Hip Hop Dance: Meanings and Messages Carla Stalling Huntington
"Hip hop dance functions as a text and serves as public discourse not only for African Americans but for many other consumers and readers of this rich and powerful text. Hip hop as a black social dance offers texts that deliver tactical ways of being in the world as well as metaphors and theories about the world of the dancers collectively and individually. It is writing that travels not on paper but on bodies." (20)
In her book Hip Hop Dance: Meanings and Messages, Carla Stalling Huntington inserts her honest and forthright impressions into the ongoing dialogue of multiculturalism and the dynamics of capitalism and its brazen exploitation of hip hop dance as a selling tool. Throughout the world, corporations are latching onto the phenomenon of hip hop to sell their products and their demagoguery. Stalling Huntington successfully sheds light on the practice of using hip hop to sell products while pointing out that the African American condition isn't fairing any better as a result. Her position is that too many Euro American white males are profiting from hip hop as a marketing tool to the detriment of the African American psyche.
The reader needs to be prepared to accept her naturalistic place in the commentary procedure as she points out specifically on page 95 and on other pages that "...African Americans stop buying into the messages set forth that would have us continue to think negatively about ourselves, our heritage, our language, our dancing, our abilities, our men and our women."
Stalling Huntington contends that specific hip hop dances have particular meanings and attempt to deliver certain messages with the movements. For example:
The Runnin Man
"What this dance signifies is running in place--working for centuries--and anger: muscle memory of anger in the body from past experiences and remembrance of them on the cellular level. This memory results in clenched fists and strained expression. Running in place makes you feel like you are doing something, but in reality one generates a lot of sweat and increases the heart rate, but one never moves, never progresses. Nothing appears to be changing outside the body, not the scene, not the circumstance. Feet are connecting with the past, being bodily mindful of it. The hands reaching forward with clenched fists expect more of the same in the future." (45)
The Cabbage Patch
"Therefore a message in The Cabbage Patch text has to be read thusly: You are stealing from us. We know it. We make it look like we are going around in circles, but in reality we Signifyin. We are slowly but surely, and quietly, getting over." (44)
The vocabulary utilized in the book is better suited to a cultural studies student or sociology classroom where there can be fluent discussions between experts and laypersons. Phrases like "hegemonic structure" (92) and "patriarchal misogyny" (93) fly about in these settings on a consistent basis as part of the contemporary vernacular of cultural studies. This vocabulary makes it more of an academic tool than a piece of leisurely reading. It is not a how-to on hip hop dance.
Apparently her main concern is with the fact that capitalism is dominated by white Euro American males. An example of her concern is African American business owners "produce only 4 percent of all sales in the United States." (149) The level of her concern is evident by her passionate writing as nothing is sugar-coated. There is sexist language and sexual connotations that some readers may find offensive but others may find interesting.
Summary
Stalling Huntington also makes a case for the use of the African American "language" Ebonics (from ebony meaning black and phonics). At this point in America's history, one has to acknowledge Standard American English language, not as a patriarchal weapon for capitalistic gain, but as a system that is embedded and institutionalized by our forefathers. This does not mean that we cannot embark on civilized change, or cultural embellishments and respectful alterations within these systems. It just simply means we must be patient and remember that we are in a democratic society where change takes time and multiple voices. I respect Carla Stalling Huntington as an insightful voice that is able to put forth intelligent dialogue on such a provocative issue.
Awareness is becoming aware. More awareness leads to less fear. Fear is the divide that separates groups of people. Celebration of the awareness of the African American and their sub-culture is a step toward acceptance. Everybody wants to "shake their junk." For whatever reason, it's becoming a national, even international, craze. Readers should latch onto the positive points made by Stalling Huntington such as calling hip hop dancers writers of a historical text and her creative comparisons between hip hop dance moves and the messages they imply.
Aside from the statistics and academic writings readers have to wade through, the interpretations offered by Stalling Huntington explaining several popular hip hop dance moves are creative and stimulating. Readers don't have to necessarily agree with the explanations but will be lead to see hip hop dance from a new perspective after reading this book.
(Hip Hop Dance: Meanings and Messages, Carla Stalling Huntington, McFarland & Co., Publishers, www.mcfarlandpub.com.)