WEBVTT

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This is the Bop.

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The Bop is a type of social dance.

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Dance is a language

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and social dance is an expression
that emerges from a community.

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A social dance isn't choreographed
by any one person.

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It can't be traced to any one moment.

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Each dance has steps
that everyone can agree on,

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but it's about the individual
and their creative identity.

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Because of that,

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social dances bubble up,

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they change

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and they spread like wildfire.

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They are as old as our remembered history.

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In African-American social dances,

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we see over 200 years

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of how African and African-American
traditions influenced our history.

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The present always contains the past,

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and the past shapes who we are
and who we will be.

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(Clapping)

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The Juba dance was born from enslaved
Africans' experience on the plantation.

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Brought to the Americas,

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stripped of a common spoken language,

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this dance was a way for enslaved Africans
to remember where they're from.

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It may have looked something like this.

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Slapping thighs,

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shuffling feet

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and patting hands:

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this was how they got around
the slave owners' ban on drumming,

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improvising complex rhythms

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just like ancestors did
with drums in Haiti,

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or in the Yoruba communities
of West Africa.

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It was about keeping
cultural traditions alive

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and retaining a sense of inner
freedom under captivity.

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It was the same subversive spirit
that created this dance:

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the Cakewalk.

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A dance that parodied the mannerisms
of Southern high society --

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a way for enslaved
to [...] at the masters.

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The crazy thing about this dance

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is that the Cakewalk
was performed for the masters,

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who never suspected
they were being make fun of.

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Now you might recognize this one.

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1920s --

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the Charleston.

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The Charleston was all about
improvisation and musicality,

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making its way into Lindy Hop,

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swing dancing

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and even the Kid n Play,

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originally called the Funky Charleston.

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Started by a tight-knit Black community
near Charleston, South Carolina,

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the Charleston permeated dance halls

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where young women suddenly had
the freedom to kick their heels

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and move their legs.

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Now social dance is about
community and connection;

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if you knew the steps

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it meant you belonged to a group.

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But what if it becomes a worldwide craze?

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Enter the Twist.

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It's no surprise that the Twist can be
traced back to the 19th century,

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brought to America from
the Congo during slavery.

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But in the late '50s,

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right before the Civil Rights Movement,

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the Twist is popularized
by Chubby Checker and Dick Clark.

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Suddenly, everybody's doing the Twist:

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white teenagers,

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kids in Latin America,

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making its way into songs and movies.

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Through social dance,

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the boundaries between groups
become blurred.

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The story continues in the 1980s and '90s.

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Along with the emergence of Hip-Hop,

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African-American social dance
took on even more visibility,

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borrowing from its long past,

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shaping culture and being shaped by it.

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Today these dances continue
to evolve, grow and spread.

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Why do we dance?

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To move,

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to let loose,

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to express.

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Why do we dance together?

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To heal,

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to remember,

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to say, "We speak a common language,

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we exist and we are free."