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Twerking

The newest dance craze rattling the viral media is twerking. Groups of friends all across the nation are coming together to make “Twerk Team” videos and post them online.

Twerking is when a dancer, typically a woman, shakes her hips in and up-and-down motion causing her butt cheeks to shake. Miley Cyrus’ controversial VMA performance ignited a social spark in the media to bring this dance into the spotlight.

It began in the late ‘90s as the New Orleans bounce, then was popularized by rappers like Jay Z and the Ying Yang Twins. Fast forward to 2013 and now you have celebrities like Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, and Ashley Tisdale

This secular dance isn’t new, but the fact that you can find videos of babies and dogs twerking is. The most hilarious would have to be the twerking fails. Featured on cnn.com particularly, is the video of a young woman twerking on a door when someone walks in and she falls onto a table full of candles and accidently sets herself on fire. Unfortunately this was later discovered to be a prank by Jimmy Kimmel.

You can find the more adventurous people twerking on glass tables (sometimes crashing through them), in the driver’s seat while in a drive thru, and on a McDonald’s dining table.

Although twerking may be considered fun amongst the youth, there is a time and a place to twerk. School is not one of those places. Last year there was a twerking scandal at Scripps Ranch High School in PUSD when a group of girls and one male student decided to make a twerking video featuring their school as the setting

Thirty-two students twerked in various parts of the school while one student recorded and later used school equipment to add music and edit the video. All were suspended, banned from prom, and unable to walk at graduation. All of these charges were later dropped.

Although twerking is among the most talked about dances, like any fad it’s is only temporary and it will eventually lose its luster and return to the shadows of house parties and rap videos.

Written by Dominique Barrett

Dominique was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas. She moved to San Diego her freshman year and started off high school as a Sundevil. She's played volleybal for the school since she's been here and is now on Varsity, she also joined staff as a sophomore. By her junior year she was appointed to the News editor. Another accomplishment would be when she was chosen to be a Sundevil Standout her sophomore year. Dominique has had a colorful Sundevil experience and looks forward to many more.