Washington, D.C
‘Joy inside of struggle’: Line dancing seeing resurgence in DC area and beyond
As the sun sets on a chilly Thursday night in Morningside, Maryland, dancers are making their way into the VFW.
“You’re not worried about the light bill that’s due. You’re not worrying about work tomorrow, because you’re dealing with today,” line dance instructor Deirdre Seabrook said.
Line dancers from around the D.C. area come together to learn the latest routines and revisit favorite dances. Some come to dance despite great adversity.
“We have a lot of people, government workers, who have lost their jobs. But one thing about the line dance community, it’s truly a community, and we look out for one another,” Seabrook said.
Others love the camaraderie.
“Line dancing to me is like freedom,” dancer Jeanette Cherry said.
Urban line dance is more than well-choreographed expression; for many, it’s a form of Black joy, a call to community and alliance and an expression of unity in the face of an oppressive environment for many people of color.
On this night, the oldest dancer was 87. The youngest was 28-year-old Alexia Jones.
“It don’t matter who you are, where you are, what your level of dance level is. If you come, you will definitely be embraced,” she said.
With the growth of online platforms such as TikTok, videos of urban line dances often go viral, with millions of people quickly learning and creating new steps to older R&B classics, creating a recent resurgence in urban line dance.
‘How do we create community in this moment?’
News4 visited Howard University’s College of Fine Arts to get a better understanding of the origin of urban line dance in America, which some historians trace back to enslavement and African and Caribbean influence.
“It’s always represented unity. It’s always represented unified movement and thinking about keeping the community in line, keeping the community moving together as one,” said Dr. Raquel Monroe, dean of the fine arts college. She has written about line dancing.
“When we think about it in terms of social justice, it refers back to the idea of: How do we create community in this moment?” she said.
Line dancing has been seen at protests.
“It is a way to demonstrate community. It’s a way to keep spirits high. It’s a way to demonstrate joy inside of struggle,” Monroe said.
Line dancing is just one example of Black joy as a form of resistance and self-preservation. Community organizers have also stressed the importance of investing in forms of self-care, social gatherings, supporting Black businesses and reading Black authors.
In December, the singer 803Fresh released “Boots on the Ground.” The song’s accompanying line dance spread quickly, with millions of views on TikTok.
As a newly elected president worked to quickly dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs and end federal careers that helped sustain many Black families in the D.C. region, the idea of “Boots on the Ground” took on a new meaning for many dancers, as if passionately popping their fans was political.
“Line dancing is a democratic form because it provides access to folks with different capacities and interests and ages, races,” Monroe said. “It, in and of itself, is a demonstration of democracy in motion.”
News4 worked on learning “Boots on the Ground” with some help from the VFW’s line dancers.
Jones reflected on the purpose of dancing.
“Regardless of what is happening and who is in office and what things they are doing or not doing, God is always in control. He’s number one,” she said. “There’s a time to cry, there’s a time to dance. We’re coming to dance.”
1,300 swimmers from 38 states came to D.C. for the Black History Invitational Swim Meet, founded by former Mayor Marion Barry to tackle swimming disparities in the Black community. News4’s Jessica Albert reports.
Washington, D.C
DC reaches settlement with man detained while protesting troops with Darth Vader song
The District of Columbia has reached a settlement agreement for an undisclosed amount of money with a resident who claims police illegally detained him for following an Ohio National Guard patrol while playing Darth Vader’s theme song from “Star Wars” on his phone — an act of protest against the Trump administration’s federal law-enforcement surge in the nation’s capital.
A court filing late Thursday says the plaintiff, Sam O’Hara, will drop his lawsuit’s claims against the District and four Metropolitan Police Department officers within three business days of receiving the settlement payment. The filing doesn’t specify a dollar amount for the deal between the district and O’Hara, who is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia.
In an email on Friday, an ACLU spokesperson referred to the settlement’s financial terms as “a significant amount” that O’Hara “is pleased with” but said they aren’t disclosing the dollar figure to protect his privacy. A spokesperson for D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s office declined to comment on the settlement.
