Do The Hustle!

If you stepped into a time machine set to about 40 years ago you might end up in a New York discotheque with guys wearing big Afro-hair, bellbottom pants and white shoes and the ladies in their flashy, psychedelic tops dancing to the latest disco music.  Strobe lighting, mirrored balls, and fog were common themes.  Nobody can forget John Travolta strutting his stuff in Saturday Night Fever.  It put Hustle on the map of dancing.  Other movies that incorporated Hustle were Boogie Nights, 54, and Last Days of Disco.

Hustle was a street dance that had its roots in other Latin dances like Mambo.  Hustle adopted a lot of the turns and loops from Mambo dancing but had a “ropey or stretchy feel”.  Names like “Rope Hustle” or “Latin Hustle” have been used.  The gay community got into the Hustle scene which is where the balletic arms and elasticity came from that is common in the dance.  Also, acrobatics were added into the dance to give dancers an edge in the contests.

There has been a lot of disagreement when Hustle started.  So let’s just say it started in the early 1970s.  It started with a simple 6-count dance counted 1-2-3 & 4-5-6.  It started as slotted dance like Mambo but evolved into a rotational one.  Some theorize that the Hustle dance evolved the same way that West Coast Swing did.  As the dance floors became smaller, rotational dances became slotted dances so dancers would not crash into each other. 

In the mid 1970s, the 1-2-3 of the count was dropped leaving the &4-5-6 count.  The dance continues to evolve but has never lost its basic &1-2-3 count; four footprints in 3 beats.  Commonly the dance is either taught as a 4-count or 3-count.  The patterns work for either count.  Furthermore, some teachers count Hustle &1-2-3, 1-2-&3, and 1-2-3&.  They all are correct!  Hustle music has a consistent rolling count, so the syncopations can happen anyplace.  This allows for embellishment and musical interpretation.

Musical purists have a difficult time with the &1-2-3 because music starts on the “1”.  That is the start of a bar of music.  So the first dance action is actually borrowed from the preceding bar.  So many teachers like to start with the 1-2-&3.  It does not matter because once the dance gets going it is the same.  Also, many teachers like the 4-count Hustle because it matches up with the 4/4 time signature of 4 beats per bar of music.   To me this makes the dance very flat and loses that coaster-type look and feel that makes Hustle so fun.

Hustle can be a challenging dance because of the tempo.  But once the feet are moving without much thought, the dance gets relatively easy.  Many of the moves used in Salsa, West Coast, Swing, Cha Cha, and Bolero can be incorporated. 

So don your white leisure suit and put your “Tony Manero” attitude on and Do The Hustle.

Yours Truly,

Larry Rindner