ETHOS

By Joshua Bennett

Gettin’ Lite is a movement.

Yeah, I said it; a movement. Not a dance craze, not some simple pastime for inner-city youth trying desperately to escape the confines of poorly-funded schools, drugs, and gun violence, and not even just musical eye candy for rhythm-less onlookers and collegiate bloggers alike to gawk at and wish that they too could melt into hip-hop beats and impromptu jam sessions the way these kids do.

There’s something more to it. It’s like this incredibly fluid amalgam of musical influences that span the last century of African-American dance culture combined with hip-hop swagger and an undeniable NYC flavor that eludes any sort of label that my limited vocabulary could place on it. It’s breaking, tap, vogue, ballet, miming, pop-locking and probably many other dance forms that I’ve never even seen before all compacted into one ever-evolving, indescribable package that has literally taken parties by storm in the New York City area for the past couple of years.

Now…you’re probably wondering why any of this matters, why on this blog about race, politics, and culture I have decided to dedicate my first post to what on the surface seems to be a bunch of kids dancing in subway tunnels, project hallways and street corners of New York City when they should be studying algebra or doing some kind of after-school program. Well, I’m glad you asked.

Gettin’ Lite as a cultural dance movement is first of all important because it may be an answer to any number of critical questions that the older generation seems to have for the youth of today. In my personal experience, old heads constantly question whether or not the young people of color living in this day and age have any knowledge of/respect for the music and art of their elders. If nothing else, gettin’ lite makes it clear that kids have certainly, at the very least, been paying close attention. To be able to incorporate aspects of tap, breaking, and pop-locking in the masterful way that many of the more talented members of these dance crews are able to shows that they have seen dancers of the past and learned from them in a way that has advanced their own art.

This is certainly not to say that gettin’ lite is within itself a form of mimicry; what I am suggesting is in fact far from it. What I am offering up for discussion is that perhaps these New York City youths are both signifying and sampling great dancers of the past in order to pay homage to them through their craft. It is evident in clips such as the one I have provided that legends like Crazy Legs and Gregory Hines have inspired these young artists to dance as they do.

Beyond that, when one considers the vogue and ballet aspects of form, an entirely new conversation arises. Though some gettin’ lite crews have female members, it is especially interesting in my opinion that this many young Black, Latino and Asian men are participating in a cultural experience partially rooted in dance forms that are not considered to be traditionally “manly” modes of expression (i.e. ballet and vogue). When this idea is taken into serious consideration, one is able to imagine the spaces in which these sessions take place as sites for a fresh, unique brand of masculine performance. It allows for the type of freedom so rarely given to young men of color when it comes to the ways they are allowed to construct themselves as masculine subjects within the broader cultural imaginary of their neighborhood, ethnicity, etc.

Thus, gettin’ lite serves not only as a means of cathartic release for youth that are far too often told to sit down and be still within the confines of decrepit NYC school systems, but also as a medium through which the stringent borders of hetero-normative behavior and race can be pushed. Within this incredibly complex culture, you have dance crews composed of members of various genders and ethnic backgrounds who battle fiercely for bragging rights and YouTube hits; crews ranging in name from The Brotherhood to the Fast Food Club all dancing their hearts out anywhere they are allowed to circle up and get the party started the way they see fit. These young men and women are warriors fighting through the difficulty of their everyday realities using their craft as a means of both enjoyment and expression in a city that that took art class out of their curriculum and left them nothing to replace it with.

In much the same way that hip-hop started, the young pioneers of the getting’ lite movement are combining the beauty of the past and the pain of the present in order to create an entirely new entity. Though its influences are obvious, there is no argument here, gettin’ lite belongs to the youth of my generation. It is profoundly artistic, culturally important, and undeniably beautiful in ways that the entire world needs to see. So, until the day that this art form is recognized for what it is, we (“we”meaning the socially conscious, incredibly privileged yet still really angry hip-hop heads) will be waiting; armed with our video cameras and laptops to make sure that these youth, no matter how dark the spaces they are relegated to may be, have their genius seen by the world.