House Dance
Born out of the dying embers of the disco era, underground house music arose and began to take hold of the masses. With roots dating back to the 1980's, house music is believed to have started at a Chicago dance club called the "Warehouse". The club's resident DJ Frankie Knuckles, otherwise known as "the godfather of house dance", began splicing different records together to satisfy his audience of dancer's who were in need of longer songs to dance to. Much of the music compiled together to create these longer tracks comes from soul, disco, jazz funk, and jazz music, filling the void of the ending disco era, and encouraging listeners to come out to clubs and dance. House music was also heavily featured outside of the club environment,
House music itself to technically described as having a repetitive 4/4 rhythm with bass drums, snare drums, off beat hi-hats, claps, and snaps at a tempo between 120 and 130 bpm's. Other musical elements like sung, spoken, or sampled vocals with synthesizer riffs and so on were important elements to making house music what it is today. House music itself can be produced on "cheap and consumer-friendly electronic equipment" and used sound gear, making it easier for independent labels and DJs to create tracks. House tracks typically involve an intro, a chorus, various verse sections, a midsection, and a brief outro. Some tracks do not have a verse, taking a vocal part from the chorus and repeating the same cycle. House music tracks are often based on eight-bar sections which are repeated. A key element of house music is its layering sounds, such as drum machine beats, samples, synth basslines, vocals, and so on that us built around bass-heavy loops or bass lines. These songs are typically 7-12 minutes unless it undergoes a radio edit shortening it to around 3 mins in length.
Three styles of dance emerged from house music, "jacking", "lofting", and "footwork", with a focus in improvisation. These styles include a variety of techniques and sub-styles, including skating, stomping, vosho, pouting cat, and shuffle step. House music dancing styles can include movements from many other forms of dance, such as waacking, voguing, capoeira, jazz dance, Lindy Hop, tap dance, and even modern dance. House dancing is associated with a complete freedom of expression and movement that it is freeing, intuitive and unrestricted as it exists and evolves as a social practice rather than having set rules to follow. This expression of freedom and acceptance of movement translated in the house music dance scene, as it is one of the most integrated and progressive spaces in the 1980s; the black and gay populations, as well as other minority groups, were able to dance together in a positive environment.
Dancing to house music was more than just a celebration of culture and music, but as a way to escape the many "struggles". Going to club was about more than partying, but experiencing an emotional and physical release through dancing. House music DJs aimed to create a "dream world of emotions" with "stories, keywords and sounds", which helped to "glue" communities together. Many house tracks encourage the audience to "release yourself" or "let yourself go", which is further encouraged by the continuous dancing, "incessant beat", and party favors. For many, experiencing and dancing to house music was a borderline religious and/or trancelike experience, inciting nonstop continuous dancing. The gospel-y vibes, strong bass beats, and hypnotizing lyrics of House music sets the perfect atmosphere for these experiences.
Important Figures
Frankie Knuckles was an American DJ, remixer, and record producer. He is well known for developing and popularizing house music. DJ Frankie Knuckles was born in the Bronx, New York on January 18, 1955. The first music he was exposed to as a child came from his sister’s jazz record collection. He was naturally creative and studied commercial art and costume design before he started spinning records as a teenager in 1971.
Knuckles’ first DJing job came from Tee Scott, whom he credits as both a legend and a major influence on his own style. In 1972, Knuckles and childhood friend Larry Levan first worked together at the New York City club, The Gallery. When Levan left to work at Continental Baths in 1973, Knuckles followed to work as the alternate DJ to Levan. He remained at Continental Baths until the club closed in 1976. In March of 1977, Knuckles played the opening night of the Chicago private after hours club, US Studio -The Warehouse, which was located in a three-story factory building in Chicago’s West Loop industrial area. In 1983, Knuckles opened his own club, The Power Plant which was located in an industrial space near the Cabrini Green housing projects.
