Dancing Through Black History With Dr. Marcus Borders: Line Dancing, Skating, and Community

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sir Daniel (00:16):
Greetings and welcome to another episode of Queue Points podcast.
I am DJ Sir Daniel.

Jay Ray (00:21):
And my name is Jay Ray, sometimes known by my government
as Johnnie Ray Kornegay III.
And Sir Daniel, we are about to put anexclamation point on the conversation
we had about line dancing, and Icannot wait to have this discussion.

Sir Daniel (00:39):
Listen, we all Black History month, we have been dancing
up and down your timelines, talkingabout something that's very important
to, uh, the Black community, theculture of being Black in America.
And part of that is dancing.
And more specifically, we'vebeen talking about line dancing.
Now we've had our discussionsabout the bus stop.

Jay Ray (00:59):
Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel (00:59):
We, um, the Chacha slide, those, the songs that go along with them.
And now we are talking about a dancecraze that has, it's been around, but
more recently it's been, it's taken offand it took a life of its own Over the
past summer, summer 24 with the, um,with the boots on the ground movement

Jay Ray (01:22):
Yeah.

Sir Daniel (01:23):
specifically, um, Black Americans, um, really went.
Like balls to the wall with thismovement of going out into open fields.
And you know, there's, therewere songs, country songs made up
specifically for this line dancing.
And now if you listen to any type of radiostation, there are actually formats now

(01:45):
created for, um, what are they calling it?
Um, Southern S Soul.

Jay Ray (01:50):
Yeah.

Sir Daniel (01:50):
And so it's really had an impact over the culture

Jay Ray (01:54):
Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel (01:55):
When we decided to do this series on dancing, uh, there was
immediately, the first name that poppedinto my head is the name of our guest,

Jay Ray (02:04):
Yes.

Sir Daniel (02:04):
because I've known him for years now and he's been along for my
journey as a dj, and I've noticed thathe's been on a journey of his own,

Jay Ray (02:15):
Mm.

Sir Daniel (02:15):
um, as he.
His evolution.

Jay Ray (02:19):
Yeah.

Sir Daniel (02:19):
Um, and we're gonna talk about that, about his evolution and
probably the reason why I was paying somuch attention to it and why I think he's
an expert to tell us to talk to us aboutthis line dancing movement that we have
been, um, experiencing across the land.
So I'm gonna let you do the honorsJay Ray and introduce our guests.

Jay Ray (02:40):
Absolutely y'all.
So Queue Points family, um, we are goingto welcome Dr. Marcus Borders to the show.
Dr. Marcus Borders is a learninginnovation specialist with Ed Farm, where
he supports educators and school leadersin designing blended learning, coaching
and K 12 computer science experiences.
His work centers on expandingaccess to high quality technology,

(03:02):
learning and ensuring digital equityfor the communities he serves.
With a particular passion forelementary educators, educators,
students, and adult learners.
Borders holds an ed d and an Ed s,uh, in instructional technology from
Kennesaw State University University,along with degrees in urban leadership

(03:25):
from early childhood educationfrom Georgia State University.
A native Atlantan marketscan often be found.
Outside of work, rolling aroundone of the city's skating rinks or
learning the latest Southern Soul andTrail Ride line Dances Queue Points.
Family, it is our absolute pleasure towelcome Dr. Marcus Borders to the show.

(03:49):
Marcus was having a man.

Sir Daniel (03:51):
How you doing?

Marcus Borders (03:53):
Going on.
I'm doing well.
How are you guys doing?

Sir Daniel (03:55):
Fantastic.
I am, I'm really happy that you,first of all, that you decided to
do this, um, because it's amongthe plethora of things that you're
doing to, um, to stretch yourself.
And, um, I just really enjoyseeing this journey that you've
been on, as I stated earlier, um.

(04:19):
Marcus has, has witnessed my journeyas a dj and I've witnessed his
growth as well, because we've knowneach other for some years now.
Um, Jay Ray, we've had this discussionbefore about line dancing in particular.
Like we, we would talk aboutthe wobble, for instance.

Jay Ray (04:35):
Yeah.

Sir Daniel (04:36):
And as much as the song kind of, you know, got on my nerves during a
certain at at its height, at the heightof its popularity, I realized that I
had to take myself out of the equation.
And remember that this might be theonly opportunity that some people
will venture out on a dance floor andengage with the rest of the crowd.

Jay Ray (05:00):
Yeah.

Sir Daniel (05:01):
And I. Would it be, would, is it a stretch, Marcus, to say that you
would be one of those people that in themidst of the, of the carrying zone of
a party, the club or whatever, is it astretch to say that you would've been the
person that may have played the wall forthe majority of the time that you were

(05:21):
there until you heard a line dancing song?

That is absolutely correct, uh, from
the bits of my introverted soul.
Um.
That's how it starts.
I love to dance.
I was not the, um, you know, back in theday that your parents would say, come
out here baby and do that dance that you

Jay Ray (05:39):
Yeah.

I was not that kid, but if you leave me to my
own devices and you watch me,you might see me, you know, doing

Jay Ray (05:47):
Yeah.

so line dance was a. a way for me to kind of hide
within a crowd and enjoy myself.
Um, so that's where it kind of tapsinto the introversion part of me.
So yeah, you've witnessed it at yourDJ sets over the years of, you know,
I might be just standing talking or,you know, at the bar somewhere, but
you play a certain song and I justkind of make a beeline to the dance
floor, and even if that song ends andit goes into something else, I might

Jay Ray (06:10):
Yeah.

by right off the dance floor after that.
So, absolutely.

