If you are going to read this without any real knowledge of what ’skanking’ is, you can note that ’skanking’ is a kind of dance you do while listening to ska. It’s what we, “skanker’s”, do. Skank. A dance. NOT whoring or anything.

How To Skank:

Step One:
Be loosey goosey. Don’t be stiff from trying to get the beat exactly right – remember, skanking is fun and relaxing.

Step Two:
Make fists and position your arms like you’re about to run the mile. Elbows in the air!

Step Three:
To the beat of the song, kick a knee into the air. And then the other knee. And so on. You may have to do a mix between running in place and skipping. Although, running in place does not count at skanking.

Step Four:
Move your arms with your knees. Moving them would be swinging your fists like you were jogging. Only. To a beat, of course. If it doesn’t come naturally, your arms should correspond with your knees – left knee/right arm – right knee/left arm.

Step Five:
Now do everything at once!

If you have no idea how to do this, it can be frustrating to get down – but practice makes perfect! It also helps to go to SKA shows and see fellow skanker’s.

Keep in mind, there are other variations to Skanking.
This tutorial was based on the 90’s Era of skanking. A lot confuse it with the running man, but it is still skanking – I don’t care who you are.

Other versions of skanking:

80’s Era of Skanking:
The only difference between 80’s and 90’s is that 80’s is more like a skip and you’ll be jutting your feet out rather than your knees.

Skinhead’s: [Yeah, skinhead's get some love'in, too]
Skinhead’s will usually do more of a stomp. Same thing.. only your killing the ground beneath you with your boots.

SKA-CORE:
Ska-core will usually be associated with ska that morphs with hardcore. This ignites a mosh, but you still want to skank to the awesome upbeats. So, somehow, you end up making a skank-pit. Violent skanking. Elbows in the air. Watch out for your nose!

Remember, you’re not limited to these. I’m sure their are plenty more versions of skanking out there and that you could make up your own with small twists here and there. The fact is, skanking is just skanking. When you learn how to skank, you know it. These are just tips on how to get started if you’re new to this.

If you don’t know what to skank to, try checking out these bands:
The Specials, The Toasters, The Skatalites and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones

Now you are ready to become a RUDE BOY.

[How To Skank - The MySpace: Join the community and share your own skanking variations!]
- skankity spence

(P.s. Anything to add to this article? Feel free to comment!)

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