Ashley’s grandparents played a major role in her early introduction to dance. They created a space in their basement where Ashley and the other children (her siblings and sometimes her cousin) would dance after dinner. Her grandparents would play and teach trending Soca music to the children, and her grandma would show them how to the whining dance. One of her grandmother’s favorite Soca songs at the time was “Tiny Winey”: Tiny Winey - Byron Lee & The Dragonaires (youtube.com), and her grandfather loved “Mighty Sparrows”: Lying Excuses - Mighty Sparrow (youtube.com). Ashley liked her grandmother’s music taste better. Ras Shorty is credited to have invented the Soca music in the late 60s and early 70s, with the purpose of bringing the East Indians and Africand togther in Trinidad and Tobago. Soca is a type of Calypso music [see G.B.T.V. CultureShare ARCHIVES 1995: RAS SHORTY I "Interview" Seg#1of 2 (youtube.com)]. 

 

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

ASHLEY: Yeah. And so it would be such an adult space where we're like, are kids supposed to be down here? But after dinner and all that stuff. I think we would have some tea before we would go downstairs and my grandparents would just, like, party with us. They would play their songs and they would teach us all the music. And then they had a disco ball and a strobe light. [Ashley uses her hand to show how the disco ball would be overhead.] 

SEIKA: And what music were they playing? 

ASHLEY: Mostly calypso and soca. Whatever the soca song at the time was popular because with soca music, every year there's new songs that come out, and it's kind of like a challenge of like, oh, who has the best soca song that year? 

SEIKA: And do you remember any of the specific songs or artists? [Seika smiles.] 

ASHLEY: I remember my grandma, she really loved the [sung while dancing in her seat] “Tiny Winey”. She loved that one. And that was like scandalous at the time. I remember that one. And then my granddad really loved The Mighty Sparrow. So that was like a different sound. Yeah. 

highlighted quote: so it would be such an adult space where we're like, are kids supposed to be down here?

SEIKA: And what did you like? 

ASHLEY: I liked what my grandma liked. My granddad's stuff was harder to get into and sounded more like folk music a bit. [accents folk music by gripping the air] And they also had a lot of– my grandma loved Tina Turner. And they also loved Rod Stewart. And they are kind of pop era, seventies, eighties pop era. [almost makes jazz hands to emphasize “pop era”]  

SEIKA: And when music was playing, were you dancing? 

ASHLEY: Yeah, we were all dancing for hours.  

SEIKA: And can you describe the dances you were doing and describe how your grandma would dance and your grandpa would dance and then how you learned the dances? 

ASHLEY: Well, they would teach us how to whine. My grandma would whine with us. Everyone would just dance and people would take breaks. So it's like always sit down and then you get back up when it's your song and it's kind of like a really big space. [Ashley raises her arms and makes a large gesture to emphasize the vastness of the space.] I remember we never watched TV, barely. At my grandma's house, we danced on Friday night. We danced a lot. Yeah. 

SEIKA: And how many of you would there be? So there'd be your grandparents and you and -- 

ASHLEY: My siblings, my older brother and my oldest sister, my granddad and my grandma. And sometimes my little cousin would visit with us and he would stay with us. He wasn't really a dancer. He likes to play. [Hard emphasis on play with hands and voice] He likes toys. So sometimes he would dance, sometimes he wouldn't. And then sometimes we'd have, like, family parties, like Christmas and holidays, and everyone would, like, dance all night long. [dances in chair] 

SEIKA: And did you do or listen to calypso and soca anywhere else or only at your grandparents’ house? Did you listen and dance at home with your mom? 

ASHLEY: I'm pretty sure we did. Also, like, my godmother, she's Jamaican, so she listened to a lot of dance hall. So I know that we did - and like all the new tracks. But with my mom's friends, we danced to more of like- we listened to more like funk, and R&B . And what was at the time s new jack swing -- that was super popular. My mom wasn't, like super– not really into technology a lot, so she would have maybe a handful of CDs or tapes, maybe five of them on hand. And you would just listen to them over and over again. [makes hand gesture to show their repetition] Mostly my dad's side, he would collect all the vinyl. [Outstretches arms to show the vast vinyl collection.] He had all the vinyl that he loved. But he also kept my mom's vinyl of the stuff she loved. They weren't together at that time, but he would keep all her Jackson Five albums, all the old Michael Jackson, she really loved them. So you would tell us like, oh, we would go over to Dad's on the other second Friday. We would listen and just watch the record spin. [Ashley looks intensely down at her hand mimicking a record spin.] And he said, oh, your mom likes this song and you just go through all the songs [uses hand to demonstrate going down a list of songs] and laugh at all the art and the crazy vinyl art.