Jay Ray (06:13):
Wow.
You know, that's so brilliant.
Now you had to get to that place.
So you, you mentioned being an introvert.
I too, and people are surprised by that.
Am an introvert.
I. Completely get lost onthe dance floor though.
We'll talk about this later.
Uh, you probably saw that.
I can't, I cannot line dance though.

(06:35):
I know the wobble and Iknow the electric slide.
The rest of it, I get confused.
I I don't know which way to go.
Whatever.
We'll talk about thatlater in a minute though.

Okay.
Okay,

Jay Ray (06:45):
I'm really curious about, so you had two passions that if you look
at your social media, like it comes up
Line dancing.
What was your journey that,especially as an introvert?
Like how did you getto, to these passions?

so cars is really easy.
Um, I'm an only child, and so Ican name specifically my aunt.
She was the one who got meinto it, uh, when I was a baby.
She had an 84 Corvette.

Jay Ray (07:17):
Yeah.

and I just, it

Jay Ray (07:18):
Was that the one with the, with the, with the, with the, the
handle that went down in the thing.
It might have been a older one.

that's the earlier generation.
Uh, she had the one with the flip, withthe headlights that I didn't, I didn't, I.

Jay Ray (07:31):
It's okay.

Well, hers was the one that, uh, the headlights rotated
over and flipped up at the same

Jay Ray (07:40):
Mm-hmm.

Um, so that, and along with my dad buying me the
hot wheels and the matchbox cars,that was a way for us to bond.
And so I've loved cars, um, ever since.
So you can

Jay Ray (07:48):
Mm-hmm.

a car show at least once a month or doing something involving cars.
I'm gonna add something in there thatkind of leads into the line dance piece.
Um, but I'm gonna go back beforehand.

Jay Ray (08:00):
Yeah.

and dancing, I, uh, can visualize.
My first grade teacher, Ms. Doko,um, every Friday we'd have a fun
Friday moment, and this was, I'mtelling my age, this was back
with Mc Hammer doing the Hammer

Jay Ray (08:13):
Yeah, absolutely.

it wasn't us watching movies or, you know, uh, eating ice cream.
That happens sometimes, but youknow, she was like, I want y'all
to get up and do the hammer.
Do the hammer.
She would, you know, do it stuff.
And, you know, we had these littlecontests, so that was like my.
First time in saying, well, I can dothis dance, but do I feel like doing
it comfortably in front of people?
And then she taught us the electric slide.
So this is like in 19 91,92, and that's when I learned

(08:36):
how to do the electric slide.
Um, probably didn't do it again until high

Jay Ray (08:40):
Hmm.

was my first time kind of going into like doing
line dance with groups of people.
Skating is the thingthat I want to interject,

Jay Ray (08:49):
Okay.

a passion.
So I love cars, love line dancing, butI probably would not be line danced or
in the spaces that I've entered overthe last almost year, if it was, uh, was
not for skating and that's, I could talkto y'all all day about it, but just.
It started in the, during the pandemic,um, I probably had no business being down

(09:09):
at Cascade in the skating rink because,uh, business, most businesses were closed.
But summer of 2020 is when I got outof the house and decided to roller
skate, and I have not stopped since.

Jay Ray (09:18):
Wow.

have not missed a week of skating.
Um.
since that.
So this can go from three daysa week to six days a week.

Jay Ray (09:26):
Wow.

to skate in Atlanta.
And that's how I became comfortablegoing to a lot of the events, uh, for
line dancing because a lot of my folkswho skate, I will look on Instagram,
you know, scroll through my phone, likethey're at this club, they're at this
by there having the time of their lives.
Um, and I innately love line dancing.
And so being in that space of beingcomfortable with others that I was

(09:48):
already familiar with made it easyfor me just to pull up to these spots.

Jay Ray (09:52):
Wow.

Sir Daniel (09:53):
And so I, I'm hearing, I'm hearing the freedom in your voice that
you feel in these spaces and the, the,the sense of liberation that a lot of us
experience and when it comes to music.

Jay Ray (10:10):
Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel (10:11):
Like, I don't know if you've seen, there's a clip that I always pull
that I like to post of Jay Ray for hisbirthday of him at, uh, one of the house
in the, well not house, in the park,but one of the, um, Vivi house music
celebrations at that will go down at thepark and Jay Ray is in his world, he's.
He is getting it.
He don't know.

(10:31):
He's, he's doing the things right.
And same thing goes with, like, if I'min the middle of a set of something that
I really, really enjoy playing and I'm,I'm singing along and singing to the top
of my lungs and Marcus is skating andyou know, now he's skating backwards.
I've seen you, he's skating backwardsand, and crisscrossing and all

(10:52):
the things and the line dancing.
Talked to us also about.
The freedom you expressed, buttalk to us about the community that
you've, um, encountered and thatyou've become a part of as a result
of engaging in these, um, in theseclasses and these, these groups that

(11:14):
encourage the skating and the dancing.

