WEBVTT 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is the bop. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The bop is a type of social dance. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Dance is a language 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and social dance is an expression that emerges from a community. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The social dance isn't choreographed by any one person. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It can't be traced to any one moment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Each dance has steps that everyone can agree on 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but it's about the individual and their creative identity. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because of that, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 social dances bubble up, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they change 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and they spread like wildfire. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They are as old as our remembered history. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In African-American social dances, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we see over 200 years 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of how African and African-American traditions influenced our history. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The present always contains the past, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and the past shapes who we are and who we will be. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 (Clapping) 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The Juba dance was born from enslaved African's experience on the plantation, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 brought to the Americas, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 stripped of a common spoken language, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this dance was a way for enslaved Africans to remember where they're from. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It may have looked something like this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Slapping thighs, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 shuffling feet 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and patting hands: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 this was how they got around the slave owners' ban on drumming. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Improvising complex rhythms, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 just like ancestors did with drums in Haiti, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or in the Yoruba communities of West Africa. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It was about keeping cultural traditions alive 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and retaining a sense of inner freedom under captivity. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It was the same subversive spirit that created this dance: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The Cakewalk. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 A dance that parodied the mannerisms of Southern high society. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 A way for enslaved to [...] at the masters. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The crazy thing about this dance 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is that the Cakewalk was performed for the masters, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who never suspected they were being make fun of. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now you might recognize this one. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 1920s -- 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The Charleston. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The Charleston was all about improvisation and musicality, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 making its way into Lindy Hop, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Swing dancing 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and even the Kid n Play, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 originally called the Funky Charleston. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Started by a tight-knit Black community near Charleston, South Carolina, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the Charleston permeated dance halls 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 where young women suddenly had the freedom to kick their heels 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and move their legs. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Now social dance is about community and connection, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it you knew the steps 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it meant you belonged to a group. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But what if it becomes a worldwide craze? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Enter the Twist. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's no surprise that the Twist can be traced back to the 19th century, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 brought to America from the Congo during slavery. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But in the late 50s, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 right before the Civil RIghts Movement, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the twist is popularized by Chubby Checker and Dick Clark. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Suddenly, everybody's doing the Twist: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 white teenagers, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 kids in Latin America, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 making its way into songs and movies. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Through social dance, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the boundaries between groups become blurred. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The story continues in the 1980s and 90s. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Along with the emergence of Hip-Hop, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 African American social dance took on even more visibility, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 borrowing from its long past, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 shaping culture and being shaped by it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Today these dances continue to evolve, grow and spread. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Why do we dance? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To move. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To let loose. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To express. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Why do we dance together? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To heal, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to remember, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to say, "We speak a common language, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we exist and we are free."