In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s discos and nightclubs with high quality sound systems and flashing lights became a popular form of entertainment. In the early 1970’s dancing in the discotheques was mostly freestyle – similar to the “Rock” style exhibited by pop stars of the day, (i.e. The Jackson Five). The Afro hairstyle, Bellbottom pants and Marshmallow shoes were the fashion craze of the young generation of that time.
A small group of young adults and teenagers formed a subculture in New York City: competing in the many discos in a variety of dance contests, mostly performing “Rock”. Some of the popular clubs at this time were “The Contiki”, “Footsteps” and “The Red and White”. These were the hot clubs where the best dancers from New York City would gather to dance.
In early 1973, at a nightclub called “The Grand Ballroom” a new “touch dance”, without a name, was being exhibited by women. It was a simple 6-count step with a basic form, including inside and outside single turns. This was the birth of what would later be called Hustle. The young men of the club took notice, and became interested in this new “touch dance” since it was romantic and a way to meet women.
The dance began to gain popularity, and as more and more people began to participate, it began to evolve.
The birth of Hustle partner dancing occurred in New York City followed rapidly by other metropolitan city night-clubs in the United States during the early 1970s. Early 1970s Hustle was created by Puerto Rican teenagers living in the Bronx area of New York City in 1972 as a result of Puerto Rican adults objecting to teenagers doing a grinding slow dance called the 500.
This Puerto Rican Hustle had a 5-step count with no turns. It rapidly became a 6 count dance which was counted 1, 2, 3&4, 5, 6. According to Hustle dancers such as Billy Fajardo, “as things got more competitive in the night-clubs, the guys wanted to add more tricks to their patterns. In order to do so, dancers abbreviated the 6 count pattern to just keep the &4, 5, 6 portion. This changed the basic form of the dance to be counted &1, 2, 3.”
In the Latin discotheques of that day, including “The Corso”, “Barney Goo Goo’s” and “The Ipanema”, disco music was used as a bridge between live band sets. In these clubs, touch dancing had always been present in the form of Mambo, Salsa, Cha Cha and Bolero. As a result of this fusion, the simple 6-count dance began to incorporate the “ball change” action of the Mambo. The count of the dance now became 1-2-3 & 4-5-6. The dance, although a touch dance, was now performed mostly side-by-side. It also began to incorporate a lot of the intricate turn patterns of the Mambo. The dance began to include multiple turns and hand changes with a ropey feel to the arm movements. Hence the danced was now referred to as the “Rope Hustle” or “Latin Hustle”.
Although the main hub and innovation center continued to be New York City, in the next few years (1974 and 1975) the dance gained even more popularity and began to spread across the United States. Dance contests began to pop up in every city as the phenomenon spread. At this time, the dance also began to move from a slotted pattern into a rotational one.
The popularity of Hustle dancing during the mid 1970s was huge. It was the main theme at numerous night-clubs throughout the USA. Music for the dance consisted of Funk and the new sounds of Disco and always had strong beats which would later become the branches for House music, Pop music, Club remixes, slow Trance and even Lounge music.
With the continual increase in dance contests, the young competitors were seeking an edge. Acrobatic and adagio movements were introduced into the dance for performances, and competitions. A whole new field of entertainment was introduced, and nightclubs, hotels and television began to hire these young and innovative professionals to perform. This was approximately 1975. These opportunities fueled the fire, and the young dancers continued to seek out new ways to excite the club audiences. The dance became faster and more exciting, and the original 1-2-3 of the dance was dropped and just the &4-5-6 of the count was utilized in order to move quickly into and out of the tricks that were becoming so popular in the contests. Hence, “&4-5-6” became “&1-2-3”. This was the birth of Hustle as it is counted today.
Famous nightclub locations were Studio 54, Ipanema (240 West 52nd Street), Boomba, Roseland, Inferno and Starship.