Yeah, absolutely.
So it's become important for.
Me to, I wouldn't saythat I isolate myself.
I don't think that I do that.
I'm always doing something outin the world, even, you know,
in on an introverted level.
So I don't shy away from being engaged inthe world, but I do crave connectedness.
And so pulling skating along, Imentioned kind of the grew and the

(11:40):
pe, the groups and the people thatI would see skating in those clubs
or taking those line dance classes.
think my level of discernment isimportant here to mention that.
It allowed me to trust those people,to befriend them or to have some
connectedness with them to say,Hey, it's okay if I just show up

Jay Ray (11:59):
Yeah.

and, you know, just pop up alongside even, you know, we
are not the best of friends or theclosest, we are at best really good
acquaintances in these public spaces.
Um, because I have to, skating andline dancing, I have to have a level of
safety there, and I think that's where

Jay Ray (12:14):
Mm-hmm.

when I'm skating doing my thing, you literally
disappear into the music line.
Dancing can be like that as well,um, in the sense that if you're
around familiar faces or at leastif not even familiar faces, people
who are doing the same thing.
Psychologically, I have, I haven'tlooked into the science of what that

Jay Ray (12:33):
Yeah.

but there's an air of freedom that comes about.
Hitting the same move

Jay Ray (12:38):
Yes,

or don't let you know a dance or something, and
you're, you know, let's just sayit's supposed to be step to the left.
You know, a lot of people will stepto the left and spin and then hit

Jay Ray (12:46):
yes.

You're adding your own thing to it.
So whatever the science andpsychology behind that is, is what
kind of speaks to that freedom.
Is, is, is you knowing thatyou can kind of do something
and mimic it and continue it.
Wanna potentially otherpeople in to do it as well.

Sir Daniel (13:03):
Jay Ray, lemme ask, I I I have a quick follow up question.
I'm sorry.
So when you, when you began toinvolve yourself in these groups, one,
um, is it an interra, interracial?
Is it an intergenerational experience?
And if it is an intergenerationalexperience, what shocked
you the most about.

(13:25):
The, uh, the young people thatwere getting involved or, you know,
what, what, what did you find mostsurprising about the people that
you would meet at these groups?

So speaking to the classes, uh, there's one particular
class that I, uh, went to, um,shout out to DJ Trell Tsunami.
Um, his classes were free.
I'm very particular about high.
Taught things, especially whenit involves movement in my body.
I was that way with skating and so wentto one class, trusted how he, he taught
the content is very much kind of hit quitand then we have a good time afterwards.

(13:59):
Um, so I appreciated that space.
Um, the intergenerational piece,
I'm trying to think of theactual classes themselves.
I would say we would range from.
Mid twenties, you know, low twenties,probably up into the sixties.
And it's really every, it is like a,it's a family oriented environment.

Jay Ray (14:18):
Hmm

Um, down to the dj.
You know, you come once or twice,not once or twice a week, but you
know, multiple times, you know, he'swalking around, dapping you up and
giving you a high five, shaking yourhand because he's familiar with you.
You see the same faces, whether this isMs. I'm just throwing out a name here.
Ms. Jones, who might be 64,

Jay Ray (14:34):
mm-hmm.

Hey baby, how you doing?
You know, are, you know, she mighttry to teach you something or you
may try to teach her something, oryou got the, you know, the younger
ones who are teaching new dances.
That's another beautiful thingis I've had experiences where
DJ has set the stage for.
A lot of the line dance groups andcrews are the individuals to come up and
say, Hey, we have this new line dance.

(14:56):
Let's teach the class.
And he allows them to teach the class.
So that's spanned across ages as well.
Um, so I think it is, I think aboutit being like a holiday, like the
a Memorial Day celebration, 4th ofJuly, and you have your aunties and
your cousins all in the same space.
And again, they span from being 18years old to 58 years old, and we're

(15:16):
all just there to have a good time.

Sir Daniel (15:20):
I love that.

Jay Ray (15:21):
You know, what's coming up for me, and I don't, I don't think there's
a, a question in this, but what I'mfeeling as you are reflecting is that.
And this is really, science of it isreally, I think, it feels like it's
just kind of like Black culture, likethe soul of who we are in so many ways.

(15:44):
'cause what I'm hearing from you islike, no, we going to put our own
flavor on a thing and when we gettogether, like that idea of all of us
being together doing the same thing.
At the same time lifts us up.
I have this great story,it's a dance related story.

(16:05):
Um, I was at, uh, uh, Tambo,which I don't know that they
still do Tambo in, in Atlanta.
I know that Stan Zeff does somethings, but, um, oh, shoot.
Who was the dj?
Um, I can't remember who the DJ was at themoment, but what I do know is this, um.
We were all together.
There's 200, 300 of us on thedance floor at the same time.

(16:29):
And um, the song that wasplaying is a song called Kill.
It's called, um, it's a take on thriller.
It's like a remix, but it'slike a house remix of it.
And this song is playing.
Everybody's getting their life and the DJ.
Without warning, in Prince's controversy.

(16:53):
And this moment happened where theroom left the like literally we
all jumped at the same time becauseit was the downbeat of the song.
And then it was the upbeat of likecontroversy, just like slamming in.
We all jumped.
I will never forget justthat moment of us like.
Oh, oh, we're doing this.

(17:14):
We're together now we're, we're family.
'Cause then I know that you see whensomebody steps to the left and they
do a spin, you like, oh, I see that.
I see that.
Can I do that?
Yes.
Gimme a minute.
I'm gonna do it next.

Yeah, definitely.
That's, that's the biggest thing.
And so physically I tryto cater to my mobility.
It's like that with skating.
So I, when people talk, ask me aboutskating, I. Tell them I can skate.
Now, I'm not aging myself in sayingthat I'm old, but I'll use the
example of like, I'm like a classicLincoln or a classic Cadillac.
I'm slow off the line, but once I go,I'm, I can be fast and I'm smooth, but

(17:50):
don't, I'm not out there doing back flips.
I'm not doing splits.
Um, so the same thing with line dancing.
There are very few dancesthat I'll get out there and
really add my own spin to it.
I kind of do the, what somewe call extra just because I,

Jay Ray (18:04):
Yeah.

I don't want to end up in the hospital.

