Pogo (dance)
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The pogo is a dance where the dancers jump up and down, while remaining in the same location; the dance takes its name from its resemblance to the use of a pogo stick, especially in a common version of the dance, where an individual keeps their torso stiff, their arms rigid, and their legs close together.
While similar to the religious dances of the Pentecostal faith and various African tribes, pogo dancing is perhaps most associated with punk rock, as both performers and audience members at punk rock performances often pogo; a pogo mob is a group of pogo dancers at a punk concert (see also punk dance).
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[edit] Style
The basic steps allow for a variety of interpretations, some of which might appear quite violent. Pogo dancers have their choice of:
- keeping their torsos rigid or thrashing them about;
- holding their arms stiffly at their sides or flailing them;
- keeping their legs together or kicking about;
- jumping straight up and down, jumping in any direction, or spinning in the air.
Occasionally, dancers collide, but this is not necessarily part of pogo dancing. An uninformed bystander might get the impression that the dancers are attacking one another. People sometimes get injured when pogoing, but, more often than not, pogoers who fall to the ground are helped up instead of getting trampled. There is a general understanding that the pogo is fun, not a fight. There are more violent versions of the pogo, for example "slam dancing" (moshing), where people hurl themselves into a whirling frenzy of exuberant physical emotion and energy. The risk of injury in this variant is a little higher, although it is still taboo to hurt others on purpose. As with any vigorous activity performed in close quarters, the body heat, as well as the pressure created on the soles of the feet, shins, and knees by the pogo dance requires great stamina or at least much enthusiasm by anyone "pogoing" for a whole song or an extended amount of time. Some pogo aficionados pride themselves in "pogoing" for the duration of the whole set of songs.
Punk rock pogo is characterized by large amounts of jumping. Metal pogo is characterized by an increased level of aggression.
[edit] History
In The Filth and the Fury, Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious claims that he invented the pogo sometime around 1976. At punk shows in the early days of London's punk scene, Vicious wanted to dance to the Sex Pistols before he was a Pistol himself but he couldn't dance so he started jumping up and down and pogoing was born. Whether Vicious actually invented the dance or not, the pogo quickly became closely associated with punk rock. Shane MacGowan, himself an early follower of the punk scene, also attributes pogo dancing to Vicious, claiming that a leather poncho he wore to gigs prevented him from any other form of dancing except jumping up and down. Jon King of Gang of Four helped popularize the pogo as a stage move for performers.
In the following years, stage diving, crowd surfing, moshing and hardcore dancing all became associated with pogo dancing, though some of these activities predate the pogo.
In May 2007, after mistakenly naming that dance Major League Baseball teams do after a walkoff home run--where "the batter gets mobbed by his teammates and they all jump and down in a happy circle for a few seconds" the "Walkoff Mosh Pit"--ESPN Page 2 writer Bill Simmons re-named the dance the "Walkoff Pogo."
[edit] Songs about Pogo dancing
- English punk band the Vibrators have a song "Pogo Dancing", which touches on the topic of pogo dancing.
- Pelle Miljoona & N.U.S., a Finnish pioneering punk band have a song called "Mä Vaan Pogoon" (Literally translated "I Just Pogo")
- In the System of a Down song "Bounce", the songs lyrics advocates moshing with terms such as " Jump, Bounce, Up, Down", while Pogo is repeated in the background, though the main theme of the song is group-sex.
- In The Minutemen's iconic song, "History Lesson Part II", guitarist D. Boon recalls his early punk days with bandmate Mike Watt, when they would "go drink and pogo".
- German techno group Planetakis has released a song called "Pogo in the Shoes of Kylie Minogue".
- German electronic group Digitalism has released a song called "Pogo".
- American Hip-Hop group House of Pain has a song titled "Jump Around" that refers to pogo dancing.
- Newcastle-based punk rockers Crashed Out have a song entitled 'Fat Punks Don't Pogo' on their 2008 album 'The One and Only.'
