Hustle

    The Hustle conjures up images of John Travolta dancing to a certain disco beat.  This is due to the release of a 1977 movie called “Saturday Night Fever.”  This made a mark in popular culture.  Moreover, the dance became an international craze in 1975 following Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony’s song “The Hustle.”  Discotheques became popular around this time with flashing lights around America and Europe.  The bellbottom pants, Afro hairstyle, and Marshmellow shoes, all worn together, was the very picture of the Hustle. 
    A catchall name for a number of dances that became popular in the middle of the 1970’s, Hustle is one of the partner disco dances together with Lover Swing, Double Strut, and Chicago Strut.  Its basic beat is similar to the Discofox, which was also popular in Europe in the 1970’s.  As the Hustle became popular, everyone was calling it with various names such as “Disco Swing,” “Rope Hustle.” “Sling Hustle,” “Street Hustle,” “Tango Hustle,” “Same Foot Hustle,” and “Latin hustle.”  With incorporated elements from several dance styles, it is now a contemporary dance that has evolved.  It now refers to a unique partner dance performed in ballrooms accompanied by disco music.
    The Hustle combines turns, spins and wraps and dips for a signature fast, slick look.  Danced in night clubs to 1970’s and 1980’s top 40 dance songs, Hustle is the fastest of all the dances.  Advanced hustle dancers are known for crazy trick lifts and dips that give this dance a wow factor that looks current and up to date.
    Throughout the late 1970’s, even though Hustle was still taught in many different forms (4-count Hustle, the old Latin Hustle or Rope Hustle) by dance studios and teachers, the most exciting form was done by club dancers and competitors of New York City who performed the 3-count count Hustle (and 1-2-3).  The New York Hustle dancers from the 1970’s paved the way for the rest of the Hustle community across the United States.  Throughout the late 1970’s and 1980’s, as it continued to evolve, the Hustle began to borrow from other dance styles.  These included Smooth Ballroom, from which it took traveling movements and pivots, as well as other partner dance forms such as Swing, and the Latin rhythm dances.  Even today the dance continues to evolve, yet it has never lost its basic count since the mid 1970’s of “and1-2-3.”
    Most dancers say that learning the Hustle teaches skills like turning and position changing with an emphasis on fingertip leading & following, and arm controlling.  Hustle teaches syncopated timing so that dancers are able to quickly adjust to different music tempos.  Hustle also develops balance and spotting, which eliminate getting dizzy during turns.