Dancing is one of the most expressive body art styles that demands authenticity, so you know exactly when it’s not present. A dancer needs to lose themselves and yet, remain present in their senses. It’s a form of self-expression and rebellion, it’s happiness that flows throughout your body and transcends to everyone around you.
Waacking Origins
So picture this, it’s the 1970s, queer movement is being carried on the shoulders of art. And it’s also the decade when punking or waacking as known today is born on the dancefloor. It’s said to have been popularised Originated as a form of resistance with its original style name being “punking”, often used as a derogatory term for how marginalized communities expressed themselves. Growing from L.A. gay clubs in the 1970s, taking inspiration from disco, martial arts and Hollywood glamour, this concoction of dance style has continued sharing a vibrant community space in major metropolitan cities for decades.
Waacking found its way to Mumbai in the late 2000s to early 2010s as a street dance style, allowing so many people to discover a new way to express themselves. Inspired by the old Hollywood glamour, clean moves of 70s martial arts movies and action of 60s comic book heroes. It has become a space to let loose, and get energy out while truly waacking it. The moves seem too similar to voguing, the only thing they have in common is having queer origins (say what you want about queer folx, but you know we are THEE pioneers of arts).
Waacking In Busy Mumbai
To get more sense of this vibrant community and art form, I got the chance to speak to Tejasvi (she/her) who is part of Waackjam, a community space that organises one of the biggest waacking festivals in India.
What Waakjam does is bring together the massive waacking community that they have built over the years. They compete, dance offs, cyphers, performances and hold workshops; the list goes on, but you know you will have a great time! Cultivating an inclusive community, that is bound by something that can be both commercial and community growth centric is a rare find lately. Hobbies are tough to come around, people either don’t have time for their hobbies. We’re at a point where it is hard to survive even when people work 2 jobs in a day, making time out for self-expression feel foreign.
Not to mention how it’s become a common thought to have every hobby monetised? And the only hobbies left on the platter that can be enjoyed can be going to the gym (because it pays us back in health and then we can do more jobs!).
Which actually led me to ask Tejasvi what she thinks of commercialised dance forms and the future of waacking in relation to it…
Will Waacking Be Commercial?
Tejasvi explains that the demand for waacking as a dance form is still quite low, since it can be adapted to blend into the persons’ personal style. Ironically that is what makes it difficult to be completely co-opted.
“It’s a lifestyle and form of self expression in its truest form, cannot be exactly converted to mainstream box that easily. Self discovery that one can get through this style is what draws someone to it. When you see a waacker move you will see where it’s truly coming from, the aura they have is what attracts most people to it! The main intention of the style is to induce and encourage community growth and pushing to be bigger and better. Our event is in itself an expression of that, the sheer act of giving back for people to embrace and experience that aura.”
Waackjam’s 10th Volume, which is happening on the 14th and 15th of December (details here), has one of the biggest artists of the community, Archie Kumari in attendance. The community getting a chance to experience that energy is the sort of gift we’re all getting for the hard work that’s been put in so far! It’s well deserved and overdue to induce the evolution and how the style is going to be shaping up our movement for the next 10 years! You will be able to see the diverse shades mixing around in every style. It’s already growing in the Indian space, bringing out new shades with each new waacker. Tejasvi feels as if there’s no need to make a conscious effort to spread awareness, their main goal is to focus on sharing and exchanging our ideas through it. It’s all about being present and having your presence known!
Inspiring The Queer Moves
Waacking, punking and voguing, all of these moves have one common inspiration–queer joy. While waacking came almost a decade early in the west coast of America, the ballroom scene on the east coast was growing. The drag queens, queer artists and gay men who helped cultivate cultural and queer third spaces brought joy to the resistance movement. As we look further into popular Gen Z culture and one of the most famous art forms, all come from queer spaces–I often wonder what that means for the growing conservative politics and art scene at the moment. Is this pattern a reminder that the queer community has always continued to live and made sure to have their voices echo decades ahead.
