Bounce
Also known as: New Orleans Bounce, Sissy Bounce, Bounce Dancing
History & Cultural Context
Bounce is New Orleans' call-and-response party music and the dance culture inseparable from it. It broke open in 1991, when MC T. Tucker (Kevin Ventry) and DJ Irv recorded 'Where Dey At'; by 1992 it was a citywide movement, grown out of the city's housing projects. Nearly every bounce record rides the same loops — the 'Triggerman' beat from The Showboys' 'Drag Rap,' named for Showboys member Phillip 'Triggerman' Price, and Cameron Paul's 'Brown Beats' — over which MCs run roll calls of wards, projects and neighbourhoods and trade chants with the floor. DJ Jubilee became the city's most popular bounce DJ, Take Fo' Records the first label dedicated to the genre, and Cheeky Blakk's 1994 'Twerk Something' carried the first recorded use of 'twerk' in the music. The dancing is hip- and glute-driven — twerking, shaking, p-popping, wall work and floor splits — done in a ring at block parties, with steps called out from the microphone. From the late 1990s the openly queer performers Katey Red and Big Freedia, working in a city with a long tradition of gay and drag performance, took bounce international.
Cultural Significance
Bounce is neighbourhood music: roll calls name specific wards and projects, and the form sits alongside second-line and Mardi Gras Indian traditions in New Orleans' street culture. Its long-standing overlap with the city's queer and drag performance scene is central rather than incidental.
Characteristic Movement & Technique
Fast isolated hip and glute percussion — twerking, shaking and p-popping — with wide-stance bounces, drops, splits, floor work and wall work, all cued by chanted instructions from the MC.
Partnering Dynamics
Mostly solo and communal, danced facing the DJ or MC in a crowd, with dancers occasionally pairing or forming a ring around a soloist. Call-and-response makes the MC an active partner to the entire floor.
Competitive Context
Not primarily a battle form: status comes from the block party, the club floor and the record, with dance-offs occurring informally. Competitive display has grown through filmed sets and touring shows built around Big Freedia and Katey Red.
Regional Variations
Uptown and downtown New Orleans crews and labels developed distinguishable sounds, with Partners-N-Crime associated with Uptown; the style spread across the Gulf South and later fed national pop and rap production.
Common Misconceptions
Twerking is not a 2013 pop-culture invention: it was named on record in New Orleans bounce by 1994 and was already established practice. 'Sissy bounce' is also a press label applied from outside rather than a separate genre or a term the artists chose for themselves.
Peak Popularity
Signature Figures
- MC T. Tucker (Kevin Ventry)
- DJ Irv
- DJ Jubilee
- Cheeky Blakk
- Magnolia Shorty
- Ms. Tee
- Katey Red
- Big Freedia
- Partners-N-Crime
Notable Codifiers
- Take Fo' Records
- The Showboys ('Drag Rap' / Triggerman beat)
- Cameron Paul ('Brown Beats')
Sources & Further Reading
Cultural & Historical Context
Bounce emerged from New Orleans, Louisiana, USA during the 1991s—present day. Understanding the cultural roots, musical traditions, and social circumstances of this era enriches appreciation for the dance's characteristics and significance.
Formative Influences
Codifiers & Standardizers:
Take Fo' Records, The Showboys ('Drag Rap' / Triggerman beat), Cameron Paul ('Brown Beats')
Signature Movement Vocabulary:
MC T. Tucker (Kevin Ventry), DJ Irv, DJ Jubilee, Cheeky Blakk, Magnolia Shorty, Ms. Tee, Katey Red, Big Freedia, Partners-N-Crime
Primary Source Documents
The Library of Dance contains public-domain primary sources for dance history. Copyrighted modern syllabi are indexed with purchase links to their respective copyright owners. Search by dance name or codifier to discover primary source documents.
Last reviewed: August 2026 — This dance profile synthesizes historical research, cultural documentation, and contemporary practice knowledge to provide authoritative context.
More in Hip-Hop & Street Dance
Breaking (B-Boying / B-Girling)
The foundational dance of hip-hop culture, built in the Bronx on looped drum breaks and organised into toprock, footwork, power moves and freezes.
Hip-Hop Party Dances (Old School Social)
The social layer of hip-hop: named, repeatable party steps such as the Wop, Cabbage Patch, Running Man, Roger Rabbit and Steve Martin, learned by watching rather than counting.
New Style Hip-Hop
The studio and choreography form that grew out of the party dances, keeping their groove as its base while adding isolations, texture and eight-count structure.
Memphis Jookin
Memphis's gliding, toe-standing street dance, evolved from 1980s gangsta walking at the city's skating rinks into a balance-driven form danced in sneakers.
Chicago Footwork (Juke)
Chicago's double-time battle dance, danced almost entirely from the knees down inside a ring at 150–165 BPM over ghetto-house-derived footwork tracks.
Turfing
Oakland's storytelling street dance, mixing gliding, waving, tutting, contortion and bone-breaking with pantomime, named T.U.R.F. by Jeriel Bey in the early 2000s.
Flexing (Bone Breaking / Bruk Up)
Brooklyn's contortionist street dance, descended from Jamaican bruk up and danced to reggae-rooted Flex Dance Music rather than hip-hop breakbeats.
Litefeet
Harlem's fast, buoyant, trick-driven street dance of named steps, hat and shoe tricks, performed to purpose-built 100–110 BPM tracks and on subway 'Showtime' sets.
Detroit Jit
Detroit's high-speed footwork dance, created by the McGhee brothers as The Jitterbugs in the 1970s and later fused with electro, techno and ghettotech.
Continue Exploring
Lineage of Dance
Explore 500 years of dance evolution
Champions of Dance
Winners of marquee national & world titles
Language of Dance
400+ dance terms & translations
Listening of Dance
Tempo, timing & musicality tools
Gallery of Dance
1,200+ public domain artworks
Attire of Dance
Evolution of dance dress across eras
Keep the thread going
Dance history, technique, and the occasional rabbit hole — in your inbox. Thoughtful, infrequent, unsubscribe anytime.
Free. No spam. One click to leave.