Twerk it, baby

Leigh-Anne Hunter investigates the gyrating world of fitness subcultures

'Spinning class?" I asked a hobbling friend one day. "No," she sighed. "Twerking." Then she demonstrated, squatting so low I thought she'd buff the floor with her gyrating gluteus maximus. All I saw were mounds of quivering flesh. A real twerker doesn't jiggle it a little bit: her bum becomes a weapon of mass destruction.

Born out of hip-hop culture, twerking is a dance move that essentially involves shaking one's rear.

"It's not as easy as it looks. You have to concentrate because you're only moving certain muscles," says Refiloe Nketsi, one of five 20-something women from the East Rand who last year formed the dance act Pro Twerkers. "It's a great workout. You sweat a lot." She has lost about 6kg. But, she says: "Big is in. Being beautiful isn't about starving yourself anymore."

Some say we were twerking in Africa long before it hit strip clubs in the US. Nketsi says the Pro Twerkers have given twerking an African twist and created their own moves.

"People are coming out of their shells. There are people on the dance floor who twerk more than us."

The girls, who have waggled on stages around Africa and were one of the opening acts at the Kanye West concert earlier this year, started twerking at clubs after watching two Atlanta teenagers broadcast their bottoms to the world on YouTube with their DIY twerk tutorials.

The so-called "Twerk Team" inspired a twerking fad after the craze was first popularised by artists such as Beyoncé, who "popped it" long before American actress and musician Miley Cyrus caused a Twitter storm in March by twerking dressed as a unicorn.

Cyrus told press: "It's kind of weird that I've like, twerked, for six million people . I will always be bashed and have, like, haters, [but] I haven't really seen one bad comment about my Twerk video."

Admittedly, there's something obscene about wagging your bottom in the air. Even the word "twerking" sounds like something you wouldn't want to be caught doing. "Twerking should be kept between couples in the bedroom," says one young Joburg woman. "It makes women look slutty. Women don't value themselves enough and end up twerking to get attention."

For some, twerking is a means to fitness. Spinning is so 2012. People are bored of normal gym routines, says Joburg dance instructor Daniel Swanepoel. "I often get calls from people looking for more creative ways to exercise," he says. Although he doesn't teach twerking, there are infinite twerkniques to choose from online, such as "twogging", or twerking with your dog. Advanced moves such as full-splits twerk are strictly for pros, as is the wall twerk, where you tip upside down and wiggle like Jell-O. Or J.Lo.

What's next? A Twerklympics? Some suggest setting up no-twerk zones. Just in case you feel like breaking into a twerk in the bank queue.

If twerking isn't for you, there's always krumping. Swanepoel started giving krumping lessons five years ago. "It comes from the streets in the States. Instead of fighting, people battled things out through dance. It's a very aggressive style," he says.

It looks a bit like a five-year-old having a tantrum. I'm told to relax and imagine I'm being chased by killer bees. "It's so tiring that you're done in 15 minutes. You can't half do a krump. You have to put every part of your body into it. Most dance styles are so structured. With krumping, you just let go. If you don't, it looks odd."

I thought I'd start off my morning with a little krumping, followed by some twerking, but the gym instructor I phoned said: "I'm sorry, did you say tweaking? What's that?"