Exposing the Dance Scene
How the Art Form Changed through the Years

Photo Illustration by Felicia Lankford| VOX Staff

By Tamara Patrick
VOX Staff

The popular rap song “Back That Azz Up” by Juvenile was playing on MTV Jams last month as my cousin Junior and I sat in my living room. The dirty lyrics echoed over the bouncy beat: “Girl, you look good/won’t you back that a$$ up/You’se a fine motherf!%@*/won’t you back that a$$ up/you got a stupid a$$ yeah/make me laugh yeah/Make a ni**a wanna grab that, autograph that …” I felt upset and insulted to hear such degrading lyrics coming from Juvenile, a black man who also has a daughter.

His comments also made me feel uncomfortable as a black woman. As we continued watching the video, the images looked disturbing: Close-up camera shots showed young girls in revealing clothes, gyrating and shaking their butts from scene to scene. I screwed up my face.

“Is that all people think women can do — shake their a$$es?” I commented to Junior in disgust.

“Yeah, that’s all ya’ll know how to do,” my cousin replied sarcastically, laughing and pointing to the TV screen where a girl was shaking her booty. I was surprised and insulted all at once. I couldn’t believe he’d said that. Even though Junior was wrong for his disrespectful response, and despite the fact that nothing can justify his faulty thinking, I understand his point.

With so many bogus images of women dancers in videos, it makes it easy for guys to think that the only purpose women can serve is to be video hoes. The term ‘video ho’ originated with rappers in reference to a half-dressed girl on the set of a music video. “With roughly 200 hip hop videos created each year, all of them require the staple element of voluptuous women to dance, shake, or just look hot,” according to VH1.com. A video ho is often paid to look the way she does to fulfill men’s sexual fantasies and satisfaction. Because of the negative image women play as objects in these videos, and because rappers and video producers encourage those slutty representations, there are growing misconceptions about female dancers that affect all women and teenage girls.

The Influence of Dance
Back in the day, women dancers used dance as a way of expression, socialization communication and a way to practice spirituality. Unfortunately, today the positive perception of female dancers as graceful artists using movement as their tool for self-expression has changed to “video hoes” and strippers dancing seductively with male artists and their entourages.

Researchers have no accurate time-frame for tracing the beginning of dance. Some say the history of dance is as old as the earliest humans. Ancient and contemporary cultures use dance as a vital part of ceremonies, rituals, celebrations and entertainment. For example, many Africans use dance as rites of passage to mark the coming of age for young men and women. Renisha Harris, a senior on the flag corps dance squad at Benjamin E. Mays High School, said contemporary dance helps her connect to her ancestors: “Dance affects me culturally. When I dance, I feel like it ties me to my roots.” She said she doesn’t consider dancing in music videos as real dancing. “All they’re doing is shaking their butts,” she explained.

Renisha, 17, has been practicing dance, including ballet, jazz, tap and hip hop, for 14 years. She said her mother forced her to take dance classes when she was much younger. Even though she wasn’t really interested at the time, she has grown to enjoy dancing and uses dance as a form of expression. “Things I can’t say can be expressed in my dancing,” Renisha said. “One time during practice, my choreographer was getting on my nerves; instead of expressing my dislike for her, I danced harder.”

Gabbie Warren, also a senior at Mays High School, said she uses dance to help her advance her education. She dances on the Raiderette dance team to improve her skills in hopes that she will earn a dance scholarship for college. Gabbie said the negative video-girl image affects how girls see themselves. “I think video dancers are degrading, and they have poisoned young women’s minds into thinking that they can use their bodies as a means to get material things,” Gabbie said.

In June 2005, Karrine Steffans revealed in her New York Times best-selling book “Confessions of a Video Vixen” that she made at least $2,500 per day dancing sexually explicitly in videos. In the honest but disturbing memoir, Steffans also wrote about her lustful sexual engagements with some of the biggest names in the music and movie industries. The book sold more than 400,000 copies, according to Essence Magazine. Last fall, Steffans released a follow-up memoir, “The Vixen Diaries,” dishing more gossip about her fast life with Hollywood celebrities. I was shocked by the number of books Steffans sold because she mostly talked about her degrading experiences, instead of using what she went through as a means of positive inspiration for girls and women. Though I bought Steffans’ first book out of curiosity, I don’t think it’s worth the $24.95 I paid for it. Honestly, she shared no meaningful insight and only sent a negative message to young women that by using our bodies instead of our minds, we can have financial wealth. For her, the respect from the opposite sex doesn’t matter, and I really don’t see how a woman can degrade herself by sleeping with so many men and then be OK with being known as a “video ho.”

The Evolution of Dance
Video dancers like Steffans make it hard for conservative dancers who love the craft to be respected.
“When young men watch those [raunchy] videos, they are entertained by the provocative dancing, so when I dance I have to work harder to change their perceptions,” Renisha said.

Dance is so much more than what music videos show. It is an artform that teens like Gabbie and Renisha take seriously.

“Dance is about using technique and having style, but I also use it as a means to have fun,” Gabbie said.

Renisha said dancing keeps her out of trouble and helps her become a more confident person. “Dance is more than a half-naked girl moving around on a video set,” she said. “Dance is a skill, and it can be used as an outlet.”

Despite the negative views of dance in recent years, the art form continues to evolve. How future generations perceive dance will depend on how they see it portrayed in the media.

Tamara is a senior at Mays High who enjoys watching videos but would like to see more positive images of women in them.