The Interesting Art of Creating Shapes in Tutting Dance

There are many subgenres of street dance styles. Under the hip-hop dance comes an interesting dance form called the tutting dance. You may not be familiar with the name, but I am sure you must have seen it in dance movies.
Here’s a video from the movie Step Up 3D in which a hard-hitting breakdancer performs Tutting in a dance battle.

As you can see, Tutting dance is all about using the arms, especially the wrists and fingers, to form a shape. It appears simple, but there are various geometrical shapes that can be created and synchronised with music beats. And that is exactly how this dance form came into being in the 1970s, thanks to creative dancer Mark Benson, aka King Boogaloo Tut.
It is said that Mark Benson wanted to be part of a dance group with his unique style. While watching a movie with an Egyptian pharaoh, Mark was inspired by the hand shapes depicted in Egyptian hieroglyphs. He practiced, improvised, and formed the ninety-degree angles with his hands that made him stand out among other dancers.

As Mark started doing dance tours with the crew, he would break into his Tutting style that caught everyone’s attention. Soon he started presenting his style on television shows such as Soul Train, So You Think You Can Dance, America’s Best Dance Crew, and America’s Got Talent. 

Since then, the tutting dance has evolved significantly, with many variations of small and large movements. Earlier dancers only tutted while keeping their bodies in straight, angular movements while standing. Dancers added flow, popping, diagonals, and a little voguing as its popularity grew. Dancers also started performing tutting styles while sitting and moving across the floor. You can add the famous finger-tutting technique into your choreography, which requires forming intricate and specific shapes by using different sections of your fingers.

The famous Barbie girl breakdancer called Dytto is a wonderful example of adding Tutting to her freestyle dancing. The clarity and speed with which she incorporates each step is mind-blowing. She has inspired many international female dancers to add Tutting to their street dancing. She has been invited to perform and interviewed on international television channels, including The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Take a look at her dance performance that made her super popular all over the world.

Another dancer and choreographer who is making waves by attracting many Hollywood celebrities is Sadeck Waff. He is a French choreographer who formed a Tutting dance crew. What’s special about him is that he includes dancers who perform in wheelchairs as well as otherwise. He also gives chance to amateur and professional dancers. His style of group choreography is based on performing different formations while sitting in one place.

If that seems too basic for you, then you will be surprised to see the magnitude of his performers’ impact in this video. 

This year, it was Nidhi Achaa, a 23-year-old dancer from Mumbai, India, who won the Geometric Lady’s Tutt 2 Competition. It was an international dance battle that saw women tutting dancers compete from the US, China, Russia, Britain, and South Asian countries as well. She was the only Indian to participate in this dance battle.

References

What is Tutting?, By Samantha Bellerose
https://danceparent101.com/what-is-tutting/

Dancing queen: 23-year-old Nidhi Achha wins International Tutting dance battle, Published on Jun 12, 2022 04:36 PM IST.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/art-culture/dancing-queen-23-year-old-nidhi-achha-wins-international-tutting-dance-battle-101655032014989.html