A short history of Detroits Jit scene

The Motor City, Detroit, created our favourite electronic genres. And then there is the Jit. A form of stylised dancing consisting of footwork combinations, drops, spins, and … Jittin. The Jit, originally beginning in 1970s with the Jitterbugs, was popularised alongside the explosion of creative work coming out of Detroit. The music BPM sits in the 150bpm range, but its sister dancing style Chicago footwork, usually goes up to 170BPM. Within the Jit scene there are dance battles against other crews, and against crews involved with Chicago footwork.

The moves of Jit emphasise the feet hitting the air, rather than the dancefloor, with restricted upper body movement. The explosive steps taken every second in the Jit are fast paced and with one small move building into one bigger. One small step eventually aligns to the quick speed of the tune, creating its unique look but only for a short minute. Each routine is short lived, almost as if the body can no longer keep up with the pace, and ends as abruptly as it started.

Martez Claybren, a promoter in Detroit, spoke to VICE in 2014 about Jit, “In current day Detroit, there is not a proper platform for the up-and-coming new composers of the ghettotech or Jit scene,” he told us “Because of this, the relationship between the youth and their exposure to art forms has declined, leading to a wavering in the connection between the style itself and the community.” Mainstream culture deemed Jit and Ghettotech, an urban black culture, as unmarketable to the popular masses. The combination of ageing Jit performers, and the Youth’s interest in difference scenes, has lead to a modest but also successful underground scene, and still remains a huge part of Detroits annual music festival.

I couldn’t even find a wikipedia page about The Jit, only referenced in Ghettotech. It feels like it deserves its own category on wikipedia, someone in the scene should make it.

(Credit: FutureSoundTv/Hardcore Detroit)