ETTRICK, Virginia — “Everybody knows that we shake the best! Hey, Heeeey! Cause we shake the best. Hey Heeeey! We shake the best! We shake the best!”
With a rhythmic style that blends stepping movements inspired by Black fraternities and sororities with chants delivered in deep, resonant voices, the Virginia State University cheer squad delivered what many at the school’s homecoming football game came to see: the rhythmic cheer style called stomp and shake.
On a brisk October day, the WooWoos cheered up and down the track, sporting slouchy socks paired with Reeboks during halftime at Virginia State University’s annual homecoming game. Their dazzling smiles, framed by classic red lipstick, got the crowd on their feet.
This year’s game between VSU and Livingstone College, a smaller HBCU in North Carolina, brought together two regional cheerleading traditions that date back to the 1970s. Asking which region invented stomp and shake can still spark an argument today.
“I refuse to go into that debate,” said Paulette Walker-Johnson, who coached the VSU squad for 35 years. “I know what God was doing in Daniel Gymnasium in 1974, beginning in 1974 with me. That’s all I can attest to.”
What’s not debatable, though, is the enduring legacy of the women who built stomp and shake throughout the years. Its style evolved beyond its Southern HBCU roots, influencing cheerleading programs nationwide. From toddlers to high school cheer squads, what started decades ago is multigenerational.
Every year, Glennis Singleton Crosby returns to her alma mater as an ambassador for VSU during homecoming. It’s a tradition she’s kept alive for years as she walks alongside Walker-Johnson, her former cheer coach from the 1980s.
At the football game tailgate, they worked the VIP tent, greeting people. But the real main attraction was the second half of the game. Former cheerleaders from the 1990s and early 2000s stepped on the track to show the crowd that they never stopped being a WooWoo even after crossing the graduation stage.
During halftime, Walker-Johnson was reunited with one of her first squads as they celebrated 50 years. In 2010, she retired from coaching but continues to work at the VSU, adding that her leadership was a form of ministry guided by God.
The cheerleaders’ fashion sense (often attributed to Walker-Johnson) may have stood out, but it really comes down to the rhythm and formations.
What is the “stomp and shake” style
Keeping the spirit alive, stomp and shake doesn’t shy away from elaborate stunts.
Looking back, Crosby recalled the insane stunts the WooWoos brought to cheerleading. They dunked the ball at basketball games and cheered with umbrellas.
Further south, Winston-Salem State University cheerleaders showcase their own regional style. Keeping up with tumbling and multilayered stunts, the Powerhouse of Red & White squad at Winston-Salem State are credited with creating the Carolina style of cheerleading.
“[Stomp and Shake] requires more rhythmic movements,” said NeSheila Washington, Winston-Salem’s head of cheerleading. “You got to be able to stomp, clap, shake, do motions and all of the above through everything in one. So you have to think about a lot to be able to pull it off.”
But depending on the state, the styles are very different.
Back at the homecoming game in mid-October, Livingstone’s cheerleaders, the Lalas, united for a unity cheer. It’s a tradition, Walker-Johnson said, that has been there from the beginning to keep competitive cheer friendly.
Cheering side by side, the WooWoos stood out for their preppy hops and sharp moves, while Livingstone brought more edge with stomps and a rhythmic style.
Together, both teams’ voices were deeper than the traditional cheer found at predominantly white schools. Instead, the cheerleader’s chants were deep and rich with layered adlibs. The cheers were uniquely Black.
“We all do the same style, but we all have our minor tweaks to it that we do,” explained Alexis Shelton, 21, a senior criminal justice major and cheerleader at Livingstone.
Nodding to the other pioneering cheer team, Shelton said Winston-Salem State cheerleaders use different claps and different stomps than the Virginia State WooWoos: “We all have our own signature moves that we do.”
While Walker-Johnson created a style that would spread throughout the Virginia region, Debra Rivers Johnson, the head coach at WSSU, crafted a similar style that would go on to influence the Black colleges in the Carolinas and other parts of the South.
Standing apart from their predecessors in North Carolina, Sakina Riley the head cheer coach for Livingstone, said the LaLa cheerleaders have a sophisticated style that’s alluring. Their cheers play with level change and use various tones, she said.
A 50-year legacy is born
Before the annual homecoming game, Walker-Johnson couldn’t help but reminisce about how she started at VSU. She was hired at just 22, and part of her new job was coaching the university’s cheerleaders.
Unsure what to do with the new responsibility or how to coach college students close to her own age, she drew on her knowledge as a cheerleader when she was at Morgan State from 1969 to 1973. Howard University cheerleaders also inspired her routines.
It was Walker-Johnson who would eventually inspire Crosby just years later.
“It was a whole new style that we hadn’t been introduced to,” Crosby recalled. The first time she saw the WooWoos was in high school in 1978.
During her senior year, Crosby’s mother gave her the option to either join the military or attend college. She picked VSU. She never forgot the college with the cheerleaders with the unique style, and she wanted to be one. She pictured their smiling faces contrasting with their sharp arms and the thundershakes.
She debuted as a WooWoo her sophomore year at VSU. Crosby says being on the team kept her in line. She developed a discipline that she carried into her adulthood as a business owner, she said.
The next generation of WooWoos tests tradition
Though the styles originated at historically Black colleges decades ago, the style has reached cheerleaders as young as 3 years old. Carrying the legacy of rhythmic stomps and layered adlibs, the young cheerleaders often battle one another, just like the Powerhouse at Winston-Salem State and the WooWoos at Virginia State.
Walker-Johnson loves it when she sees videos of young girls replicating the style, but she’s raised her eyebrows a few times about the changes.
“You go, girls, y’all battle with that. I thought it’s adorable,” she said. “I’m honored, but when they use it to get in each other’s face and do anything but be friendly and nice, it makes me sad because we were never, never that way, never.”
Continuing the legacy, many former WooWoos have gone on to coach the cheerleaders at Armstrong High School in Richmond, Virginia.
Their coach, Mikeisha Barber, agreed with Walker-Johnson in some ways but cautioned against judging too much. For more than 20 years, the high school has practiced and competed using stomp and shake techniques, one of the few high schools in the area to do so.
With videos circulating of heated cheerleading battles of girls getting in each other’s faces, some school district administrators have criticized the performances. Still, Barber keeps the school and VSU’s legacy alive by trying to ignore some of the criticism, which she says sometimes comes from bias.
Barber said being attached to a public school district can come with its challenges. At times, the team has been told not to battle because it looks too intense from the outside. She explained that she’s cautious about mimicking some college-level moves, keeping in mind that her cheerleaders are still minors, acknowledging a common critique of young girls adapting the style.
Asharia Merritt, a high school senior on the squad, said the negative comments can be annoying.
“We’ve heard that we’re aggressive, ghetto, too grown,” the 17-year-old said. She paused for a bit and admitted, “Honestly, only because this is something we genuinely enjoy.”
