General
shablam
What does shablam mean?
An older name for the dip, picked up especially on the West Coast where dancers folded the move into choreography. Here's the twist the heads will tell you: it was never really a move name at all. It's the onomatopoeic sound shouted by the MC or the crowd when someone hits a dip, the audio punctuation. Ballroom icon Jack Mizrahi, who originated the usage, says it was 'shawham' anyway, not shablam.
"Older girls still yell shablam when you hit the floor, but technically that's just the sound, not the move."
Origin
Ball culture / West Coast vogue; an onomatopoeic crowd/MC cue for hitting a dip, attributed to Jack Mizrahi (originally 'shawham').
Frequently asked questions
What does shablam mean?
Shablam is an older insider name for the dramatic spin-into-dip drop; it's really an onomatopoeic crowd cue rather than the move's actual name.
How do you use shablam in a sentence?
"She hit the shablam and the whole crowd lost it."
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