The Jit

August 23, 2006 10:33 AM

Oakland has hyphie, Atlanta has crunk. Detroit has The Jit (more, more). Beginning in Detroit as the Jitterbug back in the '20s, the dance grew up through Detroit's Black Bottom, and was adopted by gangs like the Erroll Flynns into a battle dance with the rise of hip hop (similar to pop-locking or breaking). Similar dances have sprung up elsewhere (Chicken Noodle Soup in Harlem, B-More Club in Baltimore, Toe Wop in NY, Footwork in Chicago), but Detroit is still the best. There's even a movie in the works.
posted by klangklangston (16 comments total)

cool post.
posted by empath at 10:38 AM on August 23, 2006

Wow, great post. I love this stuff.
posted by sklero at 10:51 AM on August 23, 2006

There's even a movie in the works.

A MetaHipHopera? /head explodes
posted by prostyle at 10:53 AM on August 23, 2006

Dat bullshit yall doin look like a crackhead tryin to break dance like I said b4 catch up if u can cuz Chicago is finished fuckin wit lames!!
posted by sonofsamiam at 10:54 AM on August 23, 2006

Great links klangklangston. "How to Jitterbug" is informative on many levels, maybe not all of them to be proud of. I am, however, going to pull a "hesitation shorty-george" the next time I go out dancing.
posted by safetyfork at 10:58 AM on August 23, 2006

Charleston, represent!
posted by pax digita at 11:25 AM on August 23, 2006

But isn't it hyphy and not hyphie?
posted by ORthey at 11:36 AM on August 23, 2006

Weird, that's pretty much the way folk danced at raves in the UK in the early 1990s.

Eg, check the video for the Prodigy's Out Of Space, especially your man in the red jacket.

*double drops, sniffs Vicks*
posted by jack_mo at 11:41 AM on August 23, 2006

This looks a heck of a lot different than hyphy or crunk. It's actually sane & harmless.
posted by drstein at 12:09 PM on August 23, 2006

No love for LA's Crip Walk?
posted by PenDevil at 12:15 PM on August 23, 2006

somehow jitting reminds me of Schuhplatteln.
posted by kolophon at 12:45 PM on August 23, 2006

There's someone outside my window right now talking about the Chicken Noodle Soup song (w117th street).
posted by splatta at 7:34 PM on August 23, 2006

Yay! Dancing and my hometown, all in one post...

I will also be breaking out that hesitation Shorty George.
posted by snickerdoodle at 8:39 PM on August 23, 2006

awesome post... i'm very interested in how popular dance grows, in that a type of dance will have a pretty rigid set of rules but then you also have innovation...how do the innovators know how they can push jitting, for instance, and come up w/ a new move, but still have it recognizable... to have it synch up. and all this without ever really talking about it (like we are)... just by watching others on the dancefloor.

that chicken noodle soup dance didn't really compare...
posted by cgs at 10:38 PM on August 23, 2006

Anyone know what song is playing in the first half of this clip?
posted by sharksandwich at 9:13 AM on August 24, 2006

Fresh!
posted by Divine_Wino at 1:57 PM on August 24, 2006