Dancehall: an Introduction

My first encounter with dancehall happened on my first night on the East Coast, in the basement of Faunce Campus Center at Brown University.  There, during a pre-orientation dance for the Third World Transition Program, a DJ spun tracks by new-school Jamaican legends like Vybz Kartel and Assassin.  As “Dutty Wine” by Kingston-based Tony Matterhorn emerged from the speakers, so did a circle of female students, who proceeded to gyrate and whip their hair forward as the song’s chorus sounded. 

Dancehall, whose name reflects its origins in the musky taverns of Kingston and Montego Bay, is a bass-heavy, electronic brand of reggae that emerged out of more traditional reggae cultures in Jamaica during the 80’s and 90’s.  As electronics’ impact on the genre has grown, and as it has been fused with hip hop and adopted by contemporary performers like Sean Paul, its association with the reggae of Bob Marley’s generation has been questioned.  Dancehall has spawned a youth culture rich in high-energy dancing, which often includes intense gyration, hip rolls, and writhing movements on the floor that may seem more heavily influenced by a contemporary hip hop aesthetic than that of traditional reggae, calypso, and other West Indian styles.  With heavy waves of immigration from the West Indies, and particularly Jamaica, to urban nodes on the East Coast, has come the transmission of a dancehall culture to these spaces.  Furthermore, the presence of many students of Caribbean descent on college campuses such as Brown has brought consciousness of this genre to fraternity basements, orientation dances, and the Brown University radio station, among other spaces.   

This semester, I aim to dig into dancehall, using the Internet, Brown University, and greater Providence to examine the social, racial, and sexual politics of this genre.  When a dancehall track comes on at a Brown party, who enters the circle and spins their heads?  Does the scene look different at a venue off College Hill than it does on campus?  How do male and female bodies become sexualized in the performance of a “hot wuk,” a “dutty wine,” or other dances embedded in the dancehall canon?  How has dancehall’s migration to the United States impacted its identity as a musical and subcultural entity?

Seeking answers to these questions will be a fulfilling endeavor this semester.  In the meantime…here’s the song that has gotten my blood thumping and my head spinning, ever since that glorious night in the basement of Faunce. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg0qluaxpOo