Original Soul Train Dancers Reminisce On What It Took To Dance On Soul Train! | American Soul 

Back in 74 at my Junior high dance, I boogied like ReRun 1:43 !! in the line dance. I can truly say Soul Train taught me. I'm going on 59 ! Haven't lost it...Slight knee pain though 🤣😂🤣😎✌🏽✊🏽✊🏽

i love it because i LOVED the show but i thought Don Cornelius was a jerk, and i was right about that. of course, i also became a little socialist in middle school. not paying the, THE ‘Soul Train Dancers’ that is some fucked up shit right there...i wish they’d ALL got together and done a STRIKE !! ✊🏾🌎❤️ you KNOW that musicians wouldn’t have crossed that picket line. being on tv is NOT enough. ka-ching !!

I wonder what ever happened to Cookie Morris. She was one of the first superstar dancers on that show.

​@@MrMooney196144😅

They got exposure

Odyssey to Jérémie no they didn't

@For the Love of Curls You obviously don't know valuable free advertising is. The dancers themselves said it was the exposure they got on the show that opened doors for them and their careers.

For the Love of Curls As the show became more popular, exposure became more relevant to the dancers, but in the beginning it wasn’t as much for the original dancers since the show was new. They didn’t know how iconic the show was going to be in the future so kudos to the original dancers who paved the way

At that time, things were different and the era was about blood and sweat exposer and the only incentive was to be on television without pay. His or her pay was exposer on the most popular show"Soul Train" at that time. If any dancer who was a dancer and he or she wanted a dream, that dream was to be on "Soul Train"! People had true talent at that time. Men and women didn't need to expose their ass to make it in the business. Not like today!!!

All that good exercise.

Black don't crack!

They are, they look so good

When i was a youngboy i learned how to poplock from these dudes err sattaday morning. SOUL TRAIN FOREVER!!

@@anthonyali7309 hahahaha

Same thing for me in the 70's.

That was exactly the order it fell!l 😆

You forgot Kung-Fu theater then go outside and act out everything you just watched.

WORD and in that order !!! Miss those days.

You must have lived in my neighborhood 😂 all in that order🤗

Exactly. They were the best, by a looooong way.

The Chicago dancers got it started on channel 26 and the rest is history

DAMITA JO FREEMAN taught me to dance !!!🇯🇲✌🏿

80 were good to

No doubt. In LA, it became too "Hollywood".

nick j dancers seem to age well for the most part.

@@BDizzleNY06 yeppppppp, good point!!!!

All that dancing keeps you young

@@notmyrealname11 yepppppp!!!!

True... but, they were so happy to just get their faces in front of the camera.... Haha... Mr. Cornelius knew that these dancers would've paid a cover charge to get in. Sheesh... club owners still capitalize on this.

Yup 1970

Dang!!

@@MrMooney196144 It went into syndication I think in the fall of '71, sometime in October. It's said it only reached 7 cities when it first aired, LA, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Cleveland, Philly and Atlanta. It expanded to other markets quickly from there. I lived in Connecticut when it first came on but went to Detroit that October for my grand father's funeral and saw one of the first shows and was in awe, I would have been 12 then. I remember Rufus Thomas was on and sang "The Breakdown", that had to be about the 1st, 2nd or 3rd show that aired.

Wow! You’re Right ✨🎶❤️

I feel old now

Facts

eggzackly ✌️™

Not at all!

Yes. Very true statement!

Yes!!

TenTaur Tv BROOOO....I’m telling you!!!!

they didnt wear all that makeup back then or get all them surgerys

Joy of joy, living their lives right. A message for us all, I'm sat here on my fat arse in 2019 in the UK watching this with my eyes out on stalks.

You feel me I'ma start dancing 😂😂😂

According to Rosie Perez, two piece meals from KFC

Right ! The early '90s and mid '90s was good but late '90s and early 200s I didn't too much care bout them but my younger siblings then were kids then they loved the show and still do . But the '80s and '70s they were the best hands down

70's was the real deal

Nothing can top 1971-1993. #enoughsaid

The Don Cornelius Era was the best the new jack Era. After Don left it went down hill. And plus you had all these other cable dance shows

i noticed a lot of the OG soul train dancers basically called it quits by 1990 or early 1990s.

