We Have The Dance

As a people, we have the dance.

Way back in the Motherland, we always had the dance.

Through times of joy, sadness, to heal and rites of passage,

We always have the dance.

Through times of enslavement, we still have the dance.

Even when they tried to take it away, we danced through the shade.

From the jook joints to the Migration, we have the dance.

Even when it was time to pay the rent, we had to dance.

Through Depression and worldwide war, we have the dance. 

In the dance studios and sock hops, we have the dance.

On television and through civil unrest, we have the dance.

Live and in color!

We can get smooth and we can get rough.

Live and in color and integrated!

Through the Soul Train days, and the disco nights,

We have the dance.

With BET, MTV, and VH1 we have the dance.

Through social media, we have the dance.

At Broadway, church, the club, community centers, competition, Hollywood, television, social gatherings, universities,

All over the world! We have the dance.

We even put our spin on it.

Because of this, I shake what my ancestors gave me

And get my Jackson on.

So, to the future and beyond...WE HAVE THE DANCE!