I never thought I’d use the words ‘twerk’ and ‘Uluru’ in the same sentence, but 2018 continues to throw curveballs at us, so here we are.
Apparently we all need the reminder not to twerk on top of Uluru after someone climbed Uluru and filmed herself twerking on top of it, all in an effort to represent a fitness studio.
Why?
Werk It Fitness, a Gold Coast-based fitness and dance studio, uploaded a video of one of their ‘#WERKIT babes’ “repping #WERKIT on top of one of Australia’s most iconic landmarks”. In the video, she ‘reps’ #WERKIT by twerking while wearing one of their singlets. The singlet reads ‘TWERKING IS MY CARDIO’ and includes the studio’s website on the bottom.
Werk It’s Instagram and website have since been taken down, as has the Instagram page of the twerker in question. This was in response to a flood of criticism they received after the video was posted, with many commenters pointing out how insensitive the video was to members of the Indigenous community, particularly the Anangu people who are the traditional custodians of the area.
While climbing Uluru isn’t yet illegal, it’s set to be banned as of October 2019, and the Anangu people have consistently requested that people don’t climb it. There are multiple signs around the site asking visitors not to climb it and explaining why they’d prefer it if you don’t.
There are two main reasons the traditional owners give for not wanting people to climb Uluru:
- for their own safety – it’s a challenging and dangerous climb
- it’s a sacred area – the climb is associated with important men’s ceremonies
Honestly, if you’re a halfway decent person, these reasons should be enough for you to rethink climbing Uluru. Respecting the local culture and customs is part of being a tourist, but so many Australians feel comfortable dismissing the requests of the traditional custodians in favour of climbing Uluru and snapping that perfect Instagram shot.
The readiness with which many Australians climb Uluru betrays a staggering sense of entitlement – feeling entitled to ignore the wishes of the Anangu people entirely, feeling entitled to climb a sacred site because you paid to travel there.
The twerking just makes it particularly cringe-worthy. It’s a style of dance that originated in New Orleans and is primarily associated with black women, and here you’ve got a white woman representing a fitness studio on the Gold Coast (a far cry from New Orleans) twerking on top of a site that’s sacred to the local Indigenous people. There are so many layers of messiness to this that it’s dizzying.
Don’t twerk on top of Uluru. Don’t climb Uluru, don’t twerk on top of it, don’t film yourself twerking on top of it and upload it to Instagram. Promise?
(Header photo by Education Images/UIG via Getty Images)