Jay Ray (18:05):
Yes.

my ankles, I trust my knees, but the times when I'm am able
to add that extra flavor of flare and orI can catch and it fits into my rhythm,

Jay Ray (18:14):
Hmm.

a magical feeling I feel like that is what.
Is baked into that freedom thatI've been speaking about and kind
of the comradery aspect of it.
I'll even give you an example of lastnight's experience of me line dancing.
Um, they'll place, uh,like it's one of the, uh.
Line dance is called Chugga Chug.
I can't think of the name of the songthat it's played to, but that's the dance

Jay Ray (18:36):
Mm-hmm.

Me.
And this wasn't the only oneyou were hear, it's it's, it's
like juveniles back that ass up

Jay Ray (18:42):
Yeah.

where you, you know, dance floor and you'll
see people just run to the floor

Jay Ray (18:47):
Yes.

So.
Depending on the line dances, it couldbe maybe five folks just kind of standing
around, maybe doing a little dance.
You play a certain song and you see50 people come from all directions
and they either feel the flooror they get up in a line and we
just all, it starts all in sync.
It's like a little snake motion.

Jay Ray (19:03):
Wow.

Sir Daniel (19:04):
Wow.
Talk to I, I, listen, I believe it.
I I can see it in the people's faces.
Talk to us about how Atlanta.
The room

Jay Ray (19:18):
Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel (19:19):
you are, you know, clearly you are Atlanta through and through.
How does Atlanta show up for you?
Exactly.
How does Atlanta show up in spaces likethis with you and what is Atlanta's,
how has Atlanta been an influence onyou and in the way that you approach,
not just line dancing, but yourlove of music and you know, how you

(19:39):
approach that area of your life?

So I think, I haven't done the studies of it to see its
origins and things of that nature, but.
Baked into line dancing in Southern soul.
So I think it's inherent that being asouthern boy, a man of the south, that
I. Love doing line dances because it'skind of a part of the culture there.

(20:04):
Um, I won't say that I bake Atlantadirectly into it, but it's there.
I'm trying to think of some moments whereI've heard a little bit of Atlanta bass.
Um, I think the DJ aspect of it iswhat kind of caters to it, because I
noticed the, um, between the few DJsthat I've experienced with line dancing.
I've seen them outside of thatspace in their different formats
and they couldn't go toe to toe.

(20:25):
It feels like it's 1995 during Freaknik,um, based on the music that they play.
me and music and Atlanta willgo hand in hand during skating.
Skating is inherently Atlanta.
Um, all day, every day I'll watch thingson threads, Instagram, um, and Facebook.
You'll see someone pop up and say,I wanna get back into skating.

(20:47):
And they live in the Midwest,somewhere where there's a
rink maybe three hours away.
And you might get an experience there.
Atlanta, I can literally skate inmultiple rinks seven days a week and
not repeat the same rink and have alikelihood of hearing a very good dj.
And so for me, when I thinkof the musical aspect of it, I
think of the DJs knowing the, uh.

(21:10):
Again, we could talk for hours aboutskating, but within that aspect of
there are different, uh, componentsand different styles like a TL
riding and a TL stepping where youwould hear certain Atlanta music

Jay Ray (21:21):
Yeah.

with it.
I think of movie a TL and whatthe skating movie, what, uh,
that meant to the culture.
That is the truth.
I tell anybody any night, if you go skateat Cascade on a Sunday night, you're
gonna feel like you're in the, uh, the setof a TL because it really is like that.
So.
I can't say that I've really seen Atlantaitself break out in it, but I have seen

(21:44):
its growth and I think the growth as faras the access to be able to line dance,
trying to bring it back full circle, um.
Has happened because ofour political climate.
Early on, Adrian, you mentionedhow around 2024, um, it was
kind of this resurgence of it,

Jay Ray (22:00):
Mm-hmm.

think it has been amplified because of the last couple of
years of just our political and socialclimate that we've been experiencing.
And you will see the memes of, youknow, chaos is happening in Washington

Jay Ray (22:10):
Yes.
Yeah,

enough to go to the grill.

Jay Ray (22:12):
we,

We gonna

Jay Ray (22:14):
we gonna get our joy somewhere.

And that's where I think being that Atlanta is, uh,
I still call Atlanta a Black city.

Jay Ray (22:21):
Mm-hmm.

Um, you've seen a prevalence of the line dances pop up.
There's not, um, to the point whereI try not to stray outside of my norm
of where, of, of the parties that Igo to because it will probably become
overwhelming for me to keep up withthe line dance crews, the groups,
the DJs, and where they're partying.
I try to stick to what I know

Jay Ray (22:40):
Mm-hmm.

can get lost in it.
It's just, um.
I don't wanna call it a saturationof it, but the growth has really
boomed, and I think it's because ofthe type of city that Atlanta is.

Jay Ray (22:51):
Oh, oh.
There's so many questions in that,but, um, the first question I do want
to ask, because I think this is, youhave alluded to this actually several
times as you talk about both skatingand line dancing from your perspective.
Um, I'm a beat drop kind of dude.

(23:12):
So like there are songs that just appealto me, like I know if I like a song like,
pretty quickly For you, what makes a goodsong to skate to and to line dance to?
Like what do you, what doyou, what is that for you?

Okay.
For me, skating, I am a slow setperson, so I gave that metaphor of

Jay Ray (23:36):
Hmm.

kind of, you know.
I'm a cruiser.
I skate smoothly.
I'm not

Jay Ray (23:42):
Yeah, yeah,

lot.
Um, yeah, so, and I'm also a ninetiesr and BI, I say aficionado or
connoisseur, uh, for the most part.
And so you give me someJohnny Gill, some Keith sweat,

Jay Ray (23:55):
Yeah.

some,

Sir Daniel (23:56):
Some cut close.

