Twerking it: The Best Twerking Videos on YouTube

In an earlier article I wrote, I shared the definition of twerking and traced its origins dating back to southern strip club culture and early hip hop references to the controversial dance from back in the 1990s. In short, twerking is a dance that includes suggestively moving and rotating your hips and back side.

Given the large response I've received from my article that defined twerking that you can read HERE, I've decided to do a follow up article that provides more resources and information for anyone wanting to learn how to twerk it. I have included a couple of examples of videos showing people twerking it so that you have some concrete examples. I have also included two tutorials that will teach you how to twerk step by step.

I have also posted an additional reference HERE for those of you who want to learn how to create your very own official twerk team.

Here are some of the best examples of twerking videos that I was able to find on YouTube. After you take a look at those, I've also included two options for twerking tutorials for those of you who would like to learn how to twerk!

As you will see from the examples below, if you are looking to create a twerk video, song selection is crucial. Check this post for some suggestions of songs that were made for tweaking!

But, first things first. One of the things that people seem to be wanting to learn more about is how to do the dance itself. There are numerous tutorials on YouTube that show you how to twerk.

In this tutorial, a dance instructor by the name of Tweetie will lead you through step by step directions on how to twerk. Her instructions are very easy to follow and she goes at a nice slow pace to ensure that dancers of all levels are able to keep up.

She first leads you through all of the steps without music so that you can begin to master the basics of this dance. She then asks her DJ to play some music to give you an opportunity to practice with music. The music she has her DJ play isn't traditional tweak music. As Tweetie herself explains, she wants to start you off slow.

This is by far my favorite tutorial because the dance instructor takes the time to teach you step by step both with and without music. No wonder this video has garnered close to 5 million hits on YouTube so far!

This second tutorial is a more playful one. In this one, a different dance instructor Keaira LaShae, teaches us how to twerk. LaShae takes an approach that is different from the one we saw in the first tutorial video. In this video, LaShae teaches a whole routine of twerking that will work with singer Rihanna's song "Cake."

The video is also much longer than the first video. It clocks in around 19 minutes and during that time you are taught and walked through each move of the routine. At the end of the video, she gives you a chance to practice the whole routine along with music.

This video is more appropriate for dancers with more advanced skills and who are looking to learn a routine.

Twerking is a dance that has been around for decades but one that only recently has grown in popularity thanks to a dance duo "The Official Twerk Team" who helped increase its popularity through a series of videos the team posted of themselves doing the dance on YouTube. Now the dance is often seen in hip hop music videos and people across the country are starting to form their own twerk teams and post YouTube videos of themselves doing the dance.

This dance has received its fair share of criticism and controversy. A group of students in San Diego faced disciplinary action for videotaping themselves doing the suggesting dance on school grounds and nationwide teachers and parents have been talking about whether the dance is inappropriate for young people to be doing in the first place. One thing that is not up for debate is that the dance only continues to grow in popularity.