O’Hara’s agreement with the district doesn’t resolve his related claims against an Ohio National Guard member. Attorneys for the Guard member, Sgt. Devon Beck, have asked a judge to dismiss O’Hara’s claims against him.
“He was there because that was his assigned duty,” Beck’s lawyers wrote. “This was not an accidental encounter or a one-time disagreement on a public sidewalk.”
An earlier court filing, in February, said O’Hara had reached a settlement agreement “in principle” with the district. In response, a judge agreed to suspend the case while they negotiated terms.
O’Hara sued the district last October, claiming police officers violated his First Amendment rights to free speech and his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable seizures and excessive force.
The ominous orchestral music of “The Imperial March” from Star Wars movies was the soundtrack for O’Hara’s peaceful protests against President Donald Trump’s ongoing deployment of Guard members in Washington. Millions of TikTok users have viewed O’Hara’s videos of his interactions with troops, according to his lawsuit.
A series of major events tied to the nation’s 250th anniversary celebrations promise to bring big crowds and heightened security. On the News4 Rundown: That security is likely to include more National Guard troops as a new report says there’s a limit to their impact on safety in D.C.
O’Hara, an artist who works in the hospitality industry, says he didn’t interfere with the Guard troops during their Sept. 11, 2025, encounter on a public street. One of the troops summoned Metropolitan Police Department officers, who stopped O’Hara and kept him handcuffed for 15 to 20 minutes before releasing him without charges, according to the lawsuit.
“The law might have tolerated government conduct of this sort a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. But in the here and now, the First Amendment bars government officials from shutting down peaceful protests,” the suit says.
Trump, a Republican, issued an executive order declaring a crime emergency in Washington last August. Within weeks, hundreds of Guard troops and federal agents were helping police patrol the city. The surge inflamed tensions with residents of the heavily Democratic district. Hundreds of Guard members remain deployed in the district nearly a year later, with no clear end in sight.
The overhaul is the first in more than a decade and comes in response to feedback that it’s hard to find information on the current site without being efficient at using Google or other search tools.
The D.C. government’s website is getting a complete revamp, a step city leaders hope will make it easier for residents, visitors and business owners to access the help they need.
The District unveiled a beta version of the new DC.gov — beta.dc.gov — and plans to have the redesigned site ready to launch before the end of the year.
The website’s overhaul is the first in more than a decade. It comes in response to feedback that it’s hard to find information on the current site without being efficient at using Google or other search tools.
“This website, it’s really going to eliminate the alphabet soup that you have to remember every day,” said Stephen Miller, the District’s chief technology officer. “So, do you need to know that it’s DPW that’s picking up your trash, or you just need to know that it’s dc.gov?”
The site is built on Drupal 11, which the city said has stronger built-in security features. It includes an integrated calendar and sections for seasonal government services.
Popular searches, based on site traffic data, will also be featured prominently on the main page.
“It’s going to show you, here’s popular services today, based on being a resident, based on being a new resident, based on being a job seeker, based on being a business owner, or based on just being a general resident of the city,” Miller said.
The project cost about $500,000 in dedicated funds.
“We’re setting this up so that you can just go in, say, ‘My trash was missed,’ and it’s going to tell you exactly how to fix that problem,” Miller said.
D.C.’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer is collecting feedback. Residents can leave comments on the beta site and at events at Haynes Senior Wellness Center and Eastern Market, among others, in the coming weeks.
An artificial intelligence-powered search tool, built using Google’s AI technology, will be included on the new DC.gov site after its official launch.
The District, Miller said, is “trying to clean up our content, because what we want to make sure is when we put AI into this site, it’s giving you the right information.”
“We see a lot of future use with AI,” Miller said. “I’d love to get to a point where it’s, ‘Hey Siri, renew my driver’s license,’ and we’ve laid out the foundation for something like that to happen in the future.”
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A 16-day state fair is among the biggest attractions of the country’s 250th celebration in Washington DC. The Great American State Fair, which features attractions from each of the 50 states, runs from 25 June to 10 July across the National Mall from the US Capitol to the Washington Monument.
The BBC asked visitors why it was important for them to attend the fair.
Video by Meiying Wu
Produced by Madeline Gerber
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