Twerking

Twerking (/ˈtwɜːrkɪŋ/; possibly from 'to work') is a type of dance that emerged from the bounce music scene of New Orleans in 1990,^[1] which has a broader origin among other types of dancing found among the African diaspora that derives from Bantu-speaking Africans of Central Africa.^[2] Individually performed chiefly but not exclusively by women,^[3][4] 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.^[5] Twerking is part of a larger set of characteristic moves unique to the New Orleans style of hip-hop known as "bounce".^[6] 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.^[7][8] Twerking is one among other types of choreographic gestures within bounce.

As a tradition shaped by local aid and pleasure clubs, block parties and second lines,^[9] 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 [led to] a meteoric rise in popularity post-[Hurricane Katrina after 2005]."^[10] 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.^[9][10] In 2013, it became the top "what is" search on the Google search engine^[11] following pop artist Miley Cyrus performing the dance at the MTV Video Music Awards.^[12]