Overview of Stomp & Shake Cheerleading

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part III 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 III of this series provides an overview of stomp & shake cheerleading.

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 II provides an overview of foot stomping cheers.
Click
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-overview-of-foot-stomping-movement.html for Part II.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

****
PART III
WHAT IS STOMP & SHAKE CHEERLEADING
Stomp & shake is a referent for an African American originated style of cheerleading (first mention of these cheers that I've found is early 1970, but most of the earliest mention I've found is mid 1970s, the same time frame as the first documentation that I've found for foot stomping cheers.

Although there are some male stomp & shake cheerleaders, most of the squads consist of females. The synchronized, choreographed routines that the squad does while chanting include upstomps foot stomping movements. ("Upstomps" are "high kicks" such as those popularized by Black University marching bands). Those cheerleaders also performd "jigga pops", a rhythmical, fast double shake of their hips that is best shown off when the cheerleaders wear pleated cheerleader skirts.

Stomp & shake cheer routines may include some body patting but that isn't necessarily a part of stomp & shake routines.

These movements are done while the squad is reciting cheers. These cheers are usually introduced by one squad members, who says the name of the cheer, but unlike foot stomping cheers, they are unison cheers. Also, many stomp & shake cheers are similar in tone-but not in structure-to the insult/bragging foot stomping cheers. However, stomp & shake cheerleaders may also perform their routines to recorded music.

It's important to remember that drama (role playing) is supposed to be an important part of chanting insult/bragging stomp & shake cheers. The cheer performance fails if the stomper/chanter doesn't act as if she is confident, strong, assertive, and unafraid of the members of the rival cheerleading squad. The facial expression and persona of stomp & cheer cheerleaders is almost diametrically the opposite of the perky, always smiling mainstream cheerleader, particularly when it comes to battle cheers. "Battle cheers" are chanted to big up (brag about) your athletic team and/or your cheerleading squad. The name refers to the fact that the cheerleaders use their words and their movement routines in a contest as to which squad can succeed the most in getting their fans "hyped".

Although there appears to be a certain amount of stigma and disapproval associated with cheerleading squads who use other squad's cheers and cheer routines without permission, thanks to the internet and YouTube in particular, certain stomp & shake cheers & their routines have become part of the cheer repertoire of pre-university cheerleading squads.

Here's a video of a widely replicated "battle cheer":

Howard University Bison Cheerleaders 2



CoachSpence, Uploaded on Oct 19, 2006

Howard University Battle Cheer "Sit Back Down"
-snip-
The words to this cheer & the university stomp & shake cheer given as example #1 below are found on this page of my cocojams website: http://cocojams.com/content/stomp-and-shake-cheerleader-cheers.

****
VIDEOS OF TWO ADDITIONAL UNIVERSITY STOMP & SHAKE CHEERLEADING SQUADS

Example #1: The World Renown Woo Woos of Virginia State University



GoTrojans·Uploaded on Sep 30, 2010

2009 Freedom Classic
January 2009
Richmond, VA

****
Example #2: WSSU Red Team Cheerleaders NC Stomp & Shake Competition



Kiaerica Krishelle, Published on Feb 23, 2013

WSSU opening up the show at the FIRST annual Stomp n Shake cheerleading competition on Saturday 2/23/2013
-snip-
The way the cheerleaders held their hands when they eentered the gym reminds me of the way that the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc step teams perform their signature cheer "It's A Serious Matter". That post and other sorority & fraternity posts can be found on pancocojams by clicking the "steppin" or "fraternity and sorority chants" tags.

****
VIDEO OF A HIGH SCHOOL STOMP & SHAKE CHEERLEADING SQUAD

SASSY (We Shake The Best)



woowooworkit·Uploaded on Feb 17, 2007

JV And Varsity SASSY cheerleaders cheer at the last game against bluestone
-snip-
The words to each of this cheer and other pre-university cheerleader cheers, including several stomp & shake cheers are found on this page of my cocojams website: http://cocojams.com/content/childrens-cheerleader-cheers.

****
RELATED LINK
Click http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/07/21/race-and-the-changing-shape-of-cheerleading/ for a post on stomp & shake cheerleading that I wrote which was published on the sociological images blog.

****
This concludes Part III of this series.

Thanks to the composer/s of these cheers and the performers of these featured stomp & shake cheer routines. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.