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Page Updated: August 8, 2006

Streetswings Dance History Archives: Hustle Dance

The name 'Hustle' was originally a Line dance of the same name. The 'couples dance' that was to later steal the name when the movie "Saturday Night Fever " hit the scene was a mixture of Latin and Swing, mixed to the new modern Disco beat. No one knew what to call it and it had many different names across the country in the early 1970's such as "disco swing, Rope Hustle, Sling Hustle, Street Hustle, Latin Hustle etc." These versions usually were different types that would add the flavor of its name.

The couples form of Hustle is said to have come from Florida with the Cubans with a mix of salsa, swing and the new disco beat would make its way to the eastern states such as New York. This new "Disco Beat" was a continuos beat that would "Thump-Thump " instead of "Tick-Tock," this thump-thump was a "Tick-Tock" but not as accented (a continuous pulse to the beat rather than alternating pulse) which would make it appear to the ear as if both beats were the same. This would make it easy for the DJ's to keep the

music going by mixing one song right into another without stopping the music and the "beginning dancers" did not have to worry about their timing as near as much as in alternating or pulsing beats.

The dance eventually got to difficult by the performing public as aerials and trick dancing was to become common place. Country Western replaced the Hustle in popularity, namely the Texas Two Step which originally was much easier for all. However the Hustle changed all of the dances done today.

Generally:
L.A. Hustle = Faster Music, more slotted than rotating ~
N.Y. Hustle = Slower Music, a more rotating slot, slightly more footwork.

Two main exponents of the Hustle were Billy Fajardo, Eddy Vega and Lisa Nunziella.

Birth Place			Creation Date			Creator			Dance Type
Miami, Florida			1968			Cubans			Folk Dance / Disco

Posters, Lobby Cards etc.	Sheet Music Covers	Various Music Titles
A Night at The Roxbury	The Hustle	Bad Girls / Hot Stuff
Dancin'		The Hustle
Disco Dancin'		MacArthur Park
Disco Fever		Disco Duck
Farrah Fawcet		Last Dance
Flash Dance		Let's do the Latin Hustle (Drennon)
Gong Show		[Much Music of the 1970s]
Saturday Night Fever
Stayin' Alive
Street Dancin'
Travolta Prints

Compilations and Soundtracks	Theaters	Various Locations
54 Soundtrack Vol.1 and Vol.2(Strk)	Minskoff Theatre (1979)	California
Car Wash (Strk)		Chicago
$ Ethel Merman Disco Album (fun)		Florida
$ Disco 54: The Studio Collection		New York
$ Disco Box [BOX SET]		Philadelphia
$ Disco Nights, Vol. 1: Divas of Dance		Texas
$ Disco Nights: Vol. 2: Dance Groups		Virginia
$ Disco Nights, Vol. 6: #1 Disco Hits		Washington
$ Disco Nights, Vol. 8: Dance Floor Hits
$ Monster Disco
$ Saturday Night Fever (Strk)
$ SNF: Themes from the Musical
$ Studio 54: Underground Classics
$ The Last Days Of Disco (Strk)

Night Clubs etc.
..... Also See Disco page	Fun House (526 W. 26th St., NYC)	Paradise Garage (84 King St., NYC)
12 West (12th and West St., NYC)	Gasoline Alley (NY)	Planetarium (NY)
2001 Odyssey (64th St & 3rd Ave - Brklyn) [Saturday Night Fever filmed here]	Ice Palace (Cherry Grove, Fire Island, NY)	Regine's (502 Park Ave., NYC)
24K (40-15 Queens Blvd, Queens)	Impanema (240 W. 52nd St., NY)	Roseland (52nd St & Brdway, NYC)
Chippendale's (Hollywood, CA)	L'Amour (62nd St & 15th, Brklyn)	Studio 54 (254 W 54th St, NY)
Circus Disco (Los Angeles)	La Folie (21 e 61st St., NYC)	Strawberry Patch
Club Marakesh (133 Main St, L. Is)	Le Club (416 E. 55th St., NYC)	Sugar Shack (Van Nuys, CA)
Copacabana (10 E. 60th St, NYC)	Le Mouches (260 11th Ave, NYC)	Sybal's (101 W. 53rd St., NY)
Cotton Club (666 W. 125th St., NYC)	Leviticus (45 W. 33rd St., NYC)	the Loft (Late 60's) (NY)
Dillon's Downtown (Los Angeles)	Osko's (Hollywood) [T.G.I.F. filmed here)	Uncle Sam's (2965 Hempstead, L.Is)
Electric Circus (15th St & 5th Ave., NYC)	Oz (Los Angeles)	Xenon (124 W 43rd St, NY)

