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ENTITY · DANCE

Dutty Wine

Well supported

The dance that swept Jamaica and the diaspora around 2006, built on a fast whipping rotation of the head and neck. Tony Matterhorn's record of the same name carried it, and it became one of the most widely imitated — and most argued-over — dancehall dances to travel abroad.

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Tony Matterhorn - Dutty Wine | Official Music Video

YOUTUBE · rights discovery only · official video

Official youtube upload (channel: VP Records); embedded as a discovery-only reference pending editorial review.

View transcript · 44 lines

Automatic captions — a machine draft pending editorial review.

  1. 0:05[Music]
  2. 0:10[Music] [Laughter]
  3. 0:14[Laughter]
  4. 0:14[Laughter] [Music]
  5. 0:26[Music]
  6. 1:15[Music] or not
  7. 1:23and going down with Cyrus
  8. 1:28and going down with Cyrus [Music]
  9. 1:35[Music]
  10. 1:35[Music] in these matches two biggest old
  11. 1:41[Music]
  12. 1:45[Music] Matthew Upson and nobody until today nobody
  13. 1:49Matthew Upson and nobody until today nobody
  14. 1:49Matthew Upson and nobody until today nobody without today nobody look for Shanghai and Nanjing
  15. 1:51without today nobody look for Shanghai and Nanjing
  16. 1:51without today nobody look for Shanghai and Nanjing trap of pressing in living
  17. 1:53trap of pressing in living
  18. 1:53trap of pressing in living finally definitive put English bought
  19. 1:56finally definitive put English bought
  20. 1:56finally definitive put English bought Koprol and brandy by not setting
  21. 1:59Koprol and brandy by not setting
  22. 1:59Koprol and brandy by not setting tsunami warning measures
  23. 2:01tsunami warning measures
  24. 2:01tsunami warning measures Cowen and Wheeler Winfrey show' with water
  25. 2:04Cowen and Wheeler Winfrey show' with water
  26. 2:04Cowen and Wheeler Winfrey show' with water from the current Wheelwright center whose
  27. 2:08from the current Wheelwright center whose
  28. 2:08from the current Wheelwright center whose offspring
  29. 2:08offspring
  30. 2:08offspring if they were die and Will Wine
  31. 2:11if they were die and Will Wine
  32. 2:11if they were die and Will Wine [Music]
  33. 2:26for me
  34. 2:29who's right
  35. 2:37[Music]
  36. 2:47[Music] love
  37. 2:58love
  38. 2:58love [Music]
  39. 3:12[Music]
  40. 3:12[Music] ultimately when the same window
  41. 3:20ultimately when the same window
  42. 3:20ultimately when the same window city
  43. 3:24[Music]
  44. 3:34[Music] [Applause]
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In stories

Story · Well supportedVersions, rewinds and dance argument

The rewind is a review. In the dance, a crowd decides in eight bars whether a record lives, and the argument about what it should be saying has run for forty years.

Story · ProbableHow a dance becomes a song becomes a movement

Willie Bounce, Dutty Wine, Gully Creepa: dancehall's dance crazes travelled as a package deal of move, name and tune.

Debate & reception

How people argued about the music — praise, criticism and public debate. See all debate & reception →

commentary

'Dutty Wine kills?' — dance spectacle vs bodily danger

“The body was not designed to undergo that type of stress”

After the Dutty Wine (a rapid neck-and-head-rotating women's dance popularised by Tony Matterhorn's 2006 hit) was linked to injuries and the 2006 death of 18-year-old Tanisha Henry, physicians and columnists argued it was physically dangerous and that Dutty Wine contests should be curtailed or banned; defenders framed it as ordinary dancehall expression sensationalised by moral panic. The Jamaica Gleaner ran a 'Dutty Wine discussion' (6 Nov 2006), and Jamaican physician Winston Jadusingh told the BBC the body was not built for that stress. The safety debate resurfaced in 2020 after dancer Roxanne 'Bumpa' Evans died following a stunt (DancehallMag; Jamaica Star, 'Dancing Deathtraps').

Stance: acrobatic dance moves as harmless creative spectacle vs a medical/public-safety hazard warranting restriction

debate

TikTok dancehall virality: global promotion, or an uncompensated dance economy?

Dancehall dance moves and riddims have repeatedly gone viral on TikTok, exposing Jamaican music to enormous new audiences much as earlier viral dances once spread by camcorder and cable TV. TikTok has since moved toward licensing agreements that pay rights holders when a song is used in videos, which supporters cite as evidence the platform now shares real value with dancehall's creators; sceptics counter that the choreographers, producers and session players behind a viral riddim or dance rarely see credit or payment proportionate to the reach their work generates. Neutral framing; no verdict. Sources: Xposure Music (TikTok royalties overview); TikTok platform discovery pages; general reporting on viral dance-challenge economics.

Stance: expanded global reach and platform licensing revenue vs choreographers and originators still under-credited and under-paid