Tutting - Just Sharing

Hey Guys

Some of you have expressed that I should do a tutting workshop on a Saturday or something, because some of you would be willing to learn the style and come to the class. I considered it as a possibility for the coming semester, but no, I am not going to be doing anything of the sort and this is because 1. I don’t know enough about the style 2. I am not very good at the style 3. I have no teaching experience to address a class 4. I would probably need around 3 to 4 classes to teach you everything I would like to and 5. It would way too much effort (not to teach the class but to plan it) and I’m just too lazy.

So what I’ve decided to do is give you the fundamentals that I learnt from, from when I started out, and I often revisit these foundations. By doing this I am not claiming that I am a good tutter, honestly if you gathered all the tutters in England and put them in line of what we consider good to the worst I would probably be somewhere near the “worst” section of the line if not right at the worst, all I want to do is give you guys that have an interest in the style the foundations that I learnt from. I am doing this because I am aware that at the society we don’t really have a teacher who teaches just Tutting, sure we have teachers who use it in their routines but the history and concepts are never fully expressed and explained, something I would like to have a go at right now....

My knowledge of tutting is this: it came about when people started looking at the hieroglyphics of ancient Egyptian tombs and it is these positions in the hieroglyphics that have been adopted by dancers to build the foundations of the style. It is seen that Tutting is a branch from Popping nowadays and apparently King Tut aka Mark Benson is widely acclaimed for pioneering the style. (Although this could be wrong, and if anyone has other information about the history of tutting, get in touch, it would an interesting to find out more.)//The Best Video’s that I learnt from/am still learning from:

I find these video’s really helpful for learning separate moves and thinking about how each move can be linked together. This way you are able to make up your own sets for your freestyles. 

Things to consider when you have learnt a move and want to make it your own:

·         Change of Levels

·         Changing the speed of a move

·         Doing the move backwards

·         Making the move Dynamically bigger/smaller

·         Moving one arm at a time

·         Moving whilst doing it

·         Making it funny (Facial expressions and Using your head to add a different Dynamic)

·         Adding other concepts to the move like, Dime stops, Popping, Slow Motion and Strobbing 

(These are all the things, that I do when I want to mix up a move and make it my own, I constantly thinking about each move that I learn to try and adapt it and change it in a different way, it’s just a shame that I haven’t nearly enough time to practice. When I say “move” I am not only talking about tutting a lot of these things can be considered within any style and any move.)

Tutting Routines:

These guys are dope and I get a lot of ideas from them so I thought I’ll share. If you’re interested in tutting I would advise you learn as many routines from the internet as possible because there are quite honestly thousands of them. But after you learn a routine, stop, think, “how can I make this better?” “How can I link this to what I’ve already got?” 

Personal Note:

I don’t think there is anything wrong with learning off videos from youtube. It is the largest pool of information we have, so let’s use it. I would also like to thank all the Dancers that taught me this style, given me tips and advice about this style, so Thank You, Angga Kara, Pierre Lafayette-Marsh, Kenny “Fresno” and Vignesh ‘Vigz’ Murali. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask.

Peace Out, Stay Funky

Timothy Bei 

Secretary