The Office of Multicultural Student Services hosted Hustle Thursdays, a new tradition that teaches the cultural importance of hustles.
Hustle Thursdays is an event where students and staff are welcome to learn hustles, which are a variety of line dance routines in Black culture.
According to the University of California, the Detroit Hustle is a line dance done by a group of people in sequence. The hustle’s origins started in 1975, with an international dance trend coming from Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony’s song “The Hustle.”
Hustles are a way for Black people to come together during events and dance together. Hustles are a way for them to bond with each other under any circumstances including funerals, graduation and other gatherings.
Business administration junior Khi Hunt is a student worker at OMSS. He said the idea came about when his boss Colleen Green wanted to learn one of the hustles. They thought it would be a great idea to get everyone on campus involved to come in and learn some hustle routines.
“We thought about incorporating the whole campus,” Hunt said. “Just to have them be able to come in, enjoy themselves and learn a few hustles.” Hunt described hustles as something significant to Black culture and notes some of its origins coming from Detroit and spreading out. He said that dancing has been significant for Black people throughout time.
Business junior Jaala Irvine believes that hustles are significant to Black culture because they are passed down from generation to generation and are a way for people to bond and have fun with others. She thinks it’s great for OMSS to start giving lessons on the different hustle routines for people to learn if it is their first time participating in one of the many hustles.
“A lot of people just stand on the sidelines and are scared to learn it or just never have,” Irvine said. “It’s a good place where people can feel welcomed into learning, instead of feeling like everyone is doing something they don’t know.”
Irvine also lists a couple of songs that have hustles that go alongside them, including “Cupid Shuffle,” by Cupid. Some other songs that people perform hustles to include “Good Love,” by the City Girls featuring Usher and “I’ve Changed,” by Jaheim featuring Keyshia Cole.
Health administration senior Autumne Peoples is the student manager at OMSS. She describes hustles as a way for Black people to get together and enjoy themselves.
“It’s a way for us to express ourselves,” Peoples said. “Whether it’s at a family gathering, family reunions, birthday parties, or graduation parties, anywhere.” Students from various backgrounds and groups come together to learn some hustles that are being taught. Around 10 students showed up to participate or watch some of the performed hustles.
Social work junior Aaliyah Walker was one of the students who came to the Hustle. She is glad that OMSS is teaching people how to do hustles since she does not know many of them.
“I feel like every time you go to a family event you see somebody doing a hustle,” Walker said. “Even though my family were doing them, I never sat there and learned how to do them.”
To learn hustles, students and staff can go to the Office of Multicultural Student Services in the FLITE deck on alternate Thursdays from 3 to 4 p.m. and get taught dance routines for many different songs.