Skanking is a form of dancing practiced in the reggae, ska, ska-punk, ska-core, hardcore punk, dubstep and grime scenes.
It originated in Jamaican dance-halls in the 1950's. It was then adopted by the Mods and Skinheads in Britain in the 1960's. In the late 70's and 80's it was revived within the two-tone ska movement, popularized in British mainstream pop-culture by bands such as Madness and The Specials. The form of dance worked its way into the punk and hardcore scenes in a more aggressive form as these types of bands began to use ska music within their own sub-cultures.
What interests me about this term is its re-appropriation as a form of dance within varying sub-cultures and the strained relationship it has maintained with mainstream pop-culture. Here is an early example of skanking but perhaps more interestingly it highlights the frictional relationship the dance has with the mainstream.
Here's an example of it taking place in the punk-ska scene (the music isn't too good but the dancing is).
I'm also interested in this term as it highlights a form of performance that whilst there is an 'idea' of, still has an open and fluid structure in its interpretation. The semiotics of the dance are very specific within each sub-culture from which it is generated, finding new meaning and establishing new connotations depending on the cultural site in which it is enacted. The dance is also specific to the performance of live music. Here's The Specials providing the must recognizable form of skanking in a television performance.
Nick Gibson
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The elements of appropriation, decontextualisation, and repositioning cited within the evolution of the skanking movement are striking when paralled with Rustom Bharucha's "Theatre and the World". Bharucha's continued polemics on practices of appropriation of art elements undertaken by western artists conflicts the celebratory nature of the skanking movement. It is interesting to note how the two frames of the authors, namely Bharuca and the constructivists of the skanking movement, can reflect such differing perspective on transculturalism and identity politics.
ReplyDeleteSkanking seems to have a very interesting approach to the term 'appropriation'. Apparently, it comes from the ancient ritual religious dances of the caribbean (Maxwell 2009). Then, it was adopted (transformed?) by a popular msical movement, to then be taken by urban cultures by the end of the XXth Century.
ReplyDeleteThere is an example of a mexican Ska band ('Panteón Rococó') that is very famous within certain young sector in Germany (even though they sing in Spanish). There is some kind of process of identification between the band and 'skanking german youngsters'. What does it say about the 'transcultural'? How does the 'decontextualization' and 'recontextualization' work in this example? Do they work at all?
An example of Panteón Rococó performing in Germany:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCZHBw8FA7I
The above comments are from Amsterdam Groups A and C, respectively.
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