Wu-tang (dance)
Encyclopedia
Wu-tang is a dance out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
, popularized in the area of North Philadelphia before spreading throughout the city and the surrounding region. The dance is normally performed to Baltimore club
music. This dance, was originally invented by the Wu Tang Clan and thus made the dance very popular. The dance involves a jerking of the arms in an up-and-down/side-to-side motion. The movement of the arms sometimes resembles flexing. Each individual person adds their own spin to the dance, be it fancy footwork or the mimicking of gunshots. A similar Philly dance is the "D-Mack" or "D-Mac," in which a dancer moves his arms or legs on one side of his body (often in a similar motion as the Wu-tang), and then imitates the same moves on the other side of his body. The Wu-tang dance has become very popular around the Philadelphia-New Jersey
-Baltimore
region, and it has been compared with the "Chicken Noodle Soup Dance" of Harlem
, the Bay Area's hyphy
dances, Atlanta's crunk
dances, Baltimore
's "Rockin' Off" dance, Miami's "stickin' n rollin'", and Compton
's "Krumping
" or "crip-walking." South Miami also has their own version of the Philadelphia Wu Tang dance, but it consists of more rapid movements of the arm and vigorous swinging of arms in a forward motion and has more use of the legs.
The dance bears no relation to the rap-group "Wu-Tang Clan" nor does it to the genre of martial arts movies of the same name.
Ciara can be seen doing part of the dance in her music videos for songs "Work" and "Gimmie That Bass".
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, popularized in the area of North Philadelphia before spreading throughout the city and the surrounding region. The dance is normally performed to Baltimore club
Baltimore Club
Baltimore club, also called "Bmore Club" or "Club Music" is a breakbeat genre. As blend with hip hop and chopped, staccato house music, it was created in Baltimore, Maryland, United States in the late 1980s by 2 Live Crew's Luther Campbell, Frank Ski, Big Tony , Scottie B...
music. This dance, was originally invented by the Wu Tang Clan and thus made the dance very popular. The dance involves a jerking of the arms in an up-and-down/side-to-side motion. The movement of the arms sometimes resembles flexing. Each individual person adds their own spin to the dance, be it fancy footwork or the mimicking of gunshots. A similar Philly dance is the "D-Mack" or "D-Mac," in which a dancer moves his arms or legs on one side of his body (often in a similar motion as the Wu-tang), and then imitates the same moves on the other side of his body. The Wu-tang dance has become very popular around the Philadelphia-New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
-Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
region, and it has been compared with the "Chicken Noodle Soup Dance" of Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
, the Bay Area's hyphy
Hyphy
The word hyphy is Conor Devlin's preferred short word meaning "hyperactive." It was created by Bay Area rapper Keak Da Sneak when he used the term on an album he recorded in 1994. From the USA Today article: "Every record label was getting at us at that time, but we fumbled the ball," says E-40,...
dances, Atlanta's crunk
Crunk
Crunk is a music style that originated in Memphis, Tennessee in the mid-to-late 1990s and gained mainstream success around 2003–2004. Performers of crunk music are sometimes referred to as crunksters. An archetypal crunk track most frequently uses a drum machine rhythm, heavy bassline, and...
dances, Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
's "Rockin' Off" dance, Miami's "stickin' n rollin'", and Compton
Compton
-Canada:* Compton, Quebec* Compton County, Quebec* Compton , a former Quebec provincial electoral district now part of Mégantic-Compton* Compton , a former Quebec federal electoral district-England:...
's "Krumping
Krumping
Krumping, also spelled Krumpin, is a street dance popularized in the United States that is characterized by free, expressive, exaggerated, and highly energetic movement involving the arms, head, legs, chest, and feet...
" or "crip-walking." South Miami also has their own version of the Philadelphia Wu Tang dance, but it consists of more rapid movements of the arm and vigorous swinging of arms in a forward motion and has more use of the legs.
The dance bears no relation to the rap-group "Wu-Tang Clan" nor does it to the genre of martial arts movies of the same name.
Ciara can be seen doing part of the dance in her music videos for songs "Work" and "Gimmie That Bass".