Jay Ray (23:57):
Yeah.
Cut close.
Probably is great to skate to.

Some surrender.
Some surrender.
close.
Yeah.
You know, who can I run to,

Jay Ray (24:07):
Okay.

maybe that's how the, the Atlanta gets baked into it.
A little face, you know,

Jay Ray (24:11):
Yeah.

You know, I'm thinking about our quiet storm moments.
That's, uh, what speaks to meon the skating end, the things
that drop, um, for line dancing.
It's really almost likea video game for me.
It's in the sense of, because.
I've done so many, and some of thesongs are not necessarily the, um,
songs that you will hear often basedon their genres or who made the songs.

(24:35):
They may not be popularoutside of line dancing.
So I've lost track ofassociating a song with a dance.

Sir Daniel (24:41):
Okay.

can I conquer that dance?

Jay Ray (24:42):
Yeah.

a video game.
It's can I achieve this?
Can I, I saw them do thatspin, can I do that spin?
Or is there a normalstandard way of doing it?
So that's how um, the songskind of hit me or move me.
But I will say.
There are certain songs, uh, that triggernostalgia out of me are, uh, you know,

(25:03):
dare I say, there are favorite songsthat allow me to really sharpen the
knife of my skills, and that's both withskating and line dancing is I will run
to the floor, I put my skates on justto see if I can do the same thing, if
not better, to that particular song.

Jay Ray (25:18):
Okay.

Sir Daniel (25:19):
Let's stay here with music for a second.
Talk to me, talk to dj Sir Danieland, and all of my DJ friends.
What do you want us.
Outside of the, so we, we knowthat when you go to these, um, to
your group dance, group line dance,um, sessions and skating, we, we

(25:41):
know that's what you came for.
That's what the DJ is gonnagive, talk to the rest of us.
Like in a, in a normalset, what do you want?
Us to slide more of those, um,Southern Soul songs in there.
Would you, are we playingenough line dances?
Are we not playing?
Talk to the, talk to the DJs right now.
Mm.

Yeah, so I'm thinking about a couple of events in the city
that I've been attending over thelast few years that are just solely
supposed to be about the dancing.
Um, not about thesections and all of that.
Um, they can be hit or miss.
And so for me, I know that I'm lookingfor if, like, if I go out tonight,
it's Friday, and I go out to a club.

(26:23):
Um.
I just came to dance and

Jay Ray (26:25):
Yeah.

I know I'm not the only one on the,

Sir Daniel (26:29):
I just.

I'm not the only one that's on the dance
floor, so I believe in fairness,

Jay Ray (26:35):
Yeah.

we're probably gonna get some sort of contemporary, uh,
hop, probably a little throwback to,you know, depending on who they're
trying to cater to, they might goas far back as the eighties or the
seventies down into the nineties on up.
I don't take me on a haphazard journey.
What I mean by that is I can see itwith skating and I love, love, love.

(26:58):
In Atlanta, our skate, ourskating rinks are spoiled with
a lot of the DJs that we have.
'cause they do their crafts well.
But I can pull up to a session andI can know when that DJ is trying
to experiment versus trying to.
F Skating is a very tough crowd to

Sir Daniel (27:14):
Okay.

play a skating session like you do a club session.
So there are certain moments, like after aslow set, you expect to do a slow walk or
something a little faster after that long.
To answer your question, Adrian,
cater to your audience and be verycareful with your transitions.
Make them make sense.
What I mean by that is there's a, I think,a very good and effective DJ kind of like.

(27:40):
Johnny, what you mentioned as faras that experience of like the crowd

Jay Ray (27:43):
Mm-hmm.

up, that is a, to me, a rare moment that a DJ holds that power.
Meaning that they may have sprinkledin a little bit of e experimentation,
but they knew that they had thecrowd based off of their reaction.
So don't be stale.
Watch your audience.
I think that's the key in DJingis to watch your audience and
to kind of shift as needed.

(28:04):
Be, uh, going back be, when I say becareful with those transitions, I'm
thinking about Apple's latest updatewhere they try to call themselves to be
like a mixer and they put like 45 secondsover the last song to match the BPM.
I don't want to hear, I don't want toknow halfway through the first song
that I'm listening to, oh, they'regetting ready to play juvenile.
They're

Jay Ray (28:22):
Right.

to play this because you have slowly trickled
that other song in there.
Just, just let the storybreathe, let the music breathe.
I think that's the best suggestionis let the music breathe.

Jay Ray (28:33):
Mm.

Sir Daniel (28:34):
Thank you for that

Jay Ray (28:35):
Yeah.

Sir Daniel (28:37):
in the communities.
Yes.
Thank you for that.

Jay Ray (28:40):
Yeah, you said a word in there too, like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
There's some, there's,there's some good ministry

Sir Daniel (28:44):
Mm-hmm.

Jay Ray (28:45):
you just said.

Sir Daniel (28:46):
Transitions are so important.

Jay Ray (28:48):
yes.
Um, so now, okay, so talk to me now,as a person who loves to dance, right?

Yeah.

Jay Ray (28:57):
Um, it has rhythm and could do all the, and could do the
things, but line dancing, literallybog, like often boggles my brain.
Ooh, before I ask this question, pause,is there a line dance that was hard for
you to learn before we talk about me?

Yeah.
so line dancing is like math

Jay Ray (29:22):
Mm-hmm.

