Hustle - What Is It?

Post date: Mar 08, 2014 7:59:52 PM

The Hustle is the newest dance to join the ranks of partner dancing or ballroom dancing. In the 1970s, popular dancing had moved out of the ballrooms and into nightclubs, with loud music, low lighting and flashing lights, and solo or non-touching dance steps. Although many of the Latin partner dances were still popular, such as Mambo and Cha Cha, solo dancing was starting to take over with the emergence of disco and disco rock, which didn't quite have the same Latin feel to them. However, the desire to dance while touching one's partner was still there. In 1974, a new dance was created in New York's discotheque scene. It was a partner dance, but it evolved a very unique step pattern. Most partner dances were danced on the beat and were either 4- or 6-count steps. But this one was a 3-count step done to a 4/4 song (a song that has four quarter beats per measure - your typical rock and disco song). This can be very confusing to beginning dancers. It also started on an off-beat, which is very unusual. Most dances either started on the first beat or the second beat, but this one started on the "and" right before the 1. The actual steps are simply "and-1, 2, 3, and-1, 2, 3", which of course, doesn't match up with a song that has 4 beats per measure. If you were to count out the beats that you stepped on, it would sound like "and-1, 2, 3, and-4, 1, 2, and-3, 4, 1, and-2, 3, 4, and-1, 2, 3". It takes 4 measures for the steps to match back up with the song for each pattern. When the ballrooms got a hold of it, they did what ballrooms do, which is to codify it and structure it to make it easier to teach to non-dancers and to create a consistent version that all the local branches of each dance studio would be teaching so that the dance would be the same everywhere, as well as maintain a standard by which to judge the dance in competition. That syncopation proved to be too difficult for non-dancers, so a version of Hustle was created where each step was stepped on each beat "1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4". This variation was much simpler to teach, but it also gave an advantage of slowing down the steps just enough to throw in some complicated spins and moves that the syncopated version just doesn't have time to do without looking hectic and a little out of control.

In addition to the unique foot pattern and syncopation, the "look" of the Hustle is accomplished by a smooth motion, where the shoulders, heads, and upper bodies of the dancers stay level and even with the dance floor and all the movement is in the feet. Very similar to West Coast Swing, there is no bounce like in the Jive and there is no rise-and-fall like in the Waltz or Foxtrot. The dancers move their feet and bend their knees to keep their heads and upper bodies moving smoothly across the floor, almost like they're on roller skates. It's danced in both closed and open holds, but most of the moves and arm patterns require the open hold to accomplish, so the dancers usually face each other, holding both hands, and their feet mirror each other. The Basic Step involves the two dancers to lean back during the "and-1" step, almost like a rock step but the syncopation makes it more like a hop without bouncing, so their hands are stretched straight out in front of themselves, holding each other at arms-length apart. Then the next two steps are done stepping towards each other, so they swing their arms out to the sides in order to step in, like they are flying or about to embrace if only they weren't still holding hands. Often, this Basic Step is done while the couple rotates in tandem, sometimes taking advantage of centrifugal force to create a fast, spinning-together step.

In 1977, the movie Saturday Night Fever brought the Hustle to the peak of its popularity by introducing it to even non-club goers through the charisma of John Travolta. A line dance also called the Hustle came out around the same time as the partner dance, using many of the same foot patterns and also featured in the movie. As Hustle evolved, it borrowed heavily from the popular Latin dances as well as from Swing dancing. Because both Hustle and Swing use a rock step and a side-to-side step, many of the same steps and turns that can be done in Swing can also be done in Hustle. If a song is fast enough, sometimes street Swing dancers can even slip into a Hustle-like dance without even realizing it. Here is a clip from that classic dance movie, Saturday Night Fever, with the white leisure suit that Travolta has forever associated in our collective memory with disco and the Hustle:

Saturday Night Fever - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvl0iKbdV6A

Hustle is characterized by its fast movements, syncopation, aerial lifts and tricks, and keeping the follow constantly spinning. But non-competition social dancers in nightclubs can leave out the lifts and tricks, dance to a little slower songs, and spin just a little bit less, and still have a great time doing some classic Hustle. Hustle is a spot dance like East Coast Swing, meaning that it is danced in a small circle-ish "spot" on the dance floor with the partners rotating around each other and facing all directions, not a dance that travels around the floor in the line of dance like Fox Trot, and not danced in a "slot" like West Coast Swing. Hustle looks best when danced to disco and rock music from the 1970s through today with a strong and even 4/4 beat with no "swing" feel and no complex or syncopated African or Cuban type rhythms. You can dance the Hustle to pretty much any modern pop song, as well as most songs that you can swing, cha cha, or merengue to.

Here's a compilation of some of the best Hustle performances from a dance competition "reality show" called So You Think You Can Dance, where they take actual professional dancers and dancers with dance training of some sort and pit them against each other by assigning them specific dance styles that they may not have ever danced before, choreographed by the top dance choreographers in the world. So, even if this is the first time these dancers have tried that particular style, the quality of dancing is world class. This is what most people think of when they hear "hustle" (if they don't first think of the line dance), complete with short skirts, flashing lights, and high-flying acrobatics. Between the speed and the tricks, it might be hard to see the "and-1, 2, 3" count, but it's there underlying all the steps.

Top 5 SYTYCD Disco - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf5L7hAPpY4

This video shows the 3-count Hustle where you can see the syncopation (and-1, 2, 3) in the steps. It's a good example of how the Hustle can look fast, fun, and smooth without the more acrobatic lifts and tricks that the movies and dance competitions usually show. You can also see that the follow seems to go from one kind of complicated spin to another, really only getting a break when the lead takes his own spins.

Hustle Demo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5eGrrAJliQ

Here is a very rare but fantastic example of the 4-count Hustle. There is a complete lack of syncopation - every step is stepped on the beat - and yet the dancers spin quickly and smoothly around the floor in the same characteristic moves as the 3-count. Some dancers remember learning this version first and consider it a "beginners" variation because the syncopation is more complex and saved for intermediate classes, but many dancers prefer this variation to the faster disco music because it feels more in control and it can be kept up for longer than the hurried pace of the 3-count and it is easier to do much more complicated spins without that "and-1" hop at the beginning of each pattern.

Four Count Hustle - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYXTbwaiCus

High caliber dancers and competition dancers like to specialize in a style or variation of the dances they choose, as it gives them more time to perfect that style. The better social dancers will feel comfortable switching back and forth to match the music and the style of their partners. To those dancers, it is less about which version is "right" and more about becoming one with the music, so whichever style of dance will work best with the song is the style they will do. It is purely a matter of preference which style you choose - 3-count, 4-count, or mixing it up.