Learn dances with TikTok and understand their origins

A dance name can refer to a choreography or to an entire movement form. That explains why two videos can have the same name and still look different. This distinction is especially important for the following African dance forms.

Jerusalema is a song by South African producer Master KG, featuring vocals by Nomcebo Zikode. A group version that helped popularize it was shared in 2020 by the Angolan group Fenómenos do Semba. In widely shared tutorial versions, you can spot toe taps, small changes of direction, and side steps with a change of direction. The sequence repeats as a block, much like the principle behind learning a line dance sequence. But that does not make Jerusalema the name of an entire dance style's place of origin.

Azonto comes from Ghana. Soft knees, rhythmic weight shifts, and expressive gestures work together, and the hands can suggest everyday actions. If you copy only the gesture and stay planted on both feet, you leave out an essential part. There is no single, definitive Azonto sequence.

Gwara Gwara comes from South Africa. Its characteristic movement combines a knee drawn inward, a weight shift, and a circling, bent arm. The arm is not an independent propeller: its circle is connected to the movement below. Keep the circle small and don't force a twist in the weight-bearing knee. A short clip can turn it into a fixed sequence, but the dance form itself remains adaptable.

Renegade is a named choreography: Jalaiah Harmon created it in 2019 to the song Lottery by K Camp. Her authorship was initially overshadowed by the spread of the dance through other accounts. That is why attribution is part of the explanation, not just a footnote. The recognizable sequence includes rapidly changing hand and arm movements, including a Woah, a clap and wave-like motions.

The difficulty lies in the transitions: one gesture ends just as the next begins. If you hold on to each position individually, you will still fall behind even if you get the order right. Small arm movements and a continuous groove help explain why the sequence looks so compact when experienced dancers perform it. This choreography is not a catch-all name for every short hand dance.

See Tình, by contrast, is first of all the title of a Vietnamese song by Hoàng Thùy Linh, released in 2022. Viral dance versions often use a remix and combine side-to-side weight shifts with short arm gestures and shoulder accents. There are different sequences, with no single version recognized worldwide. Such a version can be classified as Vietnamese pop video dance, but not broadly as a traditional Vietnamese dance form.

This also makes its origins different from a reenacted movie scene. With dances from film and television, a specific performance serves as the template; here, the choreography and song spread across different accounts.

Tyla’s Water became known in 2023 through a performance that choreographer Litchi contributed to. The movement is associated with South African Bacardi dance, especially fast hip movements. The song blends pop and R&B with Amapiano influences. Neither the music nor the dance movement becomes Caribbean just because it resembles another clip.

The distinctive hip movement comes from controlled impulses and shifts in weight, not from shaking wildly or bending back as far as possible. Water makes the performance stand out, but it’s not needed for learning the move. Start upright, with small movements and soft knees. Pain in your back or knees is a reason to stop, not a sign that you aren’t trying hard enough.

A dance tradition that is genuinely Caribbean is Jamaican Dancehall. Named after dancer Gerald “Bogle” Levy, the Bogle move combines springy knees with distinctive bent-arm movements and a rhythmic sway of the upper body. It originated before TikTok and appears in new clips set to different songs. Here, the platform spreads existing movement knowledge.

That’s why Water, Bogle and Azonto aren’t interchangeable terms for “hip dance.” If you want to learn dances from TikTok, knowing the right name helps you find the right examples. To copy a move well, it’s not just about the outward form, but also about when the body gives way and builds tension again.