This is Part II of a three part series that compares three different but closely related African American originated performance movement arts: historically Black fraternities & sororities steppin (stepping); foot stomping [cheers]; and stomp & shake cheerleading.
Part II provides an overview of foot stomping cheers and also provides information about the syncopated, choreographed performance movement of "foot stomping".
Part I provides an overview of historically Black (African American) Greek letted fraternities & sororities.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-overview-of-black-greek-letter.html for Part I of this series.
Part III of this series provides an overview of stomp & shake cheerleading.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/overview-of-stomp-shake-cheerleading.html for Part III.
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The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Another longer version of this post is found as an introduction to this page of my cocojams website: http://cocojams.com/content/foot-stomping-cheers-0.
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PART II
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WHAT ARE FOOT STOMPING CHEERS?
Foot stomping cheers are a category of children's cheerleading cheers that have a characteristic call & response structure. Unlike other children's playground rhymes & cheers, rhyming verses may only make up a small portion of a foot stomping cheer.
Since at least the beginning of the 21st century, foot stomping cheers have been adapted & integrated into the repertoire of mainstream children's cheerleading & team cheer activities. That integration means that in discussing those cheers it may be best to refer to "traditional foot stomping cheers" and "mainstream" foot stomping cheers. For instance, traditionally, foot stomping cheers were chanted by two or more girls who performed synchronized, choreographed foot stomp routines similar to historically Black Greek letter organizations' steppin. However, the performance of foot stomps need not be, and often appears not to be, a part of mainstream cheerleaders or team cheers' experiences of foot stomping cheers.
Traditionally, foot stomping cheers start with the group voice. The group may begin by chanting the name of the cheer, and then calls on a member of the group. Or the cheer may begin with the group calling that person & stating their demand. Usually, the soloist responds to the group in a surly manner, and initially refuses to comply with their demand. However, the soloist eventually complies and chants a soloist portion & performs a brief foot stomping routine/dance. At the conclusion of that portion, that rendition of the cheer ends.
However, in other examples of foot stomping cheers, the group chants the same words as the soloist did, and then the cheer ends- only to immediately start again from the beginning with a new soloist. In some foot stomping cheers the soloist's lines are exactly the same, with the exception of the soloist's name or some personal information such as her astrological sign, or her favorite color. In other foot stomping cheers, the soloist's lines can be different, but must fit into the same theme as the cheer, and must follow the same cheer's metronome style beat.
In contrast to that traditional model, in mainstream cheer performances, there's likely not to be any soloist foot stomping or dance performance, and the foot stomping cheer itself may end before every member of the group has a turn as soloist.
Here's an example of a foot stomping cheer that begins with the group call & is followed by the group demand:
GET DOWN-snip-
Group- Hey, Shayla
Shayla - What?
Group- Hey, Shayla.
Shayla - What
Group - Show me how you get down.
Shayla - No way.
Group- Show me how you get down.
Shayla - Okay.
[Shayla does a hip swinging dance while saying]
I saida D. O. WN.
And that's the way
And that's the way
And that's the way I get down.
[Group does dance with Shayla and says]
Group - She saida D. O. WN.
And that's the way
And that's the way
And that's the way she gets down.
-T.M.P, mid 1980s, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; collected by Azizi Powell
This foot stomping cheer starts again from the beginning with the next soloist who says the same soloist lines but traditionally isn't supposed to repeat the same foot stomping/dance routine. This pattern continues until every member has had one turn as soloist.
In the version of same cheer that begins with the title of the chant, prior to the group calling the soloist by name, the entire group (including the first soloist) chants:
"I saida D. O. WN and that's the way we get down.
D. O. WN and that's the way we get down."
My term for this distinctive modified call & response structure is "group/consecutive soloists". Foot stomping cheers that don't start with the group speaking in unison are called "modified foot stomping cheers". A crucial characteristic of foot stomping cheers- the cheer immediately starts again with the next designated soloist. This pattern is supposed to continue without pause until every member of the group gets one turn as soloist for that particular cheer.
