Lizzo Traces Twerking’s Black History + How it Became a Spiritual Practice In her first TED Talk, three-time Grammy-winner Lizzo traces the history of twerking to a West African dance called mapouka, traditionally performed by women to celebrate joy, marriage or as religious worship. When it was transported to American by Black women during the transatlantic slave trade, its ties to Black culture were erased …
In her first TED Talk, three-time Grammy-winner Lizzo traces the history of twerking to a West African dance called mapouka, traditionally performed by women to celebrate joy, marriage or as religious worship. When it was transported to America by Black women during the transatlantic slave trade, its ties to Black culture were erased and co-opted. But in Black communities around the US, big butts continued …
“I started working on this project when I noticed a lack of eldership in my life,” director Stefan Hunt says about the creation of his dance-documentary hybrid short, They Saw The Sun First. The eight-minute film—directed by Hunt, produced by Jess Lowe Chaverri, shot by Cole Graham and choreographed by Vanessa Varghese—pairs dances with recorded conversations of NYC’s elderly, an unexpectedly synchronous combination. He continues, …
