What is Tutting?

You've seen it done. You've done it probably. Today, learn about it.

Tutting is a dance form, interpretive in nature, which focuses mainly on the ability of the body to create different geometric positions and movements, mostly using the right angle, that is, 90˚. These movements may vary from big entire body tuts to small intricate finger tuts. Tutting is done with a meticulous attention to the musical rhythm, typically alternating positions with an effect of stop-and-go.

Geometry plays an important role in tutting. Ever since Tutting began, the dancers have been making various angles and shapes. The patterns that are made by the use of fingers have a special name. They are called, “Structures”. Some of the most commonly used shapes are, rectangle or square, triangle, diamond or rhombus, circles or loops, etc. mostly the shapes that are made using right angles or near right angles.  Nevertheless it totally depends on the creativity of the dancer what angle or shape or structure he/she wants to make.

Tutting is no new name amongst the funk style dancers because Tutting began as a style mostly used by Poppers. Back in the days when Tutting was originated, it was known as “King Tut”. However, later, it was popularized by the name “Tutting” in the dance community.

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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