Traditionally, foot stomping cheers were chanted while girls performed a synchronized, choreographed foot stomping routine.
Children who performed foot stomping cheers as an informal leisure time activity were able to perform these cheers in the consecutive soloist format where every member of the group has an equal turn as the soloist. However, actual cheerleaders aren't able to do that, given the time constraints that they face during an actual game or during half-time.
One result of the limited time that cheerleaders have to perform during half-time is that modified forms of stomping cheers and perhaps even modified forms of stomping performances have been integrated into many pre-university cheerleader squads in African American communities as well as in non-African American communities. Read my comments about the changes that may be occuring to "stomps" in my comments after the video given below as Example #3.
Also, since at least the late 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, a number of foot stomping cheers have retained their distinctive structure but have been separated from their foot stomping movement activity. These cheers have become part of mainstream repertoires of children's softball cheers & other cheers for children's sports games.
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TWO TYPES OF FOOT STOMPING CHEERS
While there are a number of different categories of foot stomping cheers, "insult & bragging cheers" & "dance" foot stomping cheers are the ones that are most widely known. The most widely known foot stomping cheer, "Shabooya Roll Call" is an example of a insult/bragging cheer. A video clip of that cheer is found below.
It's important to remember that drama (role playing) is supposed to be an important part of chanting insult/bragging foot stomping cheers. The chant performance fails if the stomper/chanter doesn't act as if she is confident and unafraid of her (imaginary, unnamed) opponent.
Another widely found (although not very well recognized) category of foot stomping cheers is what I call "dance style" cheers. These cheers provide an opportunity for their performers to stomp and do particular dance movements. Many of these cheers can be immediately recognizable by what I call the "Hey (person's name)" line that is found early in that cheer. "Get Down" is an example of a dance style foot stomping cheer.
Unlike the prohibition that is attached to the performance of step routines & chants of historically Black Greek lettered organization, and the disapproval that is associated with performing a stomp & shake cheerleader squad's cheers or routines without permission, there's no prohibition or social disapproval attached to chanting any particular foot stomping cheer. Since the synchronized, choreographed movements in foot stomping are formulaic, there can be no prohibition against any other group performing those routines.
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WHAT IS FOOT STOMPING?
"Foot stomping" is an African American originated performance art in which two or more persons (usually girls) chant a distinctive type of cheer while doing a synchronized, choreographed, rehearsed routine. That routine emphasizes the creation of bass sounding foot stomps that alternate with (individual) hand claps. In many foot stomping cheer routines the foot stomps alternate with body pats (chest, thigh, or foot pats, meaning the soles of the shoe). Unlike hand games, there are no partners in foot stomping, and there is rarely if ever any physical touching of another person.
The main pattern for traditional foot stomp routines is stomp clap stomp stomp clap )stomp x stomp stomp x). Another common fiit stomping routine is stomp stomp clap stomp stomp (stomp stomp x stomp stomp x). While the words to foot stomping cheers is important, the most important thing in the performance of foot stomping cheers is keeping the beat. Foot stomping is performed in a metronome like manner throughout the entire cheer. Once the beat starts, it continues until the end of the cheer.
The idea of a metronome beat can best be demonstrated by the Pop group Queen's 1977 hit song "We Will Rock You":
Queen - We Will Rock You
d4v1s, Uploaded on Apr 13, 2006
-snip-
The "We will we will rock you" words of that song are used in a number of mainstream cheerleader cheers. Examples of those cheers can be found on Cocojams's Children's Cheerleader Cheers page http://cocojams.com/content/childrens-cheerleader-cheers. However, in this post, the focus is on that song's beat pattern.
Notice that the beat pattern for this song continues without change throughout the entire song. Since people are often seated when singing this song on school buses or in the stands at football games, they might use their two hands at the same time to pat both of their thighs (body pat body pat clap (pat pat x).
