THE ELECTRIC SLIDE

Man says HE created it and YOU are doing it wrong!

By DeBorah B. Pryor

October 1, 2007
*Let’s face it: Some things are just better left unsaid.


But as you probably know, that would be too easy. How else would we feed our hungry human ego? Or stir up stuff that is bound to surely -- as the song penned by the great Michael Jackson points out -- “...be startin’ somethin’.”


In this particular case it all began so innocently. In a nutshell, one lone African American publisher (Lee Bailey) realized he was amongst a handful of Black folk who didn’t know how to do the dance: The Electric Slide. So he decided to confront this issue head on. He went online to search for a video that would teach him the dance that has so graciously slipped through every definable peephole of time, and continue to unite people on the dance floor and give them—if only for the duration of a song—a sense of power and individuality.

But as Mr. Bailey soon discovered, this search would not be easy. One by one he noticed that sites all over the globe had been forced to remove their videotape of the dance. It appeared the dance had been placed on lockdown; copyrighted by a man named Ric Silver.

Silver, who not only claims to be the originator of the dance insists that, when done correctly, it is comprised of 22 steps, instead of the 18 that all of humanity has locked into. Further, he has threatened to sue anyone who continues to post videotape teaching the erroneous version of the dance.

Now family: Close your mouth. There’s more.

Silver, the White man pictured above, says he was tapped by a club owner in 1976 to create a dance that would re-ignite a humdrum, Manhattan nightspot called “Beef Steak Charlie’s” in hopes of turning it into an exclusive, semi-private disco that targeted professional dancers. Silver, a professional dancer at the time who had worked with the likes of Martha Graham and Alvin Ailey, went home and blew the dust off of a Marsha Griffith / Bunny Wailer demo record called “The Electric Boogie” that had been given to him by a DJ friend in New York a few years earlier. He decided to use the record to choreograph his new dance called, “The Electric” to. The record, with lyrics that begin with, “It’s Electric...and continues with Griffith singing, “I’ll teach you The Electric Slide” became the driving force for the movement known as “The Electric Slide.” But this story can only be adequately told straight from the proverbial “Horse’s Mouth” so here goes...

Lee Bailey:

“I came across your story because I was looking for a video on how to do The Electric Slide and as I searched, I found more and more of the sites saying they were told by you to take their videos down and that you have a copyright on the dance itself. And the thing that surprised me most is that the guy that invented The Electric Slide was a White guy. This is going to surprise quite a few folks. It sure shocked the hell out of me.”

Ric Silver (Laughs):

“It shocked a number of people, especially You Tube.”

Bailey:

“So how did you come to...well, first of all, do people believe you?”

Silver:

“Yeah. I mean they sort of have to, when I have all the documentation behind it so...

Bailey:

“Well how do you prove it though, that you invented it?”

Silver:

“Well, I have my copyright, printed in 1976 (see journalists’ note below), and at the moment it’s in the Library of Congress being registered.”

Note: While there is a “copyright notice” dated 1976 on Silver’s website, registered March 2004 there is no mention within the body of the notice of what the copyright is for; leaving skeptics room to argue if the copyright shown is indeed for “The Electric” aka “The Electric Slide.”

Bailey:

“OK so you create the dance called “The Electric...”

Silver:

“Yes. I called it The Electric because the dance [song] starts out “Its electric. It’s electric,” and people in New York knew me as either ‘The Dancer’ or ‘The Electric Rebel.’ For some reason the Spanish population at discoteques gave me this nickname because they thought I looked like a ‘liquid egg’ when I danced...”

Bailey:

“Because they thought you looked like a what?”

Silver:

“A liquid egg.”

Bailey (Laughing):

“A liquid egg. OK.”

Silver:

“Yes...‘Rebel’ is Spanish for “egg” so they called me ‘The Electric Egg’ or ‘The Electric Rebel’ ... Since I had this nickname, and the song was called ‘The Electric Boogie’ and it starts out ‘It’s electric’ -- I titled it [the dance] ‘The Electric’ ...Marsha Griffith in the song says, ‘I’ll teach you The Electric Slide’ – which I created as a variation step. But everyone came up to me [saying] ‘Let’s do the Electric Slide... so eventually, about a week after I created it, I had to change the name to ‘The Electric’ aka ‘The Electric Slide’ and that’s been the name of it ever since.”

Bailey:

“OK. Now so is it copy written that way?”

Silver:

“Its copy written, ‘The Electric’ aka ‘The Electric Slide’.

Bailey:

“Uh-huh. Now, this is 1976?

Silver:

“Yes.”

Bailey:

“When--in your mind, did the dance become, I don’t know, ubiquitous? It’s like, it was everywhere. I became aware of the dance maybe it was like the late 80’s, early 90’s?

