Moonwalking 80's

Moonwalking through the 80’s The 1980s in America were defined as “the decade of excess” due to Americans wanting to consume more expensive materialistic objects. The Reagan administration played a big role in the want of materialistic objects as a result of “Reaganomics”, which put more money in the economy, by cutting taxes for corporations and the rich. Therefore, the 80s became a decade of prosperity because Americans were wealthier. The stereotypical wealthy Americans during the eighties were the yuppies. A yuppie was defined as, “a young college-educated adult who has a job that pays a lot of money and who lives and works in or near a large city” . The prosperity that was achieved by the yuppies was mirrored in the types of dances that

The breakdance set African Americans apart from every other culture because breakdancing was a new and stylish form of dancing. “Hip-Hop dance mirrors the intricacies if our interwoven lives in urban America, reflecting the synergy and complexity of dancers of various ethnicities creating within the Africanist dance style” The dance was also unique because it does not have specific choreography and can be whatever variation the dancer wants it to be. Some of these dance variations included the downrock and the freeze (Appendix A). The music that these dancers would breakdance to was usually hip-hop as it offered the rhythmic beats necessary to perform an exceptional breakdance. Breakdancing began in South Bronx New York in the early 1970s. It was originally used between gangs to settle disputes by “battling other youth with creativity and style instead of violence” . Even though breakdancing started in the 1970s it emerged in the 80s due to Michael Jackson. Jackson popularized breakdancing by performing the moonwalk. The moonwalk, “is a dance move in which the dancer moves backwards while appearing to be making the physical movement of walking forwards” . Jackson’s moonwalk looked so cool that everyone wanted to dance like him, “How many teenagers spent how many hours dragging their stockinged feet across carpeted

One such fad in the eighties was the dance “Walk Like an Egyptian”. In this particular dance the participant walks like the Egyptians that were seen in Egyptian artwork (Appendix B). This dance reflected the eighties because it was a fun little fad, where you were you pretending to walk like an Egyptian. Another dance fad in the eighties was Jazzercise. Jazzercise was a dance that was performed on TV that allowed participants to follow along. The participants would then be able to get a superb workout by performing the high intensity dances. Jazzercise was a dance that perfectly fit into the eighties because it fit into the schedules of Americans who were busy trying earn money during the day and had no time to exercise. Jazzercise also made it convenient for Americans because it made them able to workout without leaving their house. These fads, which were most popular in the eighties reflected once again the carefree and fun attitude that marked the