Jerking is, among other things, a Los Angeles dance phenomenon with its own slang, dress and music.
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On a tutorial video on YouTube, a group of young Angelenos go through the jerk routines – the reject, dippin’ and the fast jerk – on a street corner. “You’re going to get millions of views!” one Jerk says.
By now, there’s no questioning that YouTube has a lock on the amateur dance circuit.
But will jerking, a loopy hybrid of 80s breakdancing and C+C Music Factory-like routines from 90s, catch on?
If it does, it will be the first organic, grassroots dance – that is, not part of a pop single’s marketing campaign – in years, perhaps since Los del Rio’s Macarena.
There’ve been a number of entries in the YouTube-taught-me-how-to-dance movement, most notably Beyoncé’s Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It).
Released last October, Single Ladies still bobs around popular culture, not on the radio or in clubs, but almost exclusively on YouTube.
Hundreds of tributes, filmed in kitchens, bedrooms and once in an airport departures lounge, have been uploaded, and everyone from children to teenage girls to men in women’s undergarments have participated.
In another example, Los Pikadientes de Caborca was an obscure Mexican pop group before La Cumbia Del Río, a left-of-centre, bare-bones Latin love song, inspired a YouTube dance sensation.
In less than a year, the band was signed to a multinational label and owned a Grammy.
The leadership of the jerk movement has thus far been up for grabs.
Go-Go Power Ranger$ and the Dream Team are jerk dance crews, and the all-female Pink Dollarz and producer J-Hawk are on the music side.
The (misspelled) song Your A Jerk by the (also misspelled) New Boyz, teenagers in neon skinny jeans, big sneakers and straight-brimmed hats, has the best chance for crossover success.
The dance itself is most similar to prancing, and is outright hilarious to see performed in public.
It’s difficult to describe, but it could be a cousin of the backwards running man, with Charlestonesque knee movements and gyrating on the ground.
Most of the music involves repetition of the word “jerk,” accompanied only by bass and 808 drums.
The word “jerk” is interchangeable with fun (“That party was jerk!”).
To get jerked up or geeked up is to be under the influence of booze, drugs or both.
Evidence of the jerking meme is already Internet-wide: the standard imeem playlists, Wikipedia entries, rap blogs and a ridiculous Yahoo Answers question: “What are some good songs to jerk to???”
Jerking is by far the most flamboyant, inventive, strange and overall enjoyable dance of any that preceded it. So here’s hoping it catches on.
joshuae@nowtoronto.com
