Hustle (dance) - History

History

Early Hustle, The very first Hustle was created in late 1972, and did not even have the name the Hustle, and was a 5 step count, with no turns, most people believe it was created in the South Bronx among Puerto Ricans, and was originally done at house parties, hooky gigs and basements club dances in the South Bronx. By 1974 it became known as "Spanish Hustle" and in 1975 the Fatback Band made a song with that name. It was also known as the "Latin Hustle" they were both 6 step counts to the beat of the music. In about 1976 it became known as the New York Hustle, the later it became known as just the Hustle, when the dance became commercialized after the release of Saturday Night Fever in 1977, which was a fictional story about a Italian dancer named Tony Manero from Queens, who was not actually a dancer at all, but a very popular kid from the neighborhood. Early pioneers of the Spanish Hustle, were dancers from the Latin Symbolics Dance Company, founded by George Vascones, who also served as President until his death in 1993. The best of the best during the early days of the Hustle, were Floyd Chisolm, Dante, Jose Dominicano, Willie Estrada, Eddie Ramundy, Willie (Wip) Rivera, Debbie Benitez, Gladys Rodriguez, Maggie Solis, Denise Florentino, all of which were members of the Latin Symbolics Dance Company, based at 333 East 149th St. in the South Bronx. It was at the Latin Symbolics Studio where Tony Manero who John Travolta played in the movie Saturday Night Fever, was taught to do the original Spanish Hustle, by the Latin Symbolics Dance Team, for a special showcase Tony was going to be doing in Las Vegas in 1977 after gaining popularity after the release of Saturday Night Fever.

The biggest names of Hustle dancers in the late 70's were Eddie Vega who won the Ed McMahon Star Search competition with his partner Lisa Nunziella Hockley, Floyd Chisolm and Nelly Cotto who won the National King and Queen of the Hustle on the Merv Griffin show, and Billy Fajardo & Sandra Rivera who became two time world Champions at the height of their careers in the early 1980's and Franc Reyes and his partner Debbie, who were members of the World Renown Dance Team called the Disco Dance Dimensions. They were all from the Bronx, with the exception of Lisa Nunziella Hockley, who was from Brooklyn, but was trained by Hustle Dancers from the Bronx.