From: waldo@arizona.edu
Newsgroups: alt.music.ska
Subject: Re: beginner seeks information
Date: 7 Jan 93 11:15:35 MST
Distribution: world
Organization: University of Arizona

In article <1ihgpqINN78j@meaddata.meaddata.com>, mcr@meaddata.com (Mary Ries) writes:
> In article <1993Jan6.153444.4211@arizona.edu>, waldo@arizona.edu writes:
> |>
> |> The only other thing I can think of to talk about is "Skanking" which is the
> |> traditional way to dance to ska, but I'll save it for later if anyone's
> |> interested...
> 
> Do tell!  The band "Wild Kingdom" from Chicago that I mentioned
> earlier had just about the best dance beat I've ever heard... (that
> is, for my style of dancing.)  I'm curious to hearing what "skanking"
> is like...

Ok, Mary, for you, I'll do it..

According to Bob Marley's CD:

"The innovative ska beat was also keyed to a dance of the same name, a tricky
two-step in which the stiff upper body bowed forward while the knees were bent
and the arms fanned out and crisscrossed.  Showboating moves included a
knee-to-crotch rowing motion followed by a slow head-to-head or "riddim"
(buttocks)-to-riddim roll to cool off."

(Now my turn to try and explain "skanking")

Skanking, as I have seen it performed, can be seperated into a few several
techniques..  In every version, the tempo is upbeat and the dancing is
very springy, where every time your foot hits the ground, it springs back up
entusiastically.

#1:  "Normal Skanking"  -  A kind of jogging in place to the beat, where the
knees come up as high as possible, usually a little bit to the side (ie,
when they come up, they come out) with the hands held in back behind the body.
Kind of like a high-impact aerobic excersize in handcuffs.  Looks really cool
when you have a roomful of people.  Sometimes people get really into skanking
in place, leaning forward and shaking their head side-to-side as they go along.
Sometimes, instead of holding hands behind the back, some people instead
make fists and kinda make a up/down running motion (like aerobicizing) as they
skank along...

#2:  "Side-to-Side" - In a cramped area, this is kinda fun if everyone is
participating.  Basically like normal skanking (ie, bouncing up and down
kicking up knees to body) except instead of staying in place, you cross your
legs over each other as you move from one side to another (ie, ONE, TWO THREE
to the left, then your foot plants down and springs you off in the other
direction ONE TWO THREE PLANT! and now your back in original direction)  The
music makes it very easy so you know when to plant your foot and switch
directions..  Usually the foot crossing goes in an over-under manner (ie,
right leg crosses over left, then next time left crosses over right until done
moving in that direction, then jyust stick foot out to plant for direction
switch)  Again, this is perhaps too much explanation for something very simple
to do.

#3:  "Forward-Back" - May be hardest to explain, but I'll give it a try..
For one thing, this is a quick bouncy stair-stepping type movement.  Imagine
running up an imaginary staircase, then stepping back down.  That is, you
spring forward to your right foot, then spring off the right foot so you land
on your back foot, which springs you forward again.  (the right foot in front
of you, the left foot behind you) Again, the beat helps you out so you know
exactly what your doing.  Finally, once you've got the footwork down (should
take about 3 seconds to figure out what to do.. forward, bounce, back, bounce,
forward, etc) the only other part of it I've noticed is the hand motions.. the
hands comes inward to the body (loosely held in front of stomach), then as you
spring forward, one hand springs forward, the other back,
like a vaudvillian finalie (ie, "Ta DA!!!") so it's like your constantly
springing forward and back to the beat, and your hands are moving in and out.
Like I said, it's hard to explain.


Well, hope you can figure that out...
Waldo
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA