Doing Face Time with grandchildren is the next best thing to being with them in person. It allows us to share their lives, see them when we cannot touch them, and be with them as best we can when we grandmas are physically at a distance. I love Face Time. Last night, when this Grandma called via Face Time, the twelve year old grandson and nine year old granddaughter were dancing. Okay, the music is at the far end of what I can listen to without cringing. It was not rap or hip hop. I could not identify it. Even more, the dance they were doing was nothing I had ever seen before. My daughter was wonderful. She encouraged them to do it again so I could see the whole dance. She literally kept them moving. Of course, I thought they were amazing at the dance, coordinated, and smooth in these weird moves. One move looked like Charleston leg cross.
This Grandma always thinks it is important to keep up with the newest crazes our grandchildren are involved in and now I had much to learn. My daughter said this new dance is called the Whip and the children do it in a line all together at parties and events. I inquired if it was like the electric slide we used to do when she was their age. She laughed and said yes, done similarly in a line up with everyone doing the moves in sequence.
Although, foreign in music and moves, I now had to learn the language of the Whip. Of course, I went to the internet. I found out that there are different versions and additions to the original Whip. These two You Tube videos give you a good idea of the original and fourth version:
I must admit that after watching several videos of the dance to narrow down the videos for the readers of this post, the music started to grow on me! Then, I found a video that gives step by step directions on how to do the Whip. As a grandma who wants to be hip or phat or whatever is the new term for just with it, I want to try to do a few of the moves with my grandchildren. The video is easy to follow, even for the most uncoordinated among us.
Now, of course, I wanted to know where this dance came from. It originated from a song, just like when we had the electric slide, etc. I must have gap learning, because I found out that it follows the Nae Nae, which I have never heard of, and the Whip was created by many of the same people as the Nae Nae. I must remember to ask my grandchildren about this Nae Nae.
The New York Times had an article about the Whip a long time ago. As I read the New York Times religiously, I must pay greater attention to such things as these new songs and dance crazes. So, apparently, version one has been around for a while, according to “Nae Nae, Dance That Swept the World, Has a Sequel, December 1, 2014 in the New York Times.
According to the author, Corban Gobeldec, “The next sports dance craze has arrived: It is known as the whip, and it is a close sibling of the Nae Nae. In fact, it comes from some of the same rappers and choreographers. The whip is a quick flurry of action, bursts of improvisation bookended with a crouched base position, arm extended, as if the dancer has his hand perched atop a steering wheel.”
Here is how the Whip dance came to be by a group called “Famous to Most,” who were part of the group had already created the Nae Nae dance. Look how smart you can look to your grandchildren!
“Famous to Most formed on the car ride home from this year’s Essence Festival in New Orleans. Three of the four members – Pervis Reynolds, known as P. J.; DeAndre Johnson, known as King Rari; and Ware – were among the collective of friends that brought We Are Toonz’s song “Drop That #NaeNae” and the Nae Nae dance to life. “The Nae Nae swept the whole world,” Ware said. “We were like, it’s going to be kind of hard to top that.”
“Johnson recalled how they did: The group’s fourth member, Hasani Buchanan, was messing around as they were driving in the car. Let’s make it into a dance, the group concluded. Then, Johnson said, “It just ended up happening.”
“The whip was unveiled in the group’s video “#Whip,” for a song that Buchanan, who goes by the Real Hasani, has released in new versions since the summer. A popular video – “#WhipDance Part 1” – featuring the song, which contains explicit lyrics, and the dance has totaled a half-million views on YouTube.’
Now that this Grandma is fully versed in the Whip, I want to be able to share their parents’ era version of the Whip with the grandchildren, the Electric Slide and the Macarena, that their parents did at parties and events when they were the grandchildren’s ages.
According to Wikipedia, “The Electric (better known as The Electric Slide) is a four wall line dance set to Marcia Griffiths’ song “Electric Boogie”, McFadden & Whitehead’s song “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now”, Cameo’s song “Candy”. Choreographer Ric Silver claims to have created the dance in 1976.” Yes, I like this better than the Whip. Share with the grandchildren, but not too long as they will get bored:
Then show them the video on how to do it.
Not really too different with the extra cool moves than the Whip in idea. I do not think we can convince the grandchildren of this though.
Graduate to the Macarena, which was even bigger than the Electric Slide. According to Wikipedia, “Macarena” (Spanish pronunciation: [maka’?ena]) is a Spanish dance song by Los del Río about a woman of the same name. Appearing on the 1994 album A mí me gusta, it was an international hit in 1995, 1996, and 1997, and continues to have a cult following. One of the most iconic examples of 1990s dance music, it was ranked the “#1 Greatest One-Hit Wonder of all Time” by VH1 in 2002. The song uses a type of clave rhythm. The song ranks at No. 7 on Billboard’s All Time Top 100. It also ranks at No. 1 on Billboard’s All Time Latin Songs.[2][3] It is also Billboard’s No. 1 dance song and one of six foreign language songs to hit No. 1 since 1955’s rock era began.”
Let the grandchildren notice the dress, hair, shoes of the 1990’s. If you have pictures of their parents with the same clothes and big hair, show them the styles. Not too much, or they will be bored.
They will definitely like the 2015 Just Dance version better:
Here are step by step directions:
Now we can go way back in time to our line dance, the Stroll. Okay, let’s admit that the stroll started when we were their age. According to Wikipedia, “The stroll was both a slow rock ‘n’ roll dance and a song that was popular in the late 1950s. Billboard first reported that “The Stroll” might herald a new dance craze similar to the “Big Apple” in December 1957. . . .The original version of the song reached number four on the Billboard pop charts, number five on the R&B charts, and number one on the Cashbox charts. In the dance, two lines of dancers, men on one side and women on the other, face each other, moving in place to the music. Each paired couple then steps out and does a more elaborate dance up and down between the rows of dancers. Dick Clark noted the similarity of the dance to the Virginia reel. It was first performed to “C. C. Rider” by Chuck Willis on American Bandstand. Link Wray’s “Rumble” was also a popular tune for doing the stroll. It is referenced in Led Zeppelin’s 1950s rock homage “Rock and Roll”. The “Stroll” was used in the film “American Graffiti” (1973) during the scene at the High School Dance.”
Let them notice the dress, hair and shoes of the late 1950’s.
Wow, we have actually completed a history of line dances through Boomer Grandma’s generation, moving to our grandchildren’s generation. Boy, do I wish we had YouTube to learn the newest dances when we grew up.
We can now let them in on the secret that they already have known a line dance since they were toddlers, when we grandmas did the Hokey Pokey with them. I bet they do not need to see You Tube videos and learn how to do the Hokey Pokey with
Joy,
Mema
Comments