I, even though I have an educational background,
math is not my strong suit.
And so my brain literally does this whenI see dances for the first time, and
I just kind of stand on the side like,
Um, so I feel you on that.
Uh, miss Tamias, the Tamia Shuffle.

Sir Daniel (29:42):
Oh.

Jay Ray (29:42):
baby, I saw that thing happen and I was like, now,

Sir Daniel (29:45):
People, hell, there are people that that gives people hell to do
a lot of times to, and that's like, thatsong is like, what, six years old now?

The song.
The song is the, okay, so the songand the dance are actually old.

Sir Daniel (30:00):
Yeah.

I can go back.
So I grew up, uh, my, um, momhas a, a friend, family friend.
Their family's from Detroit, so theyhave all the stepping and everything.

Jay Ray (30:10):
Yo, Midwest love, love, lover, stepping in the line day.

So I was at her birthday party.
It was I think her 50th, andthis was, I'm aging her, which.
I'm having a brain

Jay Ray (30:22):
Mm-hmm.

Uh, this was probably back in 2014, maybe 2015, and I
watched her and her family, they queuedup to me as, um, can't get enough.
And they were just out there shuffling andit just looked, you just, it looks like
they were just snapping their fingers.
That's just how simple it looked to them.
And I'm like, I will fall over everybodyand knock everybody down if I try it.
So.
Fast, forward to, I guess, that resurgencethat we were talking about earlier.

Jay Ray (30:48):
Mm-hmm.

of 23 or

Jay Ray (30:50):
Yeah.

and I was like, I'm tired of hearing this song
at the club or at the bar.
At the baby shower at the wedding,and I just have to sit on the side.
I won't end on it.
And it took me about y'all, ittook me about a year and a half to

Jay Ray (31:04):
Mm. Mm-hmm.

Um, and I think I'm segueing into

Jay Ray (31:08):
Yeah.
Yeah.

as far as

Jay Ray (31:10):
Like how?
Like how would I do it?
Yeah.

I'm gonna keep bridging skating into it, that one of the keys
to skating well is to skate horribly.
First is

Jay Ray (31:19):
Ooh,

with falling.

Jay Ray (31:20):
you better.
You better preach.

with line dancing, with line dancing, I had to be okay with.
on people's toes or standing kind ofoff to the side so that I'm not, I'm,
I'm tall, so I have a decent wing span.
If I'm in the middle doing all of that,I'm going, I am gonna knock some people

Jay Ray (31:37):
Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel (31:38):
Yeah.
Yeah.

being okay with not looking like you have it together
because a few things are going to happen.
Re reputa, uh.
Repetition is going to kick in andyou, it's gonna become muscle memory
and depending on how you learn, that'simportant for me because I don't learn
by people saying, do it like I do it.
But someone could possibly come overto you and show and who's watching you.
'cause nine times outta 10,somebody's watching you mess up.

(32:00):
They're gonna say, oh,step slowly like this.
Instead of doing it fast like that.
The way that I picked up the Tamiashuffle, there's um, an Instagram reel.
And I to watch, uh, several examples,but this gentleman, he basically
chopped and screwed the dance.

Jay Ray (32:18):
Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel (32:20):
All the way down.

and it was like a light bulb clicked, and ever since summer
again, I think it was summer 23, I hadit ever since, and it was just fine
tuning and going back to what I saidearlier, every time it happened last
night and it's actually getting theTamia shuffle is becoming one of 'em.
Within the line dance, trail ride cultureof kind of one of like the easy ones

Jay Ray (32:42):
Mm-hmm.

everybody knows it.
And so last night when I heard it,I ran to the floor because there was
my opportunity to sharpen my skillsand to make sure that I still had it.
And this is after this point, two orthree years of just continuously doing it.
So that's, that's how I got it, was.
Looking awful in the beginning

Jay Ray (32:59):
Yeah.

saying, excuse me, I'm sorry.
I'm so sorry.
'cause you bumped into somebody, you went,left when you should have went right.
Um, kind of laughing it off, hopingthat you didn't offend anybody.
And then after a while, you, you realizethat spin that you, that was confusing.
You got it.
Or you realize you're not tripping overyour feet, uh, like you were before.

Jay Ray (33:17):
So you actually did, you have so eloquently, I'm
sure, explained my hesitation.
I do not like.
I'm okay with messing up.
That's okay.
But I. When I'm dancing on the dancefloor, I actually have, uh, I create
my own circle around myself and Iwork very hard 'cause I'm a big guy.

(33:40):
So I worked very hard to notencroach on anyone's space, right?
So I stay in my space.
And the idea of line dancing yes, is ifI go in the wrong direction or I spin or
they're coming at me, or I come at themand I hit them, I immediately shut down.
And I like want to goand like cry in a corner.

(34:01):
And you're like, no, give it a second.
Like part of it's part of the experience.
That's why I don't skate either.
You also explain why I don't skate.
I fell one time and it waslike, oh, you gotta fall.
Like get up and do it again.
I'm like,

called

Jay Ray (34:15):
no, I'm going to eat pizza.

Sir Daniel (34:19):
Yeah, that whole, I, I'm at the age where I'm just like, I don't know.
That fall especiallyfalling on your wrist.
Oh, especially, yeah.
I think I think about it becauseI, I use my hands so much,

Jay Ray (34:33):
Oh

Sir Daniel (34:33):
the turntables and everything that falling and, 'cause
I know immediately when you fall,the first defense is to put your
hands out, to brace your, to breaka fall or to brace yourself forth.

Supposed

Sir Daniel (34:44):
They say you're not supposed to do that.