Choo Choo234 I thought they did receive royalties not for the original airings but I don’t know why I thought that and that was partly why Soul Train wasn’t in syndication?

" Yes " they should!

All entertainers should

@@OriginalPinkbird Ummm but they WERE in syndication, just hard as heck to find.

Interesting... Well Don Cornelius is gone now, I don't know if they could renegotiate. Also, since everyone right now is on the "Black lives matters" tip, maybe Netflix could bring the episodes? There were some iconic performers on there and I would love to watch them again..

Yes, they look the same.

Get down on the floor Coming down the soul train line just like it was yesterday you all look great💯👯💃

20!

Was the first thing I noticed.

Dancing for fried chicken keeps you young.

AMEN!!!!! REAL and unspoiled!!!! 💗💗💗🚂💗💗💗💗💗💗

Except Rerun

U ain't lyin no fat fucks gluten free diabetic thyroid or any other excuse just fit

trinigyul back then we use to care about each other

@@onetwo12onetwo526 umm being diabetic or hypo/hyper thyroid are not "excuses" they're medical conditions

well said 👍🏾

Tell me more brotha man

Yes please

@Michaelle Mcgill sad to say.

I feel the same way 😭

Thanks for the Saturday morning entertainment ✊🏿✊🏿

Hey Paul, what year was this you were on for the contest?

Please create a RU-vid Channel and do a story time about your experience. We would love to hear about it.

Monique still look soo young.

I grew up in the Pittsburgh area and I was glued to the TV set EVERY Saturday morning. Thank you so much 🙏🏽

@Killer Joe Really? 🤦🏾‍♀️

@Killer Joe I agree. Sooo disappointing to hear because Don had the power to change this. A two piece chicken box? How insulting. I want a movie done about this to showcase the good and bad. A really movie too, not on lifetime or ber. Glad to hear the exposure gave them other opportunities to make $ and they look great for their age. All the dancing kept them young + black dont crack. 😃

@Killer Joe glad you can read through the typos. Ugh, hate that shit. My bad! 😊✌🏾

@Killer Joe 🤣🤣🤣

Yes we had chicken all 4 tapeing😂😂

That's cool! I don't hear that too often. Everybody should be proud of who they are.😊👍

Same.

n-damn-deed 👑

@BADAZZTHANG I had several, very good black friends. Unfortunately, they all went their own way, got married, moved out of state, and we lost touch. I'm around black people that are friendly with me that frequent the same convenience store as I do. But like I said, I just don't hear people say that too often. I'm a recluse, so I don't have many opportunities to meet and make new friends. I'm proud of who I am too. But I have to be careful about how I say it because of PC culture.😊

@BADAZZTHANG 😁 Thank you! 🙏 We, the people, have the power!✊

i don't think having an afro meant she didn't care about being attractive. that was just a stupid comment.

@@krs777hotmail maybe you didn't take it that way because you're used to this sorta thinking and you lack critical thinking skills.

There are places and times when black women were considered beautiful just because of what the creator gave us. How you think we got here.

@@orangemoonglows2692 Thank you. It was a thoroughly insulting comment.

Wow...some folks over-analyze everything. I think one has to dig pretty deep to find the insult in that statement. Actually, I find it more insulting to have someone categorized as, "dumb black people" or "not having critical thinking skills" just because they don't think the way some do. Gee, I guess because we all aren't micro-analysing every word that comes across our line of vision, or within earshot, we aren't "woke". 😂 One can find negativity in anything, if that's what they wish to see. Just a little something I learned from experience. Pity not needed, or accepted...

And chores HAD to be done b4

Cal Brown You wore an outfit to watch the TV show?

Yup!

Yup! Yup!

So true! 😂

That’s heartwarming to hear so much love and respect for the show!!

Pamela Talley Spence Real Talk

Daniel Marsala 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

We all were...and I always solved the puzzle at home.lol

Haha,yes I also was a Soul Train Dancer inside of my Living Room. My RIP parents,siblings and family members we would even Soul Train ourselves forming the Soul Train Line in the 1980s. And,we would dance down our line one at a time,during family togetherness🌹

Also!

