SACRAMENTO, Calif.- All the kids are tutting. If you don't know what this is by now, you're behind the times. "Tutting" is the new hip-hop dance craze. People with two left feet, this is the dance for you. Tutting is a series of mostly arm movements creating right angles. Some dancers even got technical with the dance, and do what they call "finger tutting". Finger tutting is where they create a series of right angles with their fingers. King Tut and the artwork of Egyptians originally inspired Tutting.
Tutting is also related to popping and breaking, two dance crazes created in the 80's in New York City. It’s also related to turfing, which is a common dance technique established in the Bay Area.
Hip-Hop has four elements to it. MC’ing, which is the act of rapping. DJ’ing, the act of spinning records and creating new beats with old ones. Graffiti, the act of artistic expression. Lastly, breaking, the act of dancing using big and fluid movements with the entire body.
Josh Williams, 22, former Sacramento City student turned dance instructor, has been tutting for four months now. He describes tutting by saying, "It's all about finding creative angles in the most difficult spot." He's been dancing since he was a little boy, but at the age of 19 he knew that dance would be his career. He hopes that one day he will be a famous dancer who will perform all over the world and is recognized for his creative dance moves.
Williams and Guy Holmes III, 20, who currently attends Sac City, are dance teachers at KAST Performing Arts. They're dance class is called "Goshing". They incorporate both tutting and popping in their choreography. They've been teaching this class since June of 2010.
Holmes has been tutting since 2009. He's been dancing since he was 16 years old and fell in love with dance at the age of 18. He aspires to be a well known dancer around the world and open his own dance studio with a competitive dance team. Holmes says, "I dance for the love of it, the money is a bonus."
This dancing duo has performed at four dance competitions with their dance studio, winning every competition. Their new found popularity had allowed them to perform at this past summer's California State Fair at Cal Expo. Their dance crew is called DMC "Dance Music Creativity, formerly NSA "No Stringz Attach'd". They started this group in 2009.
Tutting appears in the underground dance battle world. If you go to any dance battle, you will see tutting.
DMC has participated in about five or six dance battles. A dance battle is a competition between several dance crews for bragging rights of which crew is the best. Individually, Williams has participated in three dance battles, and even went to the final round in one battle. Dance battling has been made famous with shows like "America's Next Dance Crew" on MTV.
DMC has auditioned for famous television shows such as "America's Got Talent" and is about to audition for a new upcoming show that Paula Abdul is hosting.
Their next performance will be at CSU Sacramento for the annual Organization Night, Tuesday, September 21, 2010, held in the University Union. This would be a great opportunity for those to come out and see a new dance in its infant stage.
Tut-tut, indeed.
ReplyDeleteThe columnist has done a good job of pointing out a new trend to readers, many of whom are likely unaware.
Giving readers news is good.
By the way, is this true: "Graffiti, the act of artistic expression. "
I thought you could be arrested for that...
What the column could use is a few more details:
For example:
"He's been dancing since he was a little boy, but at the age of 19 he knew that dance would be his career."
Good detail, but how old is he now?
And this:
"This dancing duo has performed at four dance competitions with their dance studio, winning every competition."
Impressive! But readers really need to know more about these competitions. Were they local, regional, statewide, national? And how many studios participated?
Overall, the column flows well and the columnist might consider a review of the next performance, at Organization Night.
BTW, when is that?
Oops, another detail.