ABSTRACT
According to Billy Fajardo and many other hustle pioneers from New York the author has interviewed, Latinx and Black teenagers originated the dance, gay dancers were paramount to its innovation, and both dominated the disco dancefloor, evolving hustle to the next level. People also respond to the author's query by reenacting the line dance from the predominately white, heteronormative Saturday Night Fever club scene. In 1976, white, male British rock journalist Nick Cohn authored, “Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night,” in New York Magazine about the 1970s New York City disco scene. Dance partners demonstrated signature hustle moves (i.e. diva walk, vegas, wheel) while continuously progressing forward within both a circular and linear pathway of motion. Reclamation of hustle’s heritage is bolstered by the vitality of a new generation of street and club dancers who are intermixing with the enduringly spirited generations of older hustle dancers.
