Hustle and Mo

It's the Rodney Dangerfield of dance, but the hustle deserves Respect. It's the last true American dance and it brought partner dancing back into the mainstream after the freestyle non-dancing of the '60s.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Mo
• Rocca
• 180
• Hustle
• Salsa
• Dance
• Lessons
• Saturday
• Night
• Fever
• 70s
• Senior
• Dancers
• Single
• Ladies

[streethustler1000]

now...hustle is another boring "ballroom" dance for slow white old people...I guess if u gonna make money, might as well sell hustle to old people...in the meantime...I'll continue to dance the night away in "any" club I want...as hustle is just that...a "club dance"-not a ballroom, or for artsy fartsy people. Anyay...billy and katie only dance a slow hustle...probably cause they're "slow"? lolol...the IHSC in miami is a money maker...too bad it only makes money for katie and billy...

[streethustler1000]

here's the problem with hustle, and those (like billy) trying to make money off of old people. Billy and katie took hustle out of clubs and now sell it to those that never danced hustle before. Make money I say...but don't act like you guys are the "discoverers" of hustle..."street hustle" as it is known in NYC...was created by "regular" kids to really sweat it out! lolol...

[TheOwl]

MO, thanks so much for doing this piece. Hustle is a great and fun partner dance that deserves far more respect than it gets. You were definitely right o about the "John Travolta" thing. I think another aspect of why the dance started to fall out of favor for a while was that there was so much emphasis on fancy acrobatic steps by way of competitions on TV and what not that it seemed out of reach to the average person.plus about a zillion variations added to the confusion. Well done.

[dflynn5656]

Tragically, most people seeing the NY styled dance clips here are never told that hustle wasn't a slow ballroomesque dance done only by the over 50 set. It's greatness came precisely because it was a people's dance - that was more at home in the clubs than the dance studios. Though what we have today is lovely, the same young age group that birthed the dance in 1977 has utterly abandoned it in 2009. The Top billboard dance hits on 1980 was 128 BPM. Not the lethargic 108 BPM we dance to today.

[tyeweed420]

I am finally proud to know that someone knows what the hell Hustle is. I am been doing it since the beginning. It has always been my dance and I never stopped dancing it. No matter where I go, I can find someone who hustles

[dancefla]

We just wanted to say THANK YOU to you and to Anthony from the bottom of our hearts. The hustle dance community has been waiting for you guys for a long time!

Hustle is a beautiful dance form that is part of our cultural history. Thanks for helping to set the record straight.

Billy Fajardo & Katie Marlow, Organizers

International Hustle & Salsa Competition

[ltaoka]

mo, you're the greatest.

[PuddyKatz]

Back in the day we didn't spin people when we hustled. Mostly it involved conning people and getting them to give us money.

[susankayfritz]

Billy, thank you so much for finally getting this dance the *accurate* exposure it deserves, the wonderful choreography and the pep talk beforehand. It's funny how the dance has such a weird stigma and bad rap, yet those that get involved seem to never leave the scene and fall in love with the dance for life.

[conflay]

Rosanne, you LUCKY woman!!!