Some reflections on learning the hustle 1 2. I'll likely expand this post with further reflections.

I've found learning the hustle to be a whole lot of fun while being a challenging mental and physical workout.

After taking several classes, I am compelled to analyze the context of partner dance and the learning experience.

I think there are three intersecting topics, Partner Dance, Hustle, and the class itself.

+------------------+
| Partner Dance    |
|  +------------+  |
|  | Hustle     |  |
|  |  +-------+ |  |
|  |  | Class | |  |
|  |  +-------+ |  |
|  +------------+  |
+------------------+

Partner Dance

Partner dances are dances where people dance with one partner at a time.

Partner dances are composed of a series of movements learned beforehand and known by both partners. Different dances have different moves.

Partner dances typically have two roles, Lead and Follow. These roles have corresponding moves that compose the dance.

The leads role is to direct the dance by choosing which moves to do and to communicate to the follow what moves are happening.

The follows role is to follow the lead.

Learning Dance

Observe and Replicate

The key skill in learning a dance is the ability to learn moves by observing someone elses body movements and replicate those movements with your own body. This can be quite challenging when moves are composed of both upper and lower body movements and need to be timed with the beat of the music.

Body Coordination

Dance moves typically involve coordinating the entire body. When learning this means consciously paying attention to where your body is and adjusting it to perform the movement.

Eventually your body memorizes movements and you can focus on fine tuning specific pieces.

Communication

Partner dance is social. A large part of dance is coordinating with your partner.

Before the dance begins this means finding and asking a partner to dance, accepting or politely refusing a dance.

During the dance this means signaling to your partner and interpreting a partners signals about what is going to happen.

Hustle

Something that makes the Hustle unique compare to other partner dances is its "gender-neutral approach to partnering. In hustle, anyone can dance with anyone, and anybody can lead or follow"2.

Some refer to hustle as a 'Queer Dance' since lead and follow roles in hustle are not defined by sex or gender - it is expected everyone know both rolls.

Moves

Names of some different moves in hustle.

  • Open Position
  • Single hand styling
  • Closed Position
  • Wheel
  • Throwout
  • Bridge
  • Shadow
  • Sliding Door
  • New York Walk
  • Sweetheart

Move components

  • Hesitation
  • J Hook

Transitions

Some transitions between different moves.

  • Open Position -> Single hand styling -> Open Position
  • Open Position -> Wheel -> Open Position
  • Open Position -> Closed Position
  • Closed Position -> Open Position
  • Open Position -> Bridge -> Open Position
  • Bridge -> Bridge
  • Throwout -> Shadow
  • Throwout -> Sliding Door
  • Throwout -> New York Walk

Offering to dance

Class

Introduction

Form a circle so everyone can see each other.

Go around the circle having everyone introduce themselves:

  • Name
  • Pronouns
  • How you are feeling in the form of a...
    • Cloud, Plant, Animal, Sky, etc... (change every class)
  • Anything we need to know to make the class comfortable for you.

Warmup

Put on some background wake up music without lyrics.

Shake Out

  • Wake up your arms
    • Tap out the top of your left arm, flip, and tap out the bottom (repeat on the right)
  • Wake up your legs
    • Tap out the legs, outside & inside (can do at the same time)
    • Shake out your legs, balance on one leg
  • Wave from side to side
  • Twist, rotate

Cross Body

Twist your body so that your left hand touches a different part on right side. Then reverse so your right hand touches a part on the left side.

  • Knee
  • Hip
  • Elbow
  • Shoulder
  • Ear

Rhythm Steps

  • front
  • back
  • side

Building a routine

Over a series of classes it's beneficial to build a routine that links different moves together as they are learned. This gives the lead and follow a familiar sequence to follow. This also keeps students repeating moves so they don't forget them.

Example Routine

  • Open Position
  • Hesitation X2
  • Wheel
  • Closed Position
  • Throwout -> Closed Position
  • Throwout -> Open Position
  • Bridge Left
  • Bridge Right
  • Closed Position
  • Throwout -> Shadow
  • Throwout -> Sliding Door

Rotation

Practicing with different partners helps students learn.

Have students pair up in a circle.

Have students decide with their partner if they will be lead or follow first and then designate one role as anchor and one role as traveler. Students will keep the anchor or traveler designation for the rest of the class.

  • Anchor - stays in place.
  • Traveler - moves to the right to a new anchor.

When students have completed a full rotation of practice have them switch roles.

Music

  1. Hustle Wikipedia ↩

  2. New York Times - A Walk in Their Heels: Meet the Hustle Evangelist ↩