**THE TUTTING SIBLINGS** show their dance skills to the world

JayFunk, JayDay, Tutting, and pop culture

Samsung: Unleash Your Fingers

It’s no secret that Diamond Bar High in Los Angeles is the home of many successful Brahmas, including current students as well as alumni. A year ago, two graduated Brahmas made their way to the top by starring in two viral French Samsung Galaxy ads. As former Freestylerz club presidents, Julian and Joseph Daniels continue to incorporate dance into their lives as they receive global recognition for their “finger-tutting,” in which dancers make geometric shapes with their fingers and hands.

Julian Daniels, otherwise known as JayFunk, graduated in 2008. His first video in 2009 gained him viral recognition and aided in the re-surging interest in “finger-tutting.” Tutting is a dance utilizing right angles and shapes to create uniformity in complex patterns. In 2011, a Galaxy S III commercial called “Unleash Your Fingers,” in which he was seen tutting made by the French ad agency, Heaven in Paris, became known as the most viral cellphone ad ever and was spread worldwide with 8.2 million views

The commercials featuring him started something phenomenal as more and more people began to practice tutting and finger tutting, but his influence didn’t stop there.
Since then, Daniels has risen to Marvel Studios, where he worked as a “Movement Designer” for movies such as Doctor Strange and Infinity War. In these movies, Dr. Strange used tutting and finger tutting movements to perform magic, all of which were choreographed by Daniels.

In the summer of 2012, a second Galaxy commercial was released featuring Julian’s brother, Joseph Daniels. Joseph, otherwise known as JayDay, graduated with the class of 2010. This time they had a new visual approach, to create a collaboration between the two dancers, on top of a music track provided by French synth-pop heroes Justice.

The camera was fixed on Julian as he tuts, like the first commercial. However, after a few seconds, the camera zoomed out and included Joseph, where the duo continues to tut with the accompaniment of graphics, sending the same message to “Unleash Your Fingers.”

The brothers were invited over to London for four hard days of training in the studio with Anrick and choreographer Thomas Michael Voss. What is relatively easy to do with one finger tutting star, starts to gain complexity when the Daniels brothers start to move in and out of sync with each other. That has a knock-on effect on the way we approach the visual effects, too. Julian owns all geometrical shapes, Joey now enhances the experience with interaction, fluid shapes, and color flash.

The commercials were undoubtedly entertaining, and their tutting skills were so remarkable that the replay button will certainly come in handy. Hopefully, Diamond Bar students were able to catch the tutting duo featured in many other places, commercials, or otherwise.

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