The Hustle was originally danced at house parties and basement dances in the South Bronx. By 1974 it had become known as the “Spanish Hustle” and in 1975 the Fatback Band (an American funk and disco band) had recorded a song titled “Spanish Hustle”. The dance was also known as the “Latin Hustle”; and was a 6 step count to the beat of the music. Around 1976 it became known as the New York Hustle. Finally, known as just the Hustle, the dance became mainstream and commercialized after the release of Saturday Night Fever in 1977.
The early Pioneers of the Hustle dance were performers such as Willie (Marine Boy) Estrada, Willie Rivera, Billy Fajardo, Jose Cruz, Debra Benitez, Maggie Solis, Dante Wynn, and Gladys Rodriguez. Some of these Hustle dancers were gang leaders from a gang called the Imperial Bachelors who used the Latin Hustle as a way to bring peace into the violent South Bronx by hosting Hustle parties at St. Mary’s Recreation Center on 145th St. and St. Ann’s Ave, in 1974. Those parties ended on October 2, 1974 after the killing of Hime Rosend also known as Rubberband, who was murdered by a teenager. Nevertheless, it was the place that gave birth to the best Hustle Dancers in New York City, who would help spread the dance in nightclubs throughout New York city in by the end of 1974.
Van McCoy’s song “Hustle”
A line dance called “Hustle” became a global dance phenomenon in 1975 as a result of Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony’s song “The Hustle”. The forthcoming album was named Disco Baby and McCoy was “Top Instrumental Artist” of 1975. The song reached the top of the Billboard Pop Singles chart in July 1975.
In 1975 music business entrepreneur, Marty Angelo, created the first Hustle dance TV show entitled “Disco Step-by-Step”. Each one hour show featured top hustle dancers and two ten minute hustle dance teaching segments that allowed viewers to learn how to dance the hustle. One of the first shows featured Billy Fajardo and the Disco Dance Dimensions. Marty Angelo also created the Hustle Dancers Hall of Fame in 2000 that he eventually turned over to Ron Bess and Mark James.
The Hustle in Saturday Night Fever
The 1977 movie Saturday Night Fever included both the line and partner forms of the Hustle, as well as another dance referred to as the “tango hustle” (invented just for that film by the cast). After the huge success of Saturday Night Fever, different line dance and couple dance forms of the Hustle developed. Although the huge popularity faded quickly as the hype created by the movie died down, the hustle has continued and is now a social / partner dance taught as part of ballroom dancing.
Songs like Van McCoy’s 1975 hit, “The Hustle” and movies like the 1977 Saturday Night Fever capitalized on the popularity of the Hustle dance craze. Unfortunately, some people thought and still think the song and movie define Hustle, a problem which plagues Hustle enthusiasts to the present day.
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, the most exciting form was done by the club dancers and competitors of New York City who performed the 3-count count Hustle ( &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, 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 it’s basic count since the mid-1970’s of “&1-2-3”.
The New York Hustle
The couple dance version of the Hustle is usually called “New York Hustle” but is also referred to by other names including “La Hustle” or “Latin Hustle”, it is similar to the “Detroit Hustle” but has a different count. It has some similarity to, and steps in common with, swing and salsa dancing. As in the Latin dances, couples tend to move within a “spot” on the dance floor, as opposed to following a line of dance as in foxtrot, or as opposed to tracking within a slot as in West Coast Swing or LA Hustle.
One similarity between hustle and swing is that the lead takes the back-forward steps from his left foot; but it is not a rock step (there is no rocking action because of speed) and if the dance is taught by counting, the steps happen at the beginning of the count – “and-one, two, three” rather than at the end of the count as in swing – “left, right, rock-step”.
The dance is somewhat unusual rhythmically because of the syncopation. Most dances are danced with either 4/4 or 3/4 music with counting to match, with either a triple or duple base depending on the dance. The New York hustle is generally danced to 4/4 music but counted as a six beat pattern. “1 2 &a3 4 5 &a6” this is “L R lr L R lr” in the leader’s pattern and natural opposite for the follower’s pattern.
The Hustle is the last authentic American partner dance born and cultivated here in the United States.