What Is “Twerking?” How To Twerk…If You Really Think You Need To Learn [VIDEO]
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All over the country teens are doing it. It is called "twerking," and not since "Footloose" has dancing in school caused so much controversy. Nor has it garnered so much publicity. An instructional video on YouTube has been watched, as of this writing, more than four million times.
What is twerking? How do you twerk? Well, it is not necessarily something about which parents are thrilled.
In one of the lines a popular "how to" video the host, "Tweetie," says, "Put your hands on your knees and make 'em say, 'Please.'" So, you understand where this is going and perhaps why students are being suspended for gathering in groups and doing the dance in public, in school.
The move gained popularity after Miley Cyrus dressed up in a unicorn suit and twerked on YouTube. The video below has been viewed millions of times:
How does the general public feel about "twerking?" It depends whom you ask. Robin Abcarian, in an opinion piece for the Los Angeles Times, defines twerking as "...the charmless, stripper-inspired move that involves shaking one's booty as fast as possible, while crouching or in a handstand position." She goes on to say that "...it's pretty strong evidence that the pornification of the culture is so pervasive that high school kids can make a sexually suggestive video on campus, then post it on YouTube and seem kind of miffed when adults rap their knuckles."
And there is plenty of knuckle-rapping. In San Diego's Scripps Ranch High School thirty-three students have been suspending for posting a twerking video online. The video showed the students twerking in the schoolyard in various positions. The extracurricular twerking may get them suspended from other after-school activities as well, including the prom, although school officials say they have not made any final decisions yet.
If you really, really need to know how to twerk, the video is below. Note that this is not something that every parent will wish to watch while in the company of little ones.