Origin of Tutting - Part 1

1333 BCE or 1960s? Egypt or USA? Let's take a look.

The history of tutting, as most of the dance forms, is not very well
documented. But here are some facts I’ve learnt while researching.

Tutting, as a dance form, began in 1977 and caught on with the advent of funk
styles during the early 80s. At first, it was known as “the King TUT”,
colloquial to Pharaoh Tutakhamun, the representative of Ancient Egypt in
the Western culture. However, later, it got popularized by the name “tutting”
in the dancing community.

During the first half of 20th century, some comedians used to mimic the
poses similar to the paintings and bas-reliefs of Ancient Egypt. It wasn’t
termed as “tutting” at that point of time. It was just something funny to do.
Even these movements were used in the cartoons such as “the bugs
bunny” to achieve a comic effect.

But the creator of tutting has stated that he had not drawn inspiration from cartoons or comedy shows but from the bas-reliefs of Ancient Egypt. This makes sense because the style or at least some of its movements were termed as king tut.

Originally, tutting was clubbed popping. It still is but tutting as a
community and the style itself has grown so thick that dancers who perform
tutting call themselves “tutters”.

Earlier one would hit (pop) one position (tut) and move onto the next immediately. It was similar to a robot popping routine, only faster. But over the years the movements (tuts) have become more elaborate and expressive. Different concepts have been added to it by different people. It is very much possible that one dancer’s approach to
the style is different to that of the other.

The first ever tutting dance that we have in record was performed by “The
Street Scape”, in 1979, and was choreographed by Mark Benson, aka,
King Boogaloo Tut.

We’ll discuss about the creator and the OGs of tutting and its rise in the
dance culture in the next blog. Stay tuned. Do comment below what you
feel about this blog. It’s likely to have missed some small details. If you got
any information that you’d like to add, write in the comment box.

Author
Aakash Kar
Founder, ShapeYourSunday

Shape Your Sunday has an amazing podcast where we feature various dancers and strife to bring forward the stories of all the dancers and dance style and get all the dancers the respect & recognition they deserve whilst answering the question "Kya dancers paisa kama paa rahe hai?"

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