Twerking

Twerking is a type of <a href="/facts/African-American_dance/kznuoVJY">dance</a> to <a href="/facts/Popular_music/Q5yhxIwY">popular music</a> in a <a href="/facts/Sexually_provocative/H24qax5u">sexually provocative</a> manner involving <a href="/facts/Pelvic_thrusting/bHLmdymx">throwing or thrusting the hips</a> back or shaking the <a href="/facts/Buttocks/dtybFpGI">buttocks</a>, often in a <a href="/facts/Partial_squat/HzwyBnEG">low squatting stance</a>. It is individually performed chiefly but not exclusively by women.
Twerking is part of a larger set of characteristic moves unique to the <a href="/facts/New_Orleans/IgCn61KH">New Orleans</a> style of hip-hop known as <a href="/facts/Bounce_music/yw2yvtbJ">"bounce"</a>. 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. Twerking is one among other types of choreographic gestures within bounce.
Twerking emerged from the bounce music scene of <a href="/facts/New_Orleans/IgCn61KH">New Orleans</a> in 1990. It has a broader origin among other types of dancing found among the <a href="/facts/African_diaspora/AlohHjs5">African diaspora</a> that derives from <a href="/facts/Bantu_languages/6xKvpQ1a">Bantu-speaking</a> <a href="/facts/Africa/XkqQUP9s">Africans</a> of <a href="/facts/Central_Africa/ufJ003ex">Central Africa</a>. 
As a tradition shaped by <a href="/facts/Social_clubs/2HQmqWhq">local aid</a> and pleasure <a href="/facts/Nightclub/krTvUzaj">clubs</a>, <a href="/facts/Block_parties/2EzUXrkb">block parties</a> and <a href="/facts/Second_line_(parades)/pkDmYsVq">second lines</a>, the dance was central to "a historical situating of sissy bounce—bounce music as performed by artists from the New Orleans <a href="/facts/African-American/pTgcAdo8">African-American</a> community that [led to] a meteoric rise in popularity post-[<a href="/facts/Hurricane_Katrina/EflS9fkS">Hurricane Katrina</a> after 2005]." In the 1990s, twerking had widespread appeal in black party culture throughout the hip-hop/rap region known as <a href="/facts/Southern_United_States/ppnGuAtB">The Dirty South</a>, including <a href="/facts/New_Orleans/IgCn61KH">New Orleans</a>, <a href="/facts/Houston/1v8AwQUN">Houston</a>, Memphis, <a href="/facts/Virginia_Beach/bdkeDxXt">Virginia Beach</a>, <a href="/facts/Miami/L5FsgQcb">Miami</a>, and <a href="/facts/Atlanta/8hPVGb78">Atlanta</a>. In 2013, it became the top "what is" search on the <a href="/facts/Google/GT9Sugza">Google</a> search engine following pop artist <a href="/facts/Miley_Cyrus/0luIt9v6">Miley Cyrus</a> performing the dance at the <a href="/facts/MTV_Video_Music_Awards/F9H94We9">MTV Video Music Awards</a>.

Twerking open-in-new

Twerking