:04:11.941 to let loose, 00:04:11.965 --> 00:04:13.340 to express. 00:04:13.364 --> 00:04:15.176 Why do we dance together? 00:04:15.200 --> 00:04:16.359 To heal, 00:04:16.383 --> 00:04:17.534 to remember, 00:04:17.558 --> 00:04:20.056 to say: "We speak a common language. 00:04:20.080 --> 00:04:21.231 We exist 00:04:21.255 --> 00:04:22.732 and we are free."