*Disclaimer: This dance history section is based on our own research, interviews, discussions with pioneers and also knowledgeable dancers in the community. Everything written here is aimed primarily towards the non-dancers, or those who aren’t well informed about these dance styles and seek to learn more. Our goal is to try and provide them with a starting point for more insight and also help point them in the right direction for more information. If you’d like to contribute to any of these dance history sections, feel free to contact us. Enjoy!

*Excerpt taken from www.waacking.com
*Please go to that website for more info.

The Waacking style of street/club dance, can trace its roots back to the nightclub culture of the late 60’s in New York City. Disco Music was the perfect vehicle for Waacking, with its driving rhythms and hard beats.

In the early 1970s in Los Angeles, dancer Lamont Peterson was one of the first to start using his arms and body to the music. Dancers such as Mickey Lord, Tinker and Blinky fine tuned the arms movements, by making the arms and hands go fast to the driving disco beat.

During the mid 1970s club dancers Tinker, Arthur, Andrew, Lonnie Carbajal, Michael Angelo, Billy Starr, Tyrone Proctor, Jody Watley, Billy Goodson, Danny Logo, and Shabba Doo, took center stage with others dancers perfecting those synchronize syncopated movements. At the time Waacking was primarily a Black and Latino dance. Many people mistakenly believe that “Waacking” came from “Locking” because some of the movements are very similar. Although waacking and Locking do have some similarities, they are different dances. Although Waacking has gone from many names such as The Garbo, Punkin etc, The most known name that represents the dance as a whole is “Waacking”.

The name “Waacking” most commonly coined by The Soul Train dancer “Tyrone Proctor” of the Outrageous Waack Dancer’s in 1974., and The “Garbo” name given to the dance by Andrew because of a style of posing (like the pictures of the glamour women of the 40’s) .

The difference between “Waacking” and “Voguing”. “Waacking” became popular in the early 70’s on the West Coast. “Waacking” is mostly done to Disco Music. “Voguing” became popular in the late early 80’s on the East Coast. “Voguing”” is done to mostly House Music and was popular around the early 80s. With a history of Over 35 years “Waacking” is still going strong, sparking the fire for new young talented dancers to help the culture live.

(A few noteable names to look up include: Mickey Lord, Tinker, Blinkey, Arthur, Andrew, Lonnie Carbajal, Michael Angelo, Billy Starr, Tyrone Proctor, Viktor Manuel, Jody Watley, Billy Goodson, Danny Logo, Shabba-Doo, Angel, Ana Lollipop Sanchez, and Dallace)