Oxford defines twerk as a “dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance.” When asked if anything about that white-bread definition should be changed, New Orleans bounce queen Big Freedia pauses for a minute, then adds, “No hands on the floor. No hands on anything except the knees.”
As a booty shaker since Miley Cyrus was still Hannah Montana, Freedia should know. In September, an ass-embly of 358 New Yorkers chalked up a Guinness World Record for most simultaneous twerkers, an event set up for the television debut of Fuse’s Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce.
“It was the perfect timing with all the twerking phenomenon and ol’ Miley,” agrees the show’s host.
Speaking from the Big Easy, with the tour clock set at 10 days and dogs Rita and Sensation barking in the background, Freedia prepares to traverse the country “showing love and spreading the goodness of bounce music,” with tour dates through November.
“I’m just amped that the TV show is airing right now and that people will get to see me while it’s on. Bounce is taking flight all over the globe. New York especially, and L.A., Canada, Portland, Washington. It keeps getting bigger and bigger.”
This article appears in November 8 • 2013.