BALTIMORE — It’s the strut that captured the world. The fancy footwork that got its first steps in Charm City. It’s most widely known as the “Park Heights Strut” but since the neighborhood two-step started more than two decades ago, it’s been called a few names.
Childhood friends and Baltimore dance group, the “Top Tier Shiners” are a big reason why the dance skyrocketed on social media along with Rodney “Bunkey” Snead Jr. and the “TSU Dance Crew.”
When Bunkey Jr. thinks about how far the dance has come from decades ago, he can’t help but feel a sense of pride for his hometown and specifically his neighborhood.
“Everybody always talks about the bad things [but] we got something good to talk about for life,” Bunkey said. “This is legendary. They'll never forget."
Domonic “Lor Donnie” Blue, Avery “Ave” Walker, Gerald “Geeski” Gardner III and Anthony “TTS Moe” Dias of the Top Tier Shiners remember the moments before the dance blew up.
“One day we're coming out of a party and then something just said, ‘let's do a TikTok,” Donnie said. “The first time we do a TikTok it goes viral."
“Some people never seen it before, they're like what are ya'll doing,” Anthony said. “Way before TikTok they knew when us four got into the party they knew ‘oh they’re going to come turn it up.’ “ If we like the song, we’re going to be the only four sitting right there dancing. That’s one thing about us, we’ve always been ourselves.”
Before the TTS crew took it viral on TikTok, many around the city associated the dance with Bunkey Jr. who had become known as “The Strut King.” He added a few moves to put his own twist on it and then it became the “Bunkey Jr. Strut.”
Then TTS added some moves of their own, including the idea of tagging people in, so groups of people could do the dance together.
Since then, people all around the world have picked up on the dance.
Despite people throughout the city debating who should get the credit for the now world-famous strut,
Two different styles, but both putting a spotlight on the Baltimore dance that allowed the dance to keep trending on social media. Meanwhile, Bunkey and TTS have reassured people that both styles should just be celebrated instead of debated.
“Shoutout to Bunkey, he does his thing,” Donnie said. “He's got his own strut and the way he does it, but it's a different way how we do it."
“We don't care about none of that, who started it or who created it,” Anthony added. “We just want it to [make] a difference.”
Rather than being focused on how it got started, Terry “TSU Terry” Wedington and Ryan “Shaggy” Dailey of the TSU Dance Crew are part of the reason the dance keeps evolving.
They've been a part of bringing the strut to light and any other dance that comes out of Baltimore, but Terry says this one felt different.
“I think the best thing with is really with all the videos you see it's a lot of unity,” Ryan said.
Once the TSU Dance Crew gets a hold of a dance, it gets a whole new dynamic. They added a little choreography and just like that a new social media dance challenge was created.
The “Return of the Mack” Challenge combined the Baltimore strut sound with the legendary 90s R&B Hit by Mark Morrison.
“We got celebrities doing it, we got athletes doing it,” Ryan said. “I don't think it's ever going to end even down to club dancing that we do.”
Ryan says the dance has been a way to bring attention back to the Baltimore club dancing scene that’s influence can now be spotted in Philadelphia and New Jersey.
Meanwhile at home, Bunkey Jr., The Top Tier Shiners and the TSU Dance Crew all have a hope that the positive attention the strut brings can help paint a better picture of Charm City.
“It’s very important for people to see that it is some positivity that goes on in Baltimore,” TSU Terry said. “It just needs to get highlighted way more.”
“We really want our city to understand that we're way more than what everybody thinks of us," Anthony of TTS said. “We got to stop the hating, we got to stop the crime, we got to come together.”
We need to start doing more block parties, bring the kids out we turn up with the kids."
Now, the two-step given new life by Park Heights’ own is evolving into a movement that’s given them all a platform. When asked how they can make sure that happens, TSU Terry and Shaggy almost responded immediately and at the same time saying:
“Together. Baltimore is stronger together.”
