Entry · catalog no. 1081
duckwalk
/ /ˈdʌkwɔːk/ /DUK-wawk
noun · Harlem ballroom · 1980s
✓ Verified
1.
A vogue step performed low to the ground: crouched on the heels, kicking each foot forward in time with the music. One of the New Way vogue elements alongside the catwalk and hand performance.
“She dropped into a duckwalk and took the whole floor with her.”
Origin & Attribution
From the Harlem ballroom scene, part of the New Way voguing that developed in the late 1980s. Documented for wider audiences in Paris Is Burning (1990). Named for the low, kicking walk it resembles.
late 1980s
Enters New Way vogue vocabulary in Harlem ballroom
1990
Seen widely in the documentary Paris Is Burning
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
Harlem ballroom · 1980s
Spoken by
Ballroom and vogue dancers; Black and Latino queer community
$DUCKWAThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady38 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
80/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1988
in the culture
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@auntiereg
Atlanta, GA
@deltasoul
Memphis, TN
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
Paris Is Burning, dir. Jennie Livingston — 1990
film · documented
■
+ Cite a sourceWikipedia, 'Vogue (dance),' New Way elements
reference
See also