Footwork (Chicago)

Footwork is a genre of related music and street dance that originated in Chicago during the 1980s.

Footwork
Stylistic origins	Juke house
Cultural origins	1980s, Chicago, Illinois, United States
Typical instruments	Sampler, drum machine, synthesizer, sequencer

The dance involves fast movement of the feet with accompanying twists and turns, and usually takes place as part of a "battle". The music style has evolved from an earlier musical style, juke, a change pioneered by R.P. Boo. The style was popularised outside Chicago by inclusion in the music video for Dude 'n Nem's 2007 single "Watch My Feet". Nowadays the terms footwork music and juke music are used interchangeably on various music sites, usually by tagging footwork music "juke".

AND The most recent development in house's evolution, however, is a sound called 'footwork'. On Friday evenings at the Underground Tracks Factory, teenagers face off and improvise footwork dance battles. Their feet fly at insane speeds, something of a cross between house dance, tap dancing and breakdancing footwork. It looks like a dance from another dimension. The music they dance to is related to juke, but it's way more spacious, with more rhythmic complexity. Some tracks like "Reverb" by DJ Rashad are downright experimental walls of pulsating noise that would make John Cage proud. All these styles speak to the truth that house music never really left Chicago, as is often said. Its legacy continues to reverberate and mutate throughout the city. We spoke to footwork founder R.P. Boo under the roaring L train tracks in downtown Chicago. "A lot of people think that house music has gone underground. House music is still here! I am what happened to house music."

See also

• DJ Rashad
• Ghetto house
• Chicago stepping
• The Era (footwork dance crew)