This project is the first ever full-length Waacking DanceTheater show in the Bay Area, presented as part of the Bridge Live Arts Community Engagement Residency. Waacking is a 1970s street dance style that was created by the queer community. Originally known as “punking,” a subversion of a derogatory term for gay men, this dance allowed queer folks to freely express themselves within the shelter of underground clubs at a time when it was not safe to do so in public. Characterized by rapid arm rolls, striking motions, and dramatic poses, the powerful and unrestrained aesthetic of waacking is directly linked to the liberatory origins of this dance.
Slated for Fall 2025, this work will bring this art form into a concert dance setting and examine how waacking can serve as a conduit to individuals loving and liberating the parts of themselves that others want to erase. As a mix of choreographed pieces, curated onstage exchanges, and improvised solos, this project will explore how rigidity and conformity borne out of oppression can blossom into individual, and eventually communal, release. This work will feature a range of musical genres, from disco (the genre most typically associated with waacking) to house to soul, and exclusively feature waackers from the Bay Area street dance scene.