Films / Movies	Television	Ballets / Stage
1976 - East End Hustle (Roller Disco)	1971 - Soul Train	1979 - Got Tu Go Disco
$1977- Saturday Night Fever [DVD]	1973 - Rock Concert	1998 - Saturday Night Fever
1977 - Pelvis	1977 - American Bandstand	Harvest Moon Ball Dance Contests
$1977 - Roseland	1979 - Dance Fever
1978 - Disco Fever	1979 - Makin' It	Publications
$1978 - Thank God It's Friday	1980 - Solid Gold	11/1975 - Ballroom Dancing Times
1982 - Disco Dancer	1982 - Fame	9/2/1978 - The Chronicle Review
$1983 - Stayin' Alive	1983 - Star Search	11/1978 - Life Magazine
1998 - Forever Fever	1985 - Kicks	2/4/1979 - LA Times
$1998 - Studio "54" [DVD]	Boogaloo	4/1979 - Ballroom Dancing Times
$1998 - The Last Days Of Disco [DVD]	Gong Show	4/2/1979 - Newsweek Magazine
1999 - Son of Sam	Latin Disco TV Show	4/19/1979 - Rolling Stone Magazine
		5/1979 - Ballroom Dancing Times
		$ 1998 - Chippendales
		$ 1999 - Engineer's Guide to Hustle Dancing (poor basic)
Instructional Videos
$ Sonny Watson's Hustle Dance Instructional Videos		$ 1999 - Hustle
		$ Disco - Jena. Lauren (used)
		$ Disco Hustle (Carter Lovisone) (used)

Other Related Dances of the time...
American Hustle	Disco Swing	Mambo	Salsa
Bump and Dirty Bump	Foxy Trot Hustle	Monorail (Line)	Sling Hustle
Bus Stop (Line)	Freak, the	New York Hustle	Street Hustle
Cha-Cha	Hustle, the (Line)	New Yorker (Line)	Tango Hustle
Continental- American Hustle	Jerk, The	Night Club Two-Step	Walk, The
Continental Walk (Line)	L.A. Hustle	Oasis (Line)	Waltz
Country Two-Step	Latin Hustle	Robot, The	West Coast Swing
Dirty Dance	Line Dance	Rodeo Swing	Western Hustle
Disco Duck	Locomotion (Line)	Rope Hustle

Hustle Dancers		Political
Artie Phillips	Kelven Roche & Evelyn Perez	Steve Rubell (54 owner)
Billy Fajardo	Kenny Gonzales & Ronnie Chase
Buddy Schwimmer	Lisa Nunziella
Denny Terio (Chor SNF - Freestyle)	Lordes Jones
'Disco Dave' Sarul	Lynn Vogen
Donna Boyle	Maria Torres
Eddy Vega (d)	Nancy Beth Orr
Eduardo Nieto & Hlywd Disco Dancers	Nellie Cotto
Jo Jo Smith (Chor)	Roy Madrid (Co-Chor SNF - Couples)
John Travolta :)	Troy Garza (Chor)
Julio & Nellie Diaz	William Viloria & Brenda Rante

Books, Magazine Articles on the dance...
Title	Author	Date Published	Publisher
Complete Book on Disco	Kilbride, Ann T	1978	Hwong Pub
Complete Guide to Disco Dancing	Lustgarten, Karen	1978	Warner Books
Disco to Tango & Back	Blair, Skippy	1978	n/a
Let's Disco	K-Tel International	1978	K-TEL
Night Dancin'	Miezitis, Vita	1980	Ballantine Books

Singers, Musicians, etc.	Club and Radio DJ's	Poets / Writers
ABBA	Chacone (New York)	n/a
Bee Gees	Jerry Lembo (Strawberry Patch)
Chacone	Kenny Wetzel (Los Angeles)
Cerrone	Larry Lavan (Paradise Garage)
David Brennon	Michael Pace (L'Amour)
Donna Summer	Richie Kaczor (Studio 54)
Gloria Gaynor	Rick Dees (Radio)
K.C. & Sunshine Band	Wolfman Jack (Radio)

Misc. Research Words that may be related ... to help your searches
Disc Jockey / DJ	Donna Summer	Swustle	-
Disco	Polyester	Synthesizers

~ Most popular count for the Hustle across the country is:	&1 --2 --3 -- &1 --2 --3 ...	harder to start for beg.
~ Some folks count it backwards as:	--1--2 - &3 --1--2 - &3 ...	easier to start for Beg.
~ Some count it as a six count:	&1 --2 --3 - &4 --5 --6 ...	makes more musical sense
(Any of these counts work just fine and you should get familiar with them all).

For the followers to tell which timing the Leader will do is simple:
~ If leader pushes follower backward to start its: "& 1 -- 2 -- 3", or "ball-change ---- walk ---- walk."
~ If leader moves follower forward or walks into you its: "1 ---- 2 & 3" or "walk ---- walk ---- ball-change."
For more information also see: Disco Page