"STRIKE WITH FORCE"

Whacking is a dance style that was created by multicultural gay men in the underground gay clubs in Los Angeles in the late 1960s. This dance allowed them to feel authentic and liberated despite the oppression they faced in the outside world where it was illegal to exist. Because of this, this was not a social dance, but rather an anti-social dance. The dance originated from a style called Punking whose name comes from the derogatory term, Punk, used to describe gay men. This was their way of flipping the script and taking their power back to create “beauty from ugly and art from [their] pain.” -Viktor Manoel. When the AIDS epidemic broke, all the originators of the style either died or were murdered except for Viktor Manoel. This piece is dedicated to those who struggle and pain forged a dance that is now practicing loved all around the world.