Silver:

“According to Line Dancer Magazine it [was] listed as THE number one dance in the world as of 1989...and it stayed at the top of the list—they have a list that they put out every year, of the Top 100 Dances in the World and ‘The Electric Slide’ was the #1 Dance of the year from 1989 through 1999 -- for 10 years straight.”

Bailey:

“Now, when did it become—and this is from my perspective, a ‘Black thing’ or, a ‘Black dance?’ I ask that because I go to White clubs, go to White parties, but I’ve never seen anybody other than Black people do The Electric Slide... I mean, with a frequency... in clubs.

Silver (asserting that White clubs do the dance, too):

“The only clubs you will see it in is Country-Western clubs. If you go to any of the Texas bars or Oklahoma, where they’re doing Line Dancing ... Prior to The Electric Slide the term didn’t exist; there was only one dance considered a Line Dance prior to The Electric Slide and that was ‘The Bus Stop.’”

Bailey:

“Did it, in your mind, become a ‘Black Dance?’

Silver:

“No.”

Bailey:

“So you never looked at it as...”

Silver:

“I never looked at it as a Black Dance. I just found out from Oprah’s show, what was it -- February of last year -- that it was a ‘Black dance.’ They had Tyler Perry on and I found out that Tyler Perry had used it in three of his productions: Madea’s Class Reunion, Madea’s Family Reunion--both stage productions had used the choreography and then when he did Diary of a Mad Black Woman ...the stage version was very different from the movie and when they did the movie they expanded the script and added a scene which he put ‘The Electric Slide’ into.”

Bailey:

“So, are you going to sue him?”

Silver:

“Yeah. (Laughs). I already sent him a bill. We’re not suing him, we’re not suing anybody. We’re sending out invoices to these people who have used it and used it inappropriately.”

Silver claims that at one point there were 17,000 internet sites that had videotape of the dance up. It took him 3 years to research and find these sites, and his efforts have resulted in all but 35 or 40 remaining sites which he calls, “die-hards that believe they know it correctly.” He maintains his representatives will be talking to these folks.

While one might wonder why Silver is making such a fuss over what amounts to a few steps (18 steps vs. 22 steps) Silver contends:

“My birthday is January 22nd, so I created the dance with 22 steps. So what has happened is there is a step that is repeated when you step forward and step back and touch. That step is supposed to be repeated—and they’ve dropped the repeat so it comes out to an 18-step-dance instead of a 22-step dance.”

Bailey says:

”Well that’s that ‘Black thang’ that we put in there (laughs)

Silver:

“Well I spoke to a couple of people who are country/western dancers and they told me that they dropped that step because they didn’t feel it fit the music and yet I’ve spoken to Black dancers who say they’ve always felt that something was missing right there but it didn’t fit the music with the 18-step so...being an accountant most of my life (cause theatre doesn’t pay the bills) I have to have everything equal; so its supposed to be three 3’s, two 2’s a 1 and a hop; but what they’re doing is three 3’s, one 2, a 1, and a turn.”

Bailey:

“But why is that a big deal?”

Silver:

“I had...[a] dream -- and this is not for publication”

Note: We were cleared, read on...

Silver:

“God spoke to me and said that I would be the last person to leave this earth before the rapture, and He wants me to dance through the gates. And anyone who is doing my dance correctly will get through, and anyone who is not will be cut down.”

Bailey:

“OK. Why is that off the record?”

Silver:

“Because it’s not something that I want publicly known. People will think I’m crazy.”

Bailey:

“Well, they’re going to think you’re crazy anyway. But at least you have some basis for believing it.”

Silver:

“Yeah.”

Bailey:

“I...think that’s something you need for people to know. I mean, they’re going to think you’re crazy anyway, so why not give them the basis for your belief?”

Silver:

“Well...(laughs)”

Bailey (interjects):

“OK well, we’ll use it. Thanks.”

Silver:

“OK.”

Bailey:

“So the bottom line is ‘everybody and they mama’ so to speak, is doing The Electric Slide incorrectly. Are you going to try to sue everybody ...?”

Silver...

“No...we’re still in negotiations as to these people videoing it and putting it on public access. Because as far as I’m concerned, every time someone puts up the video teaching it in an 18-step version they’re pouncing that incorrect version along and I don’t want that. I created the dance and I have a right, legally, to say they’re bastardizing my choreography.”

Bailey:

“So all they have to do is do the 22 steps and you’re happy?”

Silver:

“Yeah. That’s the way the dance was created. That’s the way it’s written to go with the music. I’ve tried the 18-step and it just doesn’t work the same way the 22-step does. It throws ME off when I’m trying to do the dance and I’m tired of going to weddings and parties and having people out on the floor doing The Electric Slide and bumping into me and saying ‘you don’t know how to do The Electric Slide, you’re doing it incorrectly.’”

