Popscreen: Tony Matterhorn

Tony Matterhorn

“Dutty Wine”

Dir. Winston Mayhew



Thanks to the popularity of artists like Sean Paul and Elephant Man, their explicitly instructional lyrics, and YouTube, Americans know a lot more about the latest dancehall moves than they did a few years ago. Now at any party you’ll see people “Wacky Dip,” “Sesame Street,” and “Hot Wuk” as if it were tryouts for Dancehall Queen II.

The latest of these dances has been the “Dutty Wine,” popularized by Tony Matterhorn’s hit of the same name. The video is straightforward: the opening scene sets the action at Montego Bay, Jamaica, 10:05, any given night. Tony Matterhorn and a selector (what Americans would call a DJ) are the only two men in a club otherwise filled with women. The women do the dutty wine, then have a dutty wine competition. None of the dancing in the video is particularly impressive, and much better renditions could be found any weekend on campus. The backgrounds are animated, and poorly, making the video look distractingly cheap.

The choreography does not extend beyond an exact translation of the dutty wine, with a few moves that could pass for a high school talent show piece. Even though dancehall videos often do not have the budget of a pop video, much is lacking from Matterhorn’s piece. It’s so literal-minded and poorly put together that many amateur videos put it to shame. For a more exciting, yet still clean, show of the dutty wine, check YouTube for Elephant Man’s version of the song.

Even though Ele just remade an older song about wining and inserted dutty into the chorus, the dancing is better, and since it’s not choreographed, no hopes are crushed. You can try a Passa Passa version, but be forewarned: it’s really dutty.

Moral: Use the Tony Matterhorn video only a guide to the basics of dutty wining—a simultaneous turn of the hips, posterior, and head. If you don’t have long hair, consider getting a weave/wig to make the whip effect of the head even greater. But be careful when dutty wining, as the dance is known to cause serious injury to the neck and back (and no one wants to be reminded of Khia).

—Kimberly D. Williams