Shit HAD to be lit in ya'll house!

Oh my lord marvin gaye❤❤❤❤

@@amandah2454 😍 Marvin

I do as well

You're in your 50s and you're still alive that's wonderful

That was our family Saturday routine. Clean house, watch Soul Train. My children were raised with this show, I always thought my grandchildren would be too. But no. 😿

Ours too.RIP to your mother,sis.❤

Cleaning up on Saturday mornings. Lord the memories. ❤

Thanks for that memory

olivia wonderful We too had to do our chores before we could watch ST. And don’t forget the J5 cartoon. I stopped watching ST probably mid 80s.

They couldn't do it today what with the music that they make now. Now they don't do r and b, it's all hip hop.

Me to

Me too :)

@@robinquinc329 Oh it's still R&B...Rap and BULLSHIT!

Thank you! Ha ha!

Lol

Ava Martin absolutely that's a damn shame fucked up

yeah they got paid in chicken but he kept him hungry for money so they thought past minimum wage to a fortune in notoriety

Uh, no. "It be" people who don't think for themselves.

@Freddie Davis your totally right shamar Moore really did fuck up soul train for the 6-7 years he hosted.he only really cared how he looked on tv and having all the ladies dancing around him!!!!

@@richiebee1984 you blaming hip hop? they still could have did the damn thing, it's just that the producers was older and didn't know what to do with it, right now Soul Train can be a hit if somebody knew what to do with it, especially with the new generation coming up now, but you got to pay these kids today ain't going for that chicken shit no more.☀tribe

YEP!!!!

Speak for yourself! Everyone has their favorite era/s!!

The 70ies was cool, it laid the foundation for everything that came after, but the 80ies, imo took things to the highest level the early 90ies were alright but after that soul train seemed to have jumped the shark.

@@theking0ne327 + Absolutely!

I loved the 80s era. Especially mid 80s soul train

Lol...I know right she meant business

Luv Rosie!

danced like her whole life was at stake

Yes, she did I loved her dancing

Rosie Perez was like a Jennifer Lopez before Jennifer Lopez but so much better :)

Glad you enjoyed!

I am 53 years old all the years were good except that few years when they don step down and let that actor host the show that's when i pretty much stop watching it.

Patrick Boyd I'm 80s baby I stop once Don stopped I started again it was so so

@@juanlee8035 During that time it was a different generation of people and the music wasn't as good anymore.

Rodney Norman me to I love the 80s 90s 2000s

Patrick Boyd the 90s 2000s was awesome well 07 it wasn't as good. Yes it was a different generation the music was way better than compare too now

Yes

Please, please don't think I am being disrespectful, I truly don't mean to come across that way, but at 60 years old myself, and a huge fan of Soul Train, I watched it every Sat. I still do catch a rerun now and then, and enjoy it now maybe more than back then. As someone who loves to dance and has been told I'm pretty good at it, I loved the dancing on the show, especially the line!!! Lastly I'd like to add that I believe black people and hispanic's age very, very well!! The skin seems to stay wrinkle free and glowing!! And as a white woman, watching her ass flaten by the day, I am envious,lol. I wish I knew what it was in the ethnicity that keeps you lovlies from aging!! Cheers to all of you dancers out there!!

Janet Carlson. As a Irish& Mexican Female as always dancing and moving to the beat of music from all kinds.. It's in the pigmentation of people's skin how the age prosses goes as we'll plenty of creams.. always using baby oil on the skin especially in the winter months. And Summer months with some spf .. It's in your DNA .. there are plenty of people all different races that have beautiful skin . its in how you take care of your skin . and DNA .. my own cousin I've always told her how beautiful her skin is she is a natural red head pale tone yet even going through many different heath issues she still is beautiful even when she does not feel like it.she has always danced worked has a strong mindset..she is 50 doesn't look it at all .. Age is just a number anyways really its how you feel .. Keep dancing even if you don't think you can ..move something to the music find a beat and go with the flow...it's not a cure all but it will help you stay fit .. Let's Not forget about The Solid Gold Dancers 💃💃💃💃💃💃💃✌

