Along with the start of the fall semester comes a multitude of student events. NC State’s Multicultural organizations, such as the African American Cultural Center, Multicultural Student Affairs and the Black Students Board, host countless events that are great places to unwind, meet new people, and find a safe space on campus.
In addition to the educational segments they teach, these events commonly hire DJs and provide food in order to create a warm environment for students. One of my favorite parts of these events is the dancing.
It is very common that during the opening instrumental of songs to see groups of people running to the center of the floor to participate in choreographed dances. These dances are called trail rides and are a form of line dance originating from southern Black culture. While from a distance they may look intimidating, with some prior practice (or some instructions from friends), these dances are easy to follow along to. People perform these dances in rows and follow a set form of choreography for a certain beat count, then repeat the dance until the end of the song.
Before your next back to school event, here are some songs I would learn in order to join in on some of the fun. You can find tutorials for them on any social media platform and the basic footwork is universal.
Songs
Listed below are the top 5 trail rides performed at these events. Beneath each one I included the time it took for a friend and I to learn them in order to motivate you to give them a try.
“Flex” – Cupid
5 minutes: Very simple and the lyrics to the song narrate the movements.
“Boots on the Ground” – 803Fresh
12 minutes: Another simple dance that takes slightly more time to learn in order to practice footwork and direction changes.
“Cowgirl Trailride” – S Dott, Tonio Armani
8 minutes: Another fun one to learn and time was mostly spent going over the transitions between directions.
“Follow Me” – Aly-Us
10 minutes: Very simple, but time was spent practicing which foot to lead with for each move.
“Freak It” – Lathun
12 minutes: Very fun to learn as we both had some trouble with turns, but eventually got the hang of it.
Your turn to try
If you’re looking for the next event to try out some of your moves, the African American Cultural Center is hosting a Harambe Block Party on Sep. 25 at Harris Field and Witherspoon Student Center. To save your spot and get more details check out @aaculturalcenter on instagram.
See you there,
loguess