I fell, uh, not Tuesday this week, but Tuesday of last week.
I have, uh, I'm not gonna showup, but a bandaid right here
because when I was learning howto skate, I messed my elbows up.
But one of the things about fallingand paying those wood taxes is
you have to learn how to fall.
And so if you know you're gonna fall,you have to just kind of lean into it.
I think the only thing that you shouldbrace when you fall is your head
and as far as stiffening up so itdoesn't hit the floor, but everything

(35:08):
else just kind of collapsed almost.
Um, I. was something I was gonnamention as far as the dance Oh.
Classes.

Jay Ray (35:16):
Mm-hmm.

So, I felt the same sense of, I'll say embarrassment
and fear of encroaching on people'sbecause you see their freedom and their

Jay Ray (35:26):
Yeah.

wanna mess that up.
And to be honest, you can tellthat you know the aunties, you will
piss them off sometimes when you goleft, they'll just kind of, alright.

Jay Ray (35:33):
It's like spades to them.

You'll get

Sir Daniel (35:36):
Oh, perfect.

too.

Sir Daniel (35:38):
Yep.

been moved out of the way before.
Um.

Sir Daniel (35:41):
Get it from this table.

Yeah, that's where the classes came in at, uh, DJ Trail.
Tsunami made the analog, and notjust him, because there's, um, locked
and loaded, that's another crew.
They've hosted classes too, is thosespaces being created that made it safe,

Jay Ray (35:55):
Mm.

um, to mess up because it was kind of a low effort
environment to where, Hey, I'm gonnateach y'all all of these dances.
They know their craft.
Not only are they effective as a dj,but they're effective as an educator.
And like I. I keep shouting himout because he created that space
so that I didn't have to tap intoall of my other, I call them isms.

(36:16):
My

Jay Ray (36:17):
Hmm.

as far as being social, um, to worry about
encroaching and infringing on people'senvironments, he made it safe enough
for me to come in there, um, towhere he's not embarrassing you.
If you mess up, are the, the peoplewho are part of the crowd are not
embarrassing you or making you feela way because you didn't get a step.

Jay Ray (36:34):
Hmm.

and he's giving you feedback on.
How to correct something and he orhe picks up, like he, he'll make
a joke about the advanced crew.
You know, they're doing the spins andthe kicks when all you, all you're just
supposed to do is clap your hands and

Jay Ray (36:47):
Right.

we don't have time for that.
That's the AP version.
Let's do it the regular way firstso that everyone can pick it up.
So that's really what.
Um, made me comfortable, um, to goto like the club settings to where
all they're doing is just dancing.

Sir Daniel (37:01):
Okay.

stand to the side

Jay Ray (37:03):
Mm-hmm.

what I've als, um, and kind of observe or what I've
learned, learned or more so noticedis, again, can't, I can't tell you
the, the name of the dance, can't tellyou the name of the song, but most
line dances and trail ride experienceshave like the same seven to 10 steps.
You know, it's, it's samecombination, of movements just

(37:27):
packaged differently for each songand probably at a different speed.
And I noticed that I can pickup a dance that I didn't.
I know just by watching the crowd, solong as it's not allowed to hopping
and spinning, and I can jump in andget it pretty well the first time.
Now beforehand, before I startedthe classes last summer, I
wouldn't have been able to do that.

Sir Daniel (37:45):
Wow.
You know, as we, as we begin to wrapup, what's coming to mind for me,
what I'm interested to hear from you,Marcus, is I'm hearing a, a philosophy.
I. For life.
So I want to hear from you, what hasthis experience, from the roller skating

(38:06):
to the line dancing, what kind ofphilosophy have you developed for your
life, where you are right now and whereyou want to go for the rest of your life?
What have you developed as yourphilosophy, your mantra, um, moving
forward that dancing has taught you?

Keep your safe spaces sacred.
Protect them.
Um, going, you know, I, I've beentaught, I've been married, I've been
married to skating in this conversation.
Um, and that's be because of howimportant it is to me to, and I mentioned
as far as keeping it sacred or, orkeeping, keeping it sanctity safe, uh,

(38:46):
because I will schedule my day around.
My ability to skate or I will schedulemy ability around to go line dance.
Meaning that if someone's like,Hey, can we meet at this time?
Oh no, I have class at this time.
Or, you know, I'm not inflexible aboutit, but I will make sure that people
know my patterns to the, uh, to thepoint, to know he's probably out line
dancing or he's probably out skating.

(39:07):
Um, your work will try to encroachor infringe on those things.
And so I prioritize it.
Um, we don't have even have enoughtime for me to dig deep into what.
Both line dance and skating dofor me emotionally, mentally,
spiritually, and physically.
And so that's why I think I putthe umbrella term of protecting it

(39:28):
above all of that because of howimportant it is to me, of what it
does for me on a social level of menavigating, trying to meet new people.
Um, trying to come out ofmy shell in certain ways.
Dancing overall allows me to shine inthat way because a lot of people, if they
don't know me, they'll look at me as, um.
They'll pick up my introversion,but they'll think that I'm meek and

(39:48):
mild-mannered, but I kind of light upon a dance floor, on the dance floor.
And that's, um, I like for that aspect ofmyself, um, which skating does as well.
I like for that aspect of myself to beseen publicly so that I'm not just looked
at as quiet, meek, mild-mannered, Marcus.

Jay Ray (40:04):
Hmm.
Wow.

Sir Daniel (40:07):
Thank you for sharing that.

Jay Ray (40:09):
Thank you man.
Um, so many things, uh, so I I, I, I thinkyou have already primed and hopefully
Marcus you will come back 'cause, okay.
So Sir Daniel and I have an idea.