@@natashabenitez7650 Thanks for replying!! As a young teenager well into my 40's I was always lying in the sun, without any protection mind you!! I live in FL. and my skin is showing all the sun damage that I have allowed to happen!! I've never taken care of my skin, just too lazy. Now I certainly regret it!! I have 2 daughter-in-laws. One is Scicllian and the other is mostly Cherokee. Their skin is poreless, where as you could fall into mine,lol I don't know if I am too late to repair any damage or not. But at least, even with a very painful spinal disease, I still love to dance. I was on a Prince kick last night!! Thanks again, and keep on dancing!! btw, wish I could see your entire face, but you have captivating eyes!!!

Shabba Doo😍

I know right.

Hopefully there'll be a part 2 and another one every week!

BETTER THAN THE MOVIE.....that real feel. Salute

I agree totally

No, the talent from the show was gone, now, people have SHIT for talent.

Cherish Faleono ikr😅

Every Saturday morning! Then come Saturday night...in the club with those new moves! 😼

Absolutely! 😊

TRUE

"cartoons all morning, followed by Souĺ Train" Sadly, today's kids will never experience the joy we had...since now they're both gone.

Weeellll...that was the very early nineties too. Missing those days

I'm a 70's and 80's kid. I was born in 1969. I remember the Asian lady with the long hair and the light skinned guy me and sister called him Head....Great memories! 😀

@@tonyac9153 who doesn't remember her... lol? I was IN LOVE with her as a kid! I think she was the most popular one, and she was in the Super Freak video.

@@toastEDmrshmello09 the women on there at that time were fine and BEAUTIFUL!

Especially when Rosie Perez would shake that ASS!😋

What's up Sam Jackson

🎱🎱🎱🎱

@@dwaynedavis2721 where is she now....

@@lvncsr6166 Last heard she was working at LAX airport as an executive assistant, but that info is 10 years old.

@A O K I know. Thanks.

I always looked for the long hair swinging

Me too

We had our first "color " tv when my mom bought a rainbow colored film to go on the screen of our black and white tv! Anyone remember that?

Hahaha bahahaha....yeah our children would pass out and be in comas

😂😂😂 ... Girl, you ain't part of Black culture if you didn't have that big ol' t.v. with the coat hanger and pliers needed to change the channels! You REALLY brought back some memories! Oh my goodness! 😂

@@darmadusa We didn't always get the picture right with the coat hanger but we were experts with those pliers LOL

@@gokaren420 LOL They would just want to throw the whole t.v. away.

Thundergod6088 fucked up situation

right. no fighting over who's making more and I'm a better act. more people recognize me so I should make. . . Soul Train dancers were a team

Did you hearnwhat Shabadoo said?? It helped them mold real csreers away from getting scale

Everybody in the music video do not get paid

@@Demarcointuit it helped shabadoo, it didn't help all of them

Yes, the growth of hip hop changed the game.

@@MB-fv9jh I noticed the DIFFERENCE as well, it had less or no *SOUL*.

Yeah I think soo too

90s era was r&b and hip hop, it wasnt just hip hop, but more a mixture of both.

it was i remember when they tried to do that next generation shit and it just wasnt hittin right smh

Truth Man,I was born in the later 1960s and I grew up as little girl in the 1970s. I loved every moment of that Melanin Love Pride from the 1970s Soul Train Dancers. Also I grew up with that James Brown Song,say it loud I am Black and I am proud. We really did have that respect and love in our Communities,during the 1970s Decade 🌹💖💕

Truth Man I love all y'all true heartfelt comments. I want us back again too! Especially, being knowing who we are. I love my own ! ❤

I love this comment. ❤️

Truth Man love u back

Yes, I agree.

Happy memories!!!! 😊👍

Riiiiiiight, we did the same thing eat breakfast clean up til soul train came then when it went off played outside.

She also danced on American Bandstand.

I remembered also standing there in front of the Television set in my Teenager Lady Years in the 1980s. And trying to mimic their dancing moves. Also,in the earlier 1980s there was another woman whom hair were similar looking to the Asian lady hair. Now,she was Exotic and extremely gorgeous,she could really dance too and her hair was even longer than the Asian lady hair. I believed her name was Dina Rivera🌹

@@ericar.hutcherson874 she did?? I never saw her on there. there were a couple that danced on both damita jo freeman and a couple others.

