Twerking (; possibly from 'to work') is a type of dance that emerged from the bounce music scene of New Orleans in the 2010s which has a broader origin among other types of dancing found among the African diaspora that derives from Bantu-speaking Africans of Central Africa. Individually performed chiefly but not exclusively by women, performers dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving throwing or thrusting their hips back or shaking their buttocks, often in a low squatting stance. Twerking is part of a larger set of characteristic moves unique to the New Orleans style of hip-hop known as "bounce". Moves include "mixing", "exercising", the "bend over", the "shoulder hustle", "clapping", "booty clapping", "booty poppin", "the sleeper" and "the wild wood"—all recognized as booty shaking or bounce. Twerking is one among other types of choreographic gestures within bounce.
As a tradition shaped by local aid and pleasure clubs, block parties and second lines, the dance was central to "a historical situating of sissy bounce—bounce music as performed by artists from the New Orleans African-American community that [led to] a meteoric rise in popularity post-[Hurricane Katrina after 2005]." In the 1990s, twerking had widespread appeal in black party culture throughout the hip-hop/rap region known as The Dirty South, including New Orleans, Memphis, Virginia Beach, Miami, Atlanta, and Houston. In 2013, it became the top "what is" search on the Google search engine following pop artist Miley Cyrus performing the dance at the MTV Video Music Awards.
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