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FEATURED VIDEOS
Example #1: Shabooya Roll Call
Editor's note:
"Shabooya Roll Call" is undoubtedly the most widely known example of a foot stomping cheer. Although "Shabooya Roll Call" is included in Spike Lee's 1996 movie Get On The Bus, it is best known from the 2006 cheerleader movie series Bring It On: All Or Nothing.
Here's the video of the Bring It On-All Or Nothing cafeteria dance scene with the words to the Shabooya cheer superimposed on the video screen. (Warning! There is a curse word used prior to the cheer starting.)
bring it on roll call
Uploaded by LoVee2MusiC on Jul 16, 2009
-snip-
In my opinion, the movement performance for this foot stomping cheer was greatly exagerrated. However, this clip shows the similarity between the foot stomping movements & stepping, and the foot stomping movements and stomp & shake cheerleading.
Again, traditionally, it's the cheer pattern with its consecutive soloists & the group voice being heard first & the soloist responding to that group voice that makes a cheer a foot stomping cheer.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/01/right-rhyming-pattern-for-shabooya-roll.html for a pancocojams post on Shabooya Roll Call.
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Example #2: Dailey Tigers "Rock Steady"
daileytigers, Published on Nov 17, 2012
Cheerleaders
-snip-
This video is an example of a dance style foot stomping cheer. However, unlike the "standard" structure for foot stomping cheers, the cheer begins with a soloist's voice.
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Example #3: Stomp Cheer
kmt122181, Uploaded on Jul 14, 2008
Stomp Cheer
-anip-
The narrator says "You have to remember that the most difficult thing about this cheer is keeping the beat".
Here's the pattern these girls are using for this routine:
"stomp x stomp stomp x stomp stomp xx stomp stomp x"
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"x" stands for "hand clap".
I'm curious if this pattern of stomps & handclaps is or was used by found in formal cheerleader squads, or in informal groups of African Americans. As shown in the video, this pattern works, but it seems different to me.
Overall, I consider this to be a pretty decent basic tutorial video for how to do "stomps". However, I continue to think that these stompers and a number of other stompers in videos I've watched of non-African Americans performing this type of cheers aren't raising their feet off the ground high enough. Consequently, their "stomps" don't produce a bass sound.
I've also noticed in a large number of videos of the "Shabooya Roll Call" cheer that many non-African Americans are substituting miming type actions or swaying back and forth instead of actual foot stomping routines. Those kinds of changes to the ways foot stomping cheers are performed were heralded in the first 2000 Bring It On cheerleader cheer movie when the majority Black & Latina cheerleading squad's routine was modified for the majority White cheerleading squad. In that movie, the performance of the foot stomping cheer "Introduce Yourself" was simplified and much of its foot stomping activity was removed, perhaps because it was difficult to do for those persons who weren't surrounded by that cultural rhythm & beat a much as many African Americans have been. Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWG4AX09mqQ for a video of the "Introduce Yourself" scene. Text examples of that cheer are found on my Cocojams Foot Stomping Cheers page. A link for that page is given in this post.
It should be expected that the integration of foot stomping into mainstream cheerleading is resulting in changes to that performance art. However, it seems to me that some critiquing should be done abou certain ways that "stomps" and "steps" are being performed by mainstream cheerleading squads, unless we wake up one morning and anything that can be called "stomps" and "steps" and accepted as being high quality when those routines actually fail to meet the standards of what high quality stepping and high quality foot stomping (as well as what high quality stomp & shake cheerleading) used to be.
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RELATED LINK
Click http://cocojams.com/content/foot-stomping-cheers-0 for more information and examples of foot stomping and foot stomping cheers.
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This concludes Part II of this series.
Thanks to the composer/s of these cheers and the performers of these featured foot stomping cheer routines. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
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