After more than a decade behind the turntables in dance clubs, Knuckles began to record tracks as well as play them. In 1983, a 12-inch single of his Warehouse classic “Let No Man Put Asunder” was released on the Salsoul label. The song went on to become a house classic. Knuckles produced songs for local Chicago vocalists and wrote such tracks as “Baby Wants To Ride,” “Bad Boy,” “Cold World" and “Your Love,” which was a breakthrough hit for Chicago native Jamie Principle. Knuckles released a hit with “You Can't Hide” in 1986. Knuckles closed the Power Plant that same year. In 1987, he returned home to New York City and secured gigs at the city’s hottest clubs, including the Roxy and Sound Factory. Knuckles, joined David Morales, (one of the biggest names in house music), along with Judy Weinstein founded the Def Mix music production company in 1988.
In 1991, Knuckles signed with Virgin Records, becoming one of the first DJs to sign to a major label. In 1997, he became the first DJ to win a Grammy Award for "”Remixer of the Year.” Knuckles’ 2002 album, Motivation, was his first release of completely original tracks, rather than a remix album. Knuckles kicked off the Def Mix 15th Anniversary tour in Sydney, Australia in 2003. Knuckles has also remixed songs by superstars such as Janet Jackson, Diana Ross, Luther Vandross, Chaka Khan, En Vogue, and Michael Jackson.
Steve “Silk” Hurley is a multi-talented musician, DJ, producer, and songwriter. He is considered a pioneer of house music, a genre that originated in Chicago in the early 1980s. Steve has been active in the music industry for over three decades and has established himself as one of the most influential figures in the history of dance music. Steve started his music career in the early 1980s. He was a member of the Chicago-based DJ group, J.M. Silk. The group released their first single, “Music Is The Key,” in 1985, which became an instant hit and established them as one of the pioneers of house music. Steve Hurley has had an illustrious career in the music industry. He has produced and remixed tracks for several famous artists, including Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince, and Whitney Houston. Steve is regarded as one of the pioneers of house music and has been instrumental in shaping the genre. Steve’s music has been influential in the development of several sub-genres of house music, including acid house, deep house, and garage. He is also one of the founders of the record label, Silk Entertainment, which he started in 1980.
Larry Levan is regularly hailed as the world's greatest disc jockey and widely credited with changing the sound of dance music in the 1970s and 1980s. He was the driving force behind the legendary Paradise Garage dance club in New York City for the entire time it was open (1976-1987). was the first superstar DJ. The first to really convince the world that there was more to DJing than just playing one record after another. For 10 years from 1977 to 1987, Levan was the star attraction at New York’s legendary Paradise Garage, writing himself into clubbing lore with swashbuckling DJ sets that took in minimal underground disco, funky rock, dub and synth-pop, which foreshadowed the house music revolution. At the same time, his uncanny ability to mix and tweak records for maximum emotional impact would regularly send his devoted congregation into raptures.Levan made connections with the meanings and feelings of songs, often sending messages in music to the dancers. He had a heightened sense of drama and he wanted, more than anything, to control the clubbers at the Garage. He was the first DJ to understand the value of having a personal relationship with the dancers, and he knew how to read a crowd. He knew exactly what music to play to fire people up; visitors to the Garage never forgot the experience.
Brian "Footwork" Green, is a performer who changed the dancing world by mixing so many different cultures and styles of dance to create House Dance. In addition to this he is credited with being the major reason for the resurgence of the dance style, Punking/Whacking/Waacking. Green began his dancing career at the age of 7, studying Tap, Jazz, Ballet, Modern, and African from Phil Black, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, and Joffrey Ballet. Today he works as a professional choreographer, teacher, and dancer.
His dance origins begin in 1978-80 when he started to see dances around his church he went to with his family in Harlem, his mother did hustle, salsa, and some African dances, and his older brother did bboying and electric boogie. Electric boogie was NY's innovative dance that mixed and was inspired by things from California's crazes at the time called Locking and Popping. He choose Electric boogie (popping). Wanting to learn more, he went to the NYC underground scene between 1983-84. By the end of 1984, Brian understood and was a part of the Hip-Hop/club culture.
