The Tutting Trend

When performing for a mainstream audience, it seems that dancers must have a sense of what the crowd "understands." For example, most people are familiar with the backslide (aka, moonwalk), the arm wave, the robot, headspins, and windmills. The average viewer has seen these moves performed in commercials, music videos, films, and on TV. Since the late 2000s, it seems that the average audience is now recognizing tutting. Thanks to Youtube videos and tutting routines showcased on MTV's America's Best Dance Crew, there's a newfound appreciation for tuts by the general public. What is it about this style that's catching on with folks everywhere?

Tutting as a style is very eye-pleasing on camera. When it's done well, the patterns have a flow of logic that's like telling a linear story through movement. Their geometric nature is fun to watch as a dancer sets up specific concepts and unravel them like a Transformer morphing into another form. Part of the appeal is that tutting forms shapes that we recognize. It makes use of pantomime by suggesting visual forms that aren't really there but we see them as formed by the dancer. For a viewer who appreciates order and structure, tutting can be a visual delight.

Anyone who's taken a world history class will also see the inspiration from Egyptian hieroglyphics. We recognize those forms. From this precedent, we've come to see foundation established in the tutting style. Once that logic is set in place, it's easy to see how an audience can "get it." And it's also possible for them to distinguish the style from waving, robot, gliding, or bboying.

Tutting brings out our appreciation for patterns, forms, shapes, quick transitions, and interlocking movements. In an evolving technological society; our eyes are attuned to fine detail as seen in our electronic devices, graphic design, architecture, and information displays. We're primed to take in this flow of structured detail. So on a sociological level, our new appreciation for tutting could be representative of the culture we're living in right now. Who knows where we'll go next with this fascination.