The Similarities Between "Do It For The Vine/I Ain't Gonna Do It" And Command Compliance Cheers

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post presents my comments about the similarities between "Do It For The Vine/I Ain't Gonna Do It" and what I refer to as "command compliance cheers."

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, entertainment purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to my daughter and all others who shared examples of command compliance cheers with me and thanks to the originator/publisher of the "Do it for the Vibe, I ain't gonna do it" video.

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COMMAND COMPLIANCE CHEERS AND THE "DO IT FOR THE VINE/I AIN'T GONNA DO IT" VIDEOS
Foot stomping cheers are percussive, choreographed, rehearsed movement routines that are usually informally performed by two or more girls (ages 7-12 years) while they chant a composition that has a distinctive call & response structure. The earliest documented foot stomping cheers that I have found are from African American school girls in Washington, D.C., 1976. As such, many foot stomping cheers are not only a category of children's play activities (as a sub-category of children's cheerleader cheers), but many foot stomping cheers (fscs) are also part of the continuum of African American oral and performing arts.

WHAT ARE COMMAND COMPLIANCE FOOT STOMPING CHEERS
Command compliance (CC) is my term for a sub-category of foot stomping cheers which follows this specific pattern:
1. The group commands [demands] the soloist to do something.
2. The soloist either outright refuses (saying something like "no way") or the soloist demurs (saying something like "too shy").
3. The group repeats the same command to the soloist.
4. The soloist complies with that command by either saying "okay" and then doing what was requested of her or the soloist just goes ahead and does what is commanded of her. Usually, the group's command is for the soloist to demonstrate a dance of her choice.
OR
5. The soloist says she can't do the ordered action and explains why
For example, in some cheers the soloist initially says that she is "too shy". When she is commanded (or asks) to perform that same act, the soloist responds "I'll try.). Or in the "very popular "Bang Bang Choo Choo Train" cheer, when the soloist is told to "do her thang", she says she can't because "her back is aching" etc.

I consider command/compliance cheers to be a sub-category of dance style foot stomping cheers because usually what the soloist is ordered to do is to show off her dancing or stepping ability. Certain examples of the foot stomping cheer entitled "Get Down" demonstrate this command/compliance style.

GET DOWN (Version #1)
All : I saida D-O-W-N. That’s the way we get down.
D-O-W-N. That’s the way we get down.
Group: Hey, Danielle. (insert 1st girl's name)
Danielle: What?
Group: Show us how you get down.
Danielle: No way.
Group: Show us how you get down.
Soloist: Okay. I said D-O-W-N.
And that’s the way. That’s the way. That’s the way
I get down.
Group: She saidah D-O-W-N. And that’s the way.
That’s the way. That’s the way she gets down.

Performance instruction: Repeat the entire cheer with next soloist who says her name. This continues from the beginning until everyone has had a turn as soloist.
-Tazi M. Powell; memories of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, late 1980s, early to mid 1990s; Collected by Azizi Powell

Editor:
When the soloist says "that's the way I get down", she does some fancy step or dance movement. When the group says "That's the way she gets down", they are doing the same step or movement as the soloist. Each soloist tries to do something different from the dance or steps that other people ahead of her have done.
-snip-
Although I refer to these cheers as “command compliance (CC) cheers, the actual pattern is "command, refusal, command, compliance" (CRCC). "Introduce Yourself" and "Rock The Boat" are good examples of CC (CRCC) cheers. I'd categorize these cheers as "dance style" foot stomping cheers instead of as "confrontational" foot stomping cheers because in confrontational cheers the words focus on insulting (dissing) and/or threatening some unidentified person (or when these cheers are adapted to be used during actual sports event, the opposing team and/or their cheerleaders.)

As seen in the examples of these cheers that are [on that cocojams page whose link is given above], in command compliance cheers the words aren't insulting or threatening (apart from the threatening stance that some people have given to the words spoken by the person ordering the person to act. Read my comments about this approach to these cheers in the section on "Do it for the Vine/ I ain't gonna do it" parodies that is found below.)

There are examples of foot stomping cheers in which the group asks the soloist to do something and she immediately does it. "Gigalo" are good examples of that. Click http://cocojams.com/content/foot-stomping-cheers-0 to find examples of that cheer. However, note that Gigalo appears to most often be performed as a hand clap rhyme.

To be clear, I don't consider cheers like "Gigalo" to be part of the command compliance sub- category. To be part of that category, the soloist has to initially refuse to do what is commanded or requested of her and then comply with that command or request. the second time that she is asked.