Brian in his career has choreographed or danced with artists like Mariah Carey, Gwen Stefanie, Fergie, MYA, Foxy Brown, Missy Eliott, Salt-N-Pepa, Busta Rhymes, Barbara Tucker, EVE, Kraze, MAW (Masters at Work), and many more. In the last ten years, his teaching has focused on the history of dances in the Funk, Hip-Hop, and House culture, which he has spread through the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Marjory Smarth was born in November of 1969 on the island of Haiti. Being born Haiti and coming to NYC as a child, her household was filled with dancing and music all day everyday. Before she could verbalize the word "dance", she was dancing. Smarth entered her first cipher when she was four-years old at her older sisters Junior-High school dance. This happened after a student asked her if she wanted to dance, breaking the ice. Though she was already familiar with the native dances of her culture, in the States she was exposed to the many styles of dance. By the time she reached her pre-teen years, she was steadily victorious in many competitions. Hip-hop being one of her favorite rhythms to express herself, she attended many street jams and engaged in battles. Marjory, like most of the early hip-hop dancers, took her skills from the streets and continued to develop in the club scene. In the late 1980s, she started dancing professionally with various music artists, including Diana Ross, Heavy D and CeCe Peniston, among others. As her career developed, she started to choreograph more frequently, which led to her teaching. After many dance tours, four documentaries and teaching internationally, she is considered a major figure in the dance community as well as an historian. Today her focus is helping people find their own freedom of expression.
Videos and Podcasts
Come As You Are
"Come As You Are" A short documentary exploring the cultural and social impact of the legendary Loft era in NYC. This film discusses how the ritual of club dancing and radical self expression ignited unity and healing within the Latino and African American communities of New York. Understand how "The Loft" laid the roots for the birth of the international phenomenon of House culture and music.
House Culture
On each episode of this podcast we sit down with some of the most iconic characters from the the world of House music for a candid chat to discover how they fell in love with the scene and how it has shaped their life. It could be an artist, a DJ, a promoter or a club owner – whoever they are, we’ll make sure they have a fascinating story to tell.
I Was There When House Took Over The World: House Was Born
How social unrest and Chicago's underground gay clubs led to a global dance movement. This documentary about the history of house music explores the origins of the genre, and features interviews with Nile Rodgers, Traxman, Jesse Saunders, Honey Dijon and Marshall Jefferson.
House Dance: Check Your Body At The Door
"Check Your Body at the Door" is the definitive one-hour documentary about some of the 1990's remarkable freestyle house dancers and their lives outside the clubs. In 1992 Sally Sommer and the early production team invited actual club dancers to LC's Clark Studio Theater, marking the first time this dancing was brought into the light, using the dancers and House dancing as the core of a documentary. Now in 2013, we are proud to make this film available to audiences and house dancers around the world!
Books & ebooks
Do You Remember House? Chicago's Queer of Color Undergrounds by ISBN: 0190698438This interdisciplinary study historicizes house music, the rhythmically focused electronic dance sound born in the post-industrial maroon spaces of Chicago's queer, black, and Latino social dancers. Working from oral history interviews, archival research, and performance ethnography, it argues that the remediation and adaptation of house by multiple and overlapping crossover communities in its first decade shaped the ways that contemporary Chicago house music producers, DJs, dancers, and promoters re-remember and re-animate house as an archive indexing experiences of queer of colour congregation.
Discographies by ISBN: 1134698917Publication Date: 2002-03-11Experiencing disco, hip hop, house, techno, drum 'n' bass and garage, Discographies plots a course through the transatlantic dance scene of the last last twenty-five years. It discusses the problems posed by contemporary dance culture of both academic and cultural study and finds these origins in the history of opposition to music as a source of sensory pleasure. Discussing such issues as technology, club space. drugs, the musical body, gender, sexuality and pleasure, Discographies explores the ecstatic experiences at the heart of contemporary dance culture. It suggests why politicians and agencies as diverse as the independent music press and public broadcasting should be so hostile to this cultural phenomenon.
