I have fallen in love with J-Setting and taught some in the sports aerobics/cheer class on Thursdays. A lot of students ask me what exactly it's all about... hopefully this will help explain...
J-Setting is a is a highly stylized modern lead and follow style hip hop dance, characterized by cheerleading style sharp movements to an eight-beat count music. Popular in southern U.S. gay clubs, like the vogue-style before it, it became popular by exposure in a pop music video, this time the 2008 Beyonce Knowles single Single Ladies.
Background: In 1970, former majorette Shirley Middleton became troupe leader of the Jackson State University cheerleading group, The Prancing Jaycettes. Middleton wanted something different, and so threw away their batons, and began dancing in formation. Based on a classical cheerleader eight-beat style, the signature thrusts, pumps, and high kicks were developed into a lead-and-follow "wave" through the troupe. However, the style was strictly reserved for women only until 1997, when male troupe baton twirling member DeMorris Adams, was asked to fill in for an injured female troupe member. After this, although the performing troupe was still female, the crowd supporters started to grow from the colleges gay community.
Development: In the early 1990s, young gay men brought the style back to their home towns, and the distinct and often intricate style that is now J-Setting developed in nightclubs like Club City Lights in Jackson, Mississippi; Incognito, Allusions, and 901 in Memphis; and Club 708 in Atlanta. J-Setting gained popularity in part because it was sharp, and due to its lead and follow nature, meant another dancer could intimate interest through following someone elses lead.
Style: J-Setting has now developed into a culture, with a distinct dress style. There are now J-Setting troupes, where groups of young gay men imitate cheerleaders with co-ordinated uniforms of sequined one- and two-piece leotards, with long flowing capes, sheer stockings and white marching boots. At gay cultural events, squads of J-Setters compete in dance-offs.
Some of the most popular J-Setting teams include: Memphis Elite; Atlanta’s J-Five; Dallas Diamonds; Nashville’s Music City All-Starz; and Grambling, La.’s X-Men.Check out some of my favourite clips of J-Setting:
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