Uhhuh.

Jay Ray (40:23):
hope you'll come back in person because you gonna have to
teach me and the other cute pointscrew how to line dance something.
But we can also have this conversationbecause you actually picked up on
something that was like, oh my gosh, Iwant to go here, but we do not have time
to go here, but I want us to go here.
And I think doing it in person,potentially in Atlanta would

(40:46):
be a great way to have thisconversation and continue it because.
What you are describing is, I think,so important to, uh, Black folks
communicating and continuing to likebe able to have these conversations.
And these are languages, these dances,these experiences are languages that

(41:12):
we can carry forward into the future.
And I don't want us to lose it.
And that's why I'm like child, nowI gotta line dance child because I
gotta be part of the conversation andI have to teach it to, now I gotta
teach the stuff to my little cousins.
They gotta know.

And I think that goes back to the earlier question of the age aspect

Jay Ray (41:34):
Yeah.

that's the beautiful thing is the resurgence
of it pulled in the teenagers.
I have my cousin, he's in college now.
He turns, uh.
He's either 18, he's 18 or 19,

Jay Ray (41:45):
Mm-hmm.

uh, he's seen me line dance at a wedding before and he will
send us videos of him practicing.
Um, so knowing that the kids aredoing, I go to an elementary school
and play certain songs and you

Jay Ray (41:55):
Yeah.

babies just light up.
So it is.
Definitely a tradition that's passeddown and it's very interesting.
Social media helps, but it is veryinteresting to see how these things
continue on down to the newer dances.
All the way back to the electricslide are all the other cultural
dances that we've had historicallyover the last several decades.

Jay Ray (42:15):
Man.
so, uh, Marcus, if there is someonewho is listening to this conversation
and they're in Atlanta and they'relike, I want to take a class,
where would you send them off risk?

So they need to check out DJ Trael Tsunami page.
Phenomenal dj.
Um, kind of, uh, I won't put aplacement on his format because he's
like, he does every type of, um, musicgenre aspect as far as his format.
But DJ Trael, T-R-A-E-L Tsunami,T-S-U-N-A-M-I, um, he hosts classes,

(42:49):
um, even if he's not hosting aclass, come out to his, his, uh.
sets in his nights.
Um, I was there last night.
Um, it's a great, great spot.
Another DJ that I know will host classes,or at least he DJs at classes, and you
can follow their social media platformsto see the flyers, is, uh, DJ Soufside,
so DJ, S-O-U-F-S-I-D-E, DJ Soufside.

Jay Ray (43:09):
Awesome.
Ah,

Sir Daniel (43:11):
I love that.

Jay Ray (43:12):
connect with you?

Sir Daniel (43:13):
Yes.

Social media, we're talking about the fun stuff.
So, uh, just connect with me on Instagram.
Instagram is still my place ofchoice, um, @quietasitskept.
So Q-U-I-E-T-A-S-I-T-S-K-E-P-T.

Sir Daniel (43:29):
There it is.
Listen, thank you so much forsharing this part of your life
with the Queue Points audience.
Um, as I stated, thisis a part of what we do.
We celebrate Black musichistory and there's no music.
There's nobody there to make dance,and this is all part of, it's

(43:53):
just part of the bloodline of whatthis country is ingrained with.

Jay Ray (43:59):
Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel (44:00):
part of the bloodline, you know, from, I see them, they
do line dances in the continent.

Jay Ray (44:06):
Mm-hmm.

Sir Daniel (44:06):
do line dances all over the diaspora on the different islands, and you
can't tell me that it's not passed down.
Through our blood, our bloodlines.
So thank you so much for sharing thatwith us and for helping us round out this
Black History Month and um, you know,taking Queue Points on another adventure.
And just thank you.
Thank you for being a friend.

(44:27):
Borders.

Jay Ray (44:28):
for being a friend.

forward to this conversation and glad to just share the
joy that I get from, from being Black.
That's just really what it is.

Sir Daniel (44:36):
That's it.

Jay Ray (44:37):
Oh my goodness, y'all, thank y'all so much for hanging out with us.
If you can see all three of our facesand you can hear our voices, make sure
that you subscribe wherever you are.
Tell your friends, tell your family,tell your colleagues, because if you
enjoy Queue Points, chances are theywill enjoy Queue Points as well.
And it's a great free way.
To, uh, support the show.

(44:58):
Another way that you can supportthe show is by becoming a member.
You can visit our website atqueuepoints.com become a member
and you get some PS if youbecome a paid member of the show.
And you can listen to all of our episodes.
We have, we are coming up.
We are so close to 250 episodes.
It's crazy.
Sir Daniel, we are getting so close.

Sir Daniel (45:16):
We are line dancing our way to.

Jay Ray (45:20):
My goodness.
And so y'all can checkout all of those episodes.
You can check us out on Substack.
You can um, shop our storeat store.queuepoints.com.
We appreciate y'all and we love y'all.

Sir Daniel (45:32):
It is.
Like I say, in every episode inthis life, you have a choice.
You can either pick up the needleor you could let the record play.
I am Sir Daniel.

Jay Ray (45:40):
And my name is Jay Ray

Sir Daniel (45:43):
That

Jay Ray (45:44):
Dr. Marcus Borders.

Sir Daniel (45:47):
and this has been Queue Points podcast, dropping
the needle on Black music history.
We will see you on the next go round.
Now two steps to the left.

Jay Ray (45:57):
Peace, y'all.

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Dancing Through Black History With Dr. Marcus Borders: Line Dancing, Skating, and Community