Indian show renews interest in ’70s dance style in US gay clubs

A woman dances in the spotlight, the bright tassels on her dress shaking and swaying in time with her movements.

But it is his arms that capture the light; They wave, spin and whip through the air at an impressive speed, almost like the blades of a fan.

These are the opening images of a web series recently released on Amazon Prime Video called Waack Girls, a drama centered on six women who learn a new dance form to become their city’s first all-female waack group.

Not many people know this dance, so women have to fight hard, against society and their families, to be taken seriously. But waacking ends up being the gift that keeps on giving.

Directed by Sooni Taraporevala, the series released at a time when many Indian cities, big and small, are witnessing a renewed interest in waacking.

“I was fascinated by the dance style and the importance it places on self-expression,” Taraporevala says of why she did the series.

Workshops and underground waacking jams (events where dancers battle with their moves) are proliferating in several cities, and international waacking legends visit the country to teach the dance.

Recently, Archie Burnett, who was a New York club dancer in the 1970s and ’80s and is a respected figure in the waacking community, visited India to perform.

The dancers hope that the web series will give more visibility to waacking in the country and show people that there is more to dance than classical forms, hip-hop and Bollywood.

Waacking has a history steeped in the LGBTQ+ liberation movement and the freedom championed by disco music.

The dance style emerged in Los Angeles gay clubs in the 1970s, when there was a lot of stigma around homosexuality. Gay men used waacking to express themselves on the dance floor and fight against the hatred and discrimination they experienced.

Consequently, the dance style developed fast, sharp, and forceful movements, much like how comic book action heroes punch their villains, accompanied by sound effects such as “ka-pow” and “bam.”

“Waacking comes from the onomatopoeic word ‘whack’ and is reminiscent of (the effects) found in comics,” says Tejasvi Patil, a dancer from Mumbai who has been waacking for over a decade.

The dance style was also inspired by Hollywood drama and its glamorous leading ladies. Dramatic poses, fast footwork and flashy arm movements are characteristic of waacking, but dancers have continued to add new movements to the step repertoire, as the celebration of individuality and self-expression are at the heart of the form. .

And because of its core ethos, waacking remains a tool of empowerment and self-expression for India’s LGBTQ+ community.

“In fact, many people explore their sexual identity through dance style because it allows a space for introspection and expression,” says Ayushi Amrute, who has been dancing since 2012 and is a frequent host of Red’s Your House Is Waack Bull, a dance session. for dancers from all over the country.

“Another important factor is that the waacking community always strives to be a safe space, so that people feel comfortable expressing themselves,” he adds.

When Amrute was introduced to waacking by her dance teacher, the style was virtually unknown in India. Her teacher encouraged her to watch videos and communicate with dancers abroad to learn more about the style.

“We (the handful of Indian dancers who started dancing more than a decade ago) learned to dance the hard way: by doing our own research, learning about the history of dance, and connecting with dancers in countries where waacking was popular “says Amrute.

Patil remembers learning to do the same. But today things are remarkably different. Over the past five years, the dance style has grown in popularity and more and more young people are flocking to classes to learn it.

Patil, who teaches dance, says he encourages his students to stay true to the spirit of the style: unabashed self-expression.

When it comes to music, India is still finding its soundscape for this style, he adds. Songs by disco queen Donna Summer and American pop legend Diana Ross remain popular, as do songs from the 1983 film Staying Alive.

Bollywood also had its own disco era, with songs like Koi Yahan Nache Nache and Aap Jaisa Koi topping the charts in the 1980s, but they often don’t find space in today’s crazy jams.

For Waack Girls, Taraporevala roped in independent artists to create an album of original soundtracks, which Patil says has created an entirely new and promising soundscape for waackers in India.

“I think it’s the right time for people to fully embrace who they are,” says Patil, “and waacking is the perfect platform to show what they find.”