Rebolation, from the Portuguese verb ''rebolar'' - "to sway" or "to swing", is a style of Brazilian dance that originated in

rave parties A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance musi ...

in the early 2000s. The dance, which gained popularity in 2007 after videos of people practicing the dance were uploaded to popular

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

video sharing websites, such as

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, is mainly performed to

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

, often

psy trance Psychedelic trance, psytrance, or psy is a subgenre of trance music characterized by arrangements of rhythms and layered melodies created by high tempo riffs. The genre offers variety in terms of mood, tempo, and style. Some examples include full ...

electro house Electro house is a genre of electronic dance music and a subgenre of house music characterized by heavy bass and a tempo around 125–135 beats per minute. The term has been used to describe the music of many ''DJ Mag'' Top 100 DJs, including ...

, and involves moving the arms and legs loosely while coordinated footwork makes the dancer appear to slightly hover above the floor.

History

This step dance is considered by many dancers as the Brazilian version of the Melbourne Shuffle and

Hardstyle Hardstyle is an electronic dance music, electronic dance genre that emerged in the late 1990s, with origins in the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy. Hardstyle mixes influences from techno, new beat and Hardcore (electronic dance music genre), har ...

. Originally pronounced as ''reboleixon'', the word was defined as simply the dance of electronic music. It is unknown which came first, but a similar type of dance that originated from Johannesburg, South Africa, called "stepping" or
skitting
began in 2006. Unlike Rebolation, it did not originate through video sharing websites, such as

, although some dancers have posted videos on such sites. One of the most popular YouTube videos of Rebolation was uploaded in 2008 by Ralph Morente with 11 million views as of 2023, which shows a young man dancing afloat-like at a roof terrace. The earliest YouTube video containing the dance was published July 15, 2008. Furthermore, Brazilian dancers are said to have changed the name from Rebolation t
Free Step
after the reggae-influenced

Axé Axé () is a popular music genre that originated in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil in the 1980s, fusing different Afro-Caribbean genres, such as marcha, reggae, and calypso. It also includes influences of Brazilian music such as frevo, forró and c ...

music video ''Rebolation'' b
Parangolé
was released in 2009 The music video was neither connected to electronic music, nor the rebolation dance community, and was therefore considered to be altering the name.

Characteristics

When dancing rebolation, several steps are used, and the main move is to "walk" putting a foot forward and using the heel as a pivot point to turn the back foot backwards, while the front foot is turned inwards around the heel. The reverse movement is used when walking backwards. This, when properly performed, gives the impression that the dancer is somewhat sliding on the floor, and the loose movements of the hands create the impression that the dancer is not totally in control of the direction of movement. With regards to clothing, the most prominent feature is perhaps the famous bell bottomed “shuffle pants” or

phat pants Phat pants, phatties, or phats are a style of pants that are fitted at the waist, but get increasingly wide down the legs, covering the feet entirely due to their width. Phat pants can be made out of a variety of materials, however denim, fa ...

with neon details, UV reflective tape or glitter, commonly used in the rave community, or

light-up shoes Light-up shoes or LED shoes are footwear that have built-in light-emitting diodes, usually in the sole of the shoe. These specialized shoes may be used at parties, festivals, raves and to increase visibility. Light-up shoes first became availab ...

, however, most rebolation dancers seem to wear casual street-style clothing with flat tennis shoes or sneakers, aiding the dancer in moving across the surface smoothly.

References

{{street dance Brazilian styles of music House music Trance music Dance in Brazil 2000s in Internet culture 2000s in Brazil 2000s in Latin music