Nutbush

The Nutbush is a line dance performed to Ike & Tina Turner's song "Nutbush City Limits". Inspired by Ike & Tina Turner's song, the dance emerged as "The Nutbush" in the 1970s disco era. The dance is generally performed by a group of people of all genders and ages at a social function. The dance is usually performed with the dancers positioned roughly in a box configuration, like that of a chessboard. The steps are fairly simple, such that one who does not know them can generally pick them up by watching other dancers. A key in the song and dance being a popular combination is that the song has a moderately long introduction before the strong dance beat starts, which allows people who are sitting down to get up to the dance floor and for all dancers to assemble themselves in a grid. History The Nutbush particularly took off in Australia during the 1980s, and is usually performed in schools, social gatherings and community events. The dance has gained such popularity in Australia that it has been implemented in some Australian states' curricula. The origins of the Nutbush are elusive. Despite the wide popularity of the dance, Turner herself never performed the dance to the song. Writing in Honi Soit in 2023, Lucy Bailey noted the similarities between the Nutbush and the dancing of Turner and her backup singers (The Ikettes) in the seventies, most particular a 1975 clip from Cher. In 2019 and 2020, the dance saw widespread attention when it was the subject of various viral TikTok videos.