@@retroguy1976 Yes in the early 70s. Some of the danced on Bandstand.

She stood out with her long hair for sure and because she was Asian. But she couldn't dance, all she ever did was flip her hair around.

Why is everything about RACE!!!!!!!!

Yes we are,yes we are.....

Music doesn't see race! Only the ignorant believe that! Loved Soul train for the music,not color

Yo Riana Anais,why is your hair straight?????

@NEGUS MBARKA wtf does that have to do with anything

That's an awesome idea!

Absolutely 🤩

@@michaelangelotaylor8th 88g Alvin Slaughter

@@colinricketts6121 oh?... meaning? 🤔

I agree that they should bring the Soul train dancer's in an opening act for the Soul train Awards. Loved the 70's dancers much better. Charles is 2yrs older than I am, I didn't recognize him. He danced in the 80's. I wish I could see Domita Joe and La Tonya the best female dancers of them all. Salute to the 70's Soul train dancer's. I stopped watching Soul Train in late 80's.

I miss those days too... 💖

Every winner of the scramble board got the same damn thing in the 70s...The Afrosheen Blowout kit.

The participants already knew the answer before the game..Don Cornelius didn't want them to work out the scramble long because of time.

@@mikegee3991 😂

What word did they have to unscramble

DATDUDE2024 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xWPxmT-Rvtw.html

Yes they were 💯

@Killer Joe nahJoe they just got lazy and thought shaking ass was the same as dancing.

Anybody could do what the 90's dancers was doing. Now them 70's dancers......"do not attempt this at home". LoL

Rosie Perez came on and shook her azz to the death of Soul Train 🚂 the spotlight stayed on her. Real dancing became obsolete 💃🏽🕺🏾

...lol...

Yass!

Jody was the fashion icon! I wanted her big hair and dresses.

Jody was EVERYTHING! She was the full package and brought it everytime🕺🏾💃🏾

They are who i was looking for!!!

@@kristelquartz6085 yes, me toooo!!!

It's business. Not everyone gets paid.

On American Soul, one of the Soul Train Dancers said that the American Bandstand dancers got paid with benefits. Did ya see last night's episode when the dancers were protesting outside the studio demanding to be paid?

Unbelievable the dance made to show and 😳 you mean you tell me Don was that damn cheap 🙀just giving them a two piece in a soda ,WOW!!! That’s a Stonecoal trip🥴

Imagine if the social media we had today existed back then, they would have gained more from that kind of exposure.

Stephen Short I did. I think that was low down of Don.😱

Sure they do

Yeah they do loo

Ya DAMN RIGHT, she had *SOUL* she was the literal definition of Black Soul Sister !

Ms. Damita Jo Freeman was also in a movie called Ratboy in 1986

And the movie Private Benjamin... the tv show too...she also did a few episodes of the tv show L.A. Law....

I watched the new series American Soul and the dancing sucks.

Me!!!

@@marlomills6800 Both men & women danced, for free.

studies show kids who get paid to do their chores; don't. my big daddy say you'll find a way to make money at what you enjoy doing. Don forced them to expand their horizons

@@kellynorvell5714 if you're talking about his suicide; that's all kinds of WRONG!

Well, you reap what you sow!

Theses niggaz always do that marry a white woman and a black man dies and she gets all that money and puts it back in white communitys, pimpin pimpin, when are black men going to learn? the women Out last the men

Yep the 70s was the best now they were the original Soul Train dancers

Agreed! Domita Joe and Pat were my favorites.

LMAO LMAO

......is she alive still?

Calling all power people Opra, Tyler Perry, Denzel Washington, Jay Z Beyonce, Floyd Mayweather, Will & Jada, Michael Jordan lets put some of those coins together and use your connections to put together another soul train so we can show case our long lost r&b culture and our love of hip hop music. I can remember when Mrs Stephanie Mills quoted they killed r&b music they didnt want to here it from us they want to hear it from justin Timberlake adele and peple like that and she was so right.