In the Get Rythmn thread I commented on the changes in the ways African Americans, and perhaps others, respond to music.

For instance, it appears to me that among African Americans,the phrase "tapping" {ones'} toes or "tapping [one's} feet is outdated. Instead I hear and read about "stomping {one's} feet." Foot stomping is made by hitting the sole of your foot hard on the floor producing a bass like sound. This movement may have gained more prominence with the emphasis on bass sounds in popular dance music {R&B, House Music, hip-hop, dancehall reggae etc}. Also foot stomping sounds may owe their popularity to the increased popularity in communities of steppin' that was once were only performed by Black university Greek letter fraternities and sororities and fraternity's little sister groups, but are now spreading like wildfire among high schools, middle schools, and youth community groups. Steppin is the creation of syncrhronized and syncopated performance routines that feature foot stomping, hand clapping, body patting, and chanting.

It seems to me that "foot stomping" is more assertive {self-confident} then tapping one's toes. Besides, this "sole of foot" movement conforms with what I've read about African based dancing which is flat footed...

In that same Get Rhythm thread I wrote that "finger poppin", otherwise known as "finger snapping" also seems to have disappeared among African Americans. Snapping one's finger appears to have been replaced by the assertion to "wave your hands in the air, and shake'em like you just don't care". "Waving your hands" is produced by holding both of your hands straight up above your head and moving them from side to side to the beat. I believe that this movement came from the church practice of holding one hand or both of your hands palms out above your head to receive {catch hold of} God's blessings.

In addition, I mentioned in that Get Rhythm post that I think that we {African Americans} are also not engaging in on beat or off beat hand clapping to secular songs or to religious songs like we used to.
I think this is partly because of the influence of mainstream {read White} culture. But maybe it may also be because most of our {African American} experience with music is with recorded music, and there's just so much going on with that music already that handclapping would be redundant.

Oh, yes, sometimes we still dance to music, but what also has struck me as interesting is the fact {shared by my daughter} that at dances it is usually females who approach males to ask them to dance, and not the other way around.

Has anyone else noticed any of this in their community?