Resistance Dancing I Have Experienced

¶ … resistance dancing I have experienced in my life is turf dancing, which is similar to gang-related dances like the crip walk, or the hyphy dance. I have seen this dance in Northern California when I go to visit my family members who live there. Turf dancing is usually very rapid, and almost always involves participants 'throwing up their sets'. Whereas in southern California gang dances, sets are particular gang affiliations, in northern California sets are specific neighborhoods that people refer to as turfs. This is a general countercultural movement form of resistance, in which dancers are resisting traditional American values and social conventions. Dancers' preoccupation with the neighborhoods they are representing, and not the actual movements themselves, underscore this fact.

Dance can contribute to social-political change by preserving culture. When people have physical reminders of their culture, they are less likely to accept a new one -- even when it is forced on them, much as new culture was forced upon people of African descent during slavery (Browning). In situations in which people are forced to accept another culture, dance can serve as a catalyst to rebel against it.

I think gentrification is an important social issue, because it is displacing a lot of lower class people. If it continues, soon there will be nowhere for lower class people to live, at least not in the United States. Turf dancing helps to combat gentrification because it reinforces a feeling of pride in people and in their neighborhoods. By continuing to represent their neighborhoods through turf dancing, these dancers can help get the word out about the issue of gentrification by reminding one another of who lives where, and of the threat of outsiders coming in, buying the property inexpensively, and raising the prices so poorer people cannot live there.

I agree with Alyssa that break dancing is a form of resistance dancing. I think that one of the ways that break dancing helps to solidify resistance is through providing another avenue for a countercultural movement to grow. Due to the concerns about the economy that she mentioned, today is one of the few times in the history of the U.S. that there is not a dominant countercultural movement. Therefore, I believe that by having people breakdance in places where people also turf dance, both of these forms of dance can help to form a countercultural movement that expresses social concern.

There is a definite similarity between Nicole's choice of hip-hop dance as a form of resistance and mine highlighting turf dancing as a form of resistance. Both of these forms of dance largely began in urban environments in the streets. I believe that it would be useful to incorporate hip hop dancing with turf dancing, since in reality turf dancing is merely an unorganized form of hip hop dancing with the addition of representing one's neighborhood at the same time. That way, both of these types of dances could merge and help to bring back a countercultural movement in the U.S.