J-Setting

J-Setting is a modern lead-and-follow style dance, based on an eight-beat count.

Popular in Southern America black gay clubs, like the vogue-style before it, it became popular by exposure in a pop music video, this time the 2008 Beyonce Knowles single Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).

Background

In 1970, former majorette Shirley Middleton became troupe leader of the Jackson State University cheerleading group, The Prancing Jaycettes. Middleton wanted something different, and so threw away their batons, and began dancing in formation. Based on a classical cheerleader eight-beat style, the signature thrusts, pumps, and high kicks were developed into a lead-and-follow "wave" through the troupe.

However, the style was reserved for women only until 1997, when male troupe baton twirling member DeMorris Adams, was asked to fill in for an injured female troupe member.

Based on an eight-beat count, it is a lead-and-follow style of dancing that requires the body to move to an eight-beat count. Like the

One, two— high knee kicks defy gravity. Three, four—hips gyrate from left to right. Five, six—arms and hands slice the air. Seven, eight—heads jerk up and down to the bassline.

The J-Sette Dance Style originated at Mississippi’s Jackson State University. The Prancing Jaycettes were the female dance line of the infamous JSU marching band, “The Sonic Boom of the South.” In 1970, Shirley Middleton, a former majorette, initiated the idea that the Jaycettes (later called the J-Settes) abandon their batons and begin dancing in formation. But their signature moves— thrusts, pumps, and high kicks—were still reserved for ladies only.

In 1997, a young man from Tunica, Miss., DeMorris Adams, broke the gender barrier. Adams joined the JSU band as a baton twirler. “One day at practice, our sponsor Ms. Otis asked me to fill in because they were a girl short.” When it was time for a performance, he was ready. Dressed in the male uniform of tuxedo pants, military boots with spats, and a shirt with sequined trim, Adams joined the line. “The crowd went crazy,” he says, beaming. “I was not effeminate. I was very masculine, so that is what made it so crazy.”