Hip Hop and square dancing are cousins

“Do you know how to do that ‘Black dancing’?” I was asked this in junior high when shows like Solid Gold, which featured nightclub music and contemporary dance choreography, and performances by Michael Jackson were popular. I knew how to moonwalk which was answer enough at the time but I didn’t learn how to pop, lock, and uprock until about a year later when my cousin Kenny showed me more moves. We got pretty good and won a small competition as a duo called the Cousin Connection.

One of my favorite songs to break to was Buffalo Gals by Malcolm McLaren and the World’s Famous Supreme Team. This composition had loud exciting drums, samples, and scratching. The video featured breakdancers and urban streetscapes. It was only a couple of decades later when I started square dancing that I made the connection that the lyric “Four buffalo gals go ‘round the outside and do-si-do your partner” was a square dancing call. 

Dal busting a move in middle school

Considering that, at least subconsciously, square dancing was imbricated with my experience of Hip Hop during those formative teen years, I think it was inevitable that I would seek to combine these traditions somehow. The rhythm of square dance calling and patter can sound like rapping. The hand slaps and other dancer flare has an improvisational feel. I strongly suspect that patter calls would work well with a live DJ who knew how to scratch.

Over the past 50 years, Hip Hop culture has become mainstream while square dance culture, once wildly popular, has dwindled. Like Kenny and me, Hip Hop and square dancing are cousins and if they were to join forces I think the products would be well received. I can certainly imagine Afrofuturist takes on square dance attire, spicier patter, and groovier syncopated beats driving singing and patter tips. We strive to bring that American ingenuity to our design engagements here at Eyes of Anansi - its our calling.