(Journalists note: There goes that ego I mentioned at the onset).

Bailey (Laughs)

“And then do you say, ‘Do you know who I am?’”

Silver:

“Right. “

Silver says he actually stopped a wedding in his own family when the DJ put on “The Electric Slide” song and his sister and a group of friends got up to do the dance. Silver did it too. But when they kept bumping into him and saying he didn’t know how to do the dance, he got up on the platform and told the DJ to stop the music, announcing, ‘Do you know who created this dance?’ His cousin then got up and said, “I’m sorry but Ric created this dance and so if he’s doing it wrong it’s not his fault. It’s your fault for thinking so. After which Silver taught them the “correct way” to do the choreography.

Bailey:

“Well, is it easy for people to add the steps?”

Silver:

“Sure, it’s the easiest thing in the world because all you have to do is remember to repeat that step...”

Bailey:

“...Do you ...have any real hope that you’re going to be able to achieve your God-inspired mission to get people to do it correctly?”

Silver:

“Yeah, because right now we’re waiting for a piece of paper from the Library of Congress. My registration has been held up now for over a year-and-a-half....I’ve had to write my senators, get a lawyer involved, and at this point we’re in appeal...and so hopefully by the end of the month the appeal will be finalized and I will have my piece of paper and at that point I can go to these sites that have been listing it incorrectly and have them take it down. I can go to these companies that have been putting out line-dance videos and make them pay me for teaching it incorrectly and make them put out videos teaching it correctly. And so I’m hoping that within the next 2 or 3 years the 18-step will disappear and people will learn it the way it was originally written.”

Bailey:

“And you’re not doing this for money. This is because God told you?”

Silver:

“Right. I never started this for money. I have done numerous dances through my career. I created the only square dance that’s been created in the last 50 years and gave it to a Country/Western group in California.”

(The dance is called The Texas “Silver” Star).

Bailey:

“Do you have a copyright on that?”

Silver:

“No”

Bailey:

“Why?”

“He asked me if I wanted to put my name on it and I said ‘no’. Just list it as anonymous because it has my name in the title’ and that was enough for me. The ‘Texas Star’ was a square dance I grew up with so I put ‘Silver’ in quotations in the middle of that title so the ‘Texas Silver Star’ ... is enough...I know it’s my dance.”

And then readers, without any provocation from Lee Bailey at all, the following was offered by the self-proclaimed Electric Slide creator. Hold on to your seat:

Silver:

“I was the first person to ever do Break Dancing in New York City. I used to go to a club down on 14th Street and they used to clear the floor for me...One night I got tired of standing up and dancing...I had this huge dance floor in front of me and I was going down on the floor and rolling around...the next day, I was walking to work and kids were outside on the sidewalk with a piece of cardboard doing what I had done the night before.”

Bailey:

“Now you know, of course, people are going to look at you sideways when they hear that you are trying to claim that you invented break-dancing?”

Silver:

“I don’t care. I know the truth. God knows the truth.”

Bailey:

“Well, at the very least, you’re a very, very interesting guy Ric Silver.”

At the end of every interview, Bailey asks his subject if there is anything they would like to add that was not asked. At first Silver says, “No,” but then asserts...

Silver:

“Well, I created the Robot.”

(Bailey can’t hold his laughter).

Bailey:

“Ric. Ric.”

Silver (Attempting to speak over Bailey’s near hysteria):

“It’s all on my resume.”

Bailey (unable to stop himself asks):

“So what was the last dance you invented?”

Silver:

“Uh ... (repeating the question). The last dance I invented was probably...Lockin’ and Poppin’.”

Bailey:

“So you invented Pop-Locking too?”

Silver:

“Yes.“

Bailey:

“Wow. Wow. Wow. But you only have a copyright on ‘The Electric Slide’ none of the others?”

Silver:

“Yeah, 'cause the others were all done at a club in Manhattan and I was just showin’ off and teachin’ other kids that were there dancing with me...how to move.”

Bailey:

“Now most people associate Pop-locking and The Robot with being originated on the West Coast, but perhaps they’re wrong, I don’t know...”

Silver:

“Well, they’re wrong. “

Bailey:

“OK.”

Silver:

“It originated in Manhattan.”

Bailey:

“With YOU.”

Silver:

“With ME. “

Bailey:

“OK. Alright. “

And that, my friends, concludes this piece. This writer would be remiss if she did not mention two things: Many may argue that the dance shown on Mr. Silver’s site looks nothing like the one in question. And two, and this is just a sidebar: I had dinner with actor Chris Tucker the other evening and happened to mention that I was working on this story. All I can say is, after that conversation, if Mr. Silver tries to place any claim on “The Snake” he’ll have Mr. Tucker to answer to.



The Electric AKA The ELECTRIC SLIDE STEPS