CULTURE
Many performance art styles have fascinating histories, rich with cultures from overseas...
Performance art styles such as go-go dancing, hula hooping, and poi have rich cultural histories from all over the world. The styles we see today have evolved and changed over decades, and sometimes even centuries, to become the weird and wonderful performances we see across stages. These alternative art forms eventually made their way into EDM culture, the perfect community for such unique styles of self expression.
Go-Go dancing
Go-go dancing’s rise to popularity occurred in the 1960s. The term “go-go” is linguistically derived from the French term ‘À gogo” which means joy and happiness, and also can be translated as “in abundance.” It fit the style of go-go dancing due to the animated, energetic nature of the dance style as well as the amount of skin the dancers showed.
Many consider the true origins of go-go dancing to be the opening of the Peppermint Lounge in 1958 in New York City. The nightclub used to employ “Peppermint club girls” who would wear mini-skirts and what would later become known as “go-go” boots. Over the course of the night, they would get up on the tables and start dancing, creating a lively and fun atmosphere. Synonymous with the release of Sam Cooke’s 1962 disco hit, “Twisting the Night Away”, the dance move “The Twist” took off and clubs like the Peppermint Lounge saw a massive surge in popularity, often entertaining celebrity guests like Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra.
Go-go clubs started popping up across America, opening in places like San Francisco and Los Angeles over the 1960s. The trend moved overseas during the Vietnam War era, when southeast-Asian countries like Thailand and Vietnam adopted the go-go bar trend to entertain ex-pats and American G.I.’s.
Poi
In today’s world, the term “poi” can refer to a number of performance art styles that
involve swinging or spinning various props. The most common form of poi involves
two balls, often decorated with LED lights or even fire, attached to either end of a long
rope or cord. It can also include staff spinning or fans. The performer will often swing
the poi prop to create interesting patterns using the LED lights. Many poi performers
can recreate flower patterns and sacred geometry shapes using these simple props.
What we know today as poi originated with the indigenous Māori people of New Zealand.
The word poi is Māori for “ball” on a cord. Early Māori civilizations developed poi-like
devices known as “ki”, which consisted of a small basket woven from flax or swamp
plants. It was designed to hold and transfer the eggs from the Moa, a now-extinct,
flightless bird that was native to the areas the Māori called home. To ease the carrying
of these heavy eggs, two or more “ki” baskets would be connected by a length of plaited
flax rope and slung over the shoulders or neck - thus forming the basis for the
modern-day poi.
Over time, these primitive poi devices began to have other uses in the Māori culture. Exercises would be performed with the poi to increase flexibility and strength, and some Māori men used poi as a training tool to perfect their weapon or martial arts skills. Poi also began to be used in various cultural dances and performances, mainly by “Wahine” or female dancers. The rhythmic swinging of the poi would be timed with various dances and chants. As tourism increased to New Zealand in the early 1900s, tourists and settlers alike began to take notice of the fascinating poi dances and games of the Maori people, and it slowly began to catch on in other parts of the world.
Hula hooping
Although it is unclear exactly when hula hooping started, it has always been a form of exercise across many cultures. Some of the first hula-hoops ever recorded were made from earth materials, such as grapevines or grass, in ancient Greece and ancient Egypt.
Indigenous cultures have also used hoops for many centuries to both tell stories and to dance. However, it is not called hula hooping but rather hoop dancing. They use many hoops woven together to create a graceful, flowing movements. A single person can coordinate as many as 15 hoops at a time. According to HulaHooping.com, the hoop represents the “never-ending circle of life”. Hoop dancing is still a proud part of Indigenous cultures today. Hula hooping emerged in England in the early 15th century.
British travellers had noticed that the motions used while hooping were similar to the motions used by hula dancers in Hawaii, which is where the term hula comes from. According to the popular toy company, Wham-O, their founders Richard Knerr and Arthur Melin first coined the term hula-hoop, referring to the plastic toy they released in 1958. After this time, hula hooping became more popular in North America.
Hula hooping has also been used in circus performances from as early as the 1960s. Now, popular circus groups such as Cirque du Soleil incorporate hula-hoops into their acts. Eventually, hula hooping made it’s way to the electronic music scene, being one of the most popular activities seen at festivals. Although the materials to make a hula-hoop may have changed over time, the exercise factor remains the same. It is a physically demanding sport that takes lots of patience, practice, and coordination.
Local 'hoop mama' Kelly Janes says hooping has evolved overtime into the style we see at EDM shows and festivals.
"With the advent of youtube and social media, people were able to showcase their skills more readily," Janes says. "Then came the influx of tutorials and performance videos. The movements became more refined and complex, with the trend towards off the body hooping (using the hands) and with that smaller, lighter hoops."