THE ORIGINAL "DO IT FOR THE VINE/I AIN'T GONNA DO IT" VIDEO
A popular (2014) example of a near-command compliance pattern is the "Do it for the Vine* " /"I ain't gonna do it" video/meme.

*From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vine_(software)
"Vine is a mobile app owned by Twitter that enables its users to create and post short looping video clips. Video clips created with Vine have a maximum clip length of six seconds and can be shared to Vine's social network, or to other services such as Twitter and Facebook."

In the original example that sparked this Internet meme, a young Black girl refuses to "Do it for the Vine" two times, saying "I ain't gonna do it" and uses African American arm & hand gestures to emphasize those words. However, the third time she is told to "Do it for the Vine", she complies and "breaks out" in a funky dance that includes twerking movements. The girl's words are edited that third time (and other loops of that portion of the video tape). However, it appears that she is still saying "I ain't gonna do it" while she is doing that dance. Note that if this were a true command compliance pattern, the girl would have said "Okay" before she started to dance.

A YouTube video of the original Vine of the little girl dancing which sparked a number of parodies & compilation videos can be found [below].

WHAT MESSAGES DO COMMAND COMPLIANCE CHEERS CONVEY?
In command compliance cheers, the soloist may not immediately go ahead and do what is commanded of her because to do so would give the impression that she is weak, a push over, and therefore someone who could be messed over. Being weak is the opposite of the self- confident, tough girl ("hard") image that is valued in confrontation foot stomping cheers.

Some of the parodies to the above mentioned "Do It for the Vine"/ "I ain't gonna do it" have the person ordering the individual to "do it for the Vine" resorting to violence (slapping, hitting) the person being ordered when he or she refuses to perform. Other parodies of that video show the person ordering the action holding a knife or otherwise threatening the person to perform. I not only don't find those parody videos funny, I also think that they miss what I think is the reason why the person initially refused to comply with that command - to emphasize that he or she is a person who has free will and thus doesn't have to acquiesce to commands unless he or she wants to. I think that this point of view may be particularly poignant because of the history of African Americans as slaves and because so often African American workers are in subservient employment positions.

DRAMA AND COMMAND COMPLIANCE CHEER PERFORMANCES
it's important to remember that foot stomping cheers are a form of dramatic play. Girls chanting these cheers must look their (often pretend) audience in the eye, speak with a moderate voice (not whisper or whine) and use a disdainful tone of voice. Body gestures such as "talk to the hand" can also be incorporated in these cheer performance to increase that performance's reality factor. However, it's important to remember that just because girls act like they are tough, doesn't mean that's the way they act in their everyday interactions.

VARIANT FORMS OF COMMAND/COMPLAINCE CHEERS
I've come across examples of command compliance cheers where the person is asked to do an action or asks if she (or he) is able to do that action. Using the "Rock The Boat" cheer as an example,asking the soloist to rock the boat (do that particular dance movement) or asking if she an do that dance motion creates a different tone for those cheers and also conveys an entirely different cultural message than ordering the soloist to rock the boat. It seems to me that these are crucial differences.

It's possible that "Can you rock the boat" could be interpreted as "Are you able to rock the boat?" However, in the context of that cheer, I don't think that the soloist's curt "No way" response means "There's no way that I'm able to do what you are commanding me to do." Instead, "No way" means that "There's no circumstances which would make me do what you ask. (There's no reason why I would do that.) The differences between commanding a person to do that action and politely asking the person to do it or asking if her or she is able to perform that action are important to the intended nature and purpose of these cheers.

I think that in "traditional" examples of these cheers, the fact that the girl initially refuses to do what is demanded of her demonstrates the value of being independent and not (immediately) acceding to orders (or expectations) that others have for you. In contrast, in a number of more contemporary examples of these cheers, the soloist's refusal to do what is asked of her comes across as rude or bad mannered, not to mention the violent responses to that refusal that may be found in re-enactments of these types of performances.

Although I believe that there are cultural values embedded in these types of cheers and their video/Vine off-shoots, I doubt that most people who chanted/chant these "demanding" command/compliance cheers or who make those "I ain't gonna do it" video are consciously aware of the cultural messages that those compositions/performances convey.
-snip-
Visit that cocojams page for text examples of command compliance cheers, including the "Introduce Yourself" cheer from the 2006 Bring It On: All Or Nothing cheerleader cheer movie. A video of that cheer performance is also included on that page.

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FEATURED VIDEO: Do It For The Vine Vine by Diamonique Shuler



VineVideoStation , January 26, 2014 [posted on YouTube]

Best Vines enjoy this.

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