Are There REALLY Any Differences Between The Butterfly And The Tootsie Roll (Dances)?

culturaroots, Nov. 2, 2007
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Pay particular attention to Dancehall Queen Carlene Smith (the woman in the gold with the white wig) performance of the butterfly dance.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/05/admiral-bailey-butterfly-1992-dancehall.html for a sound file and the lyrics for the first record that refers to the Dancehall Butterfly dance (in 1992 by Admiral Bailey). 

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases a YouTube video that features the Butterfly dance and a YouTube video that features the Tootsie Roll dance (whose correct name is "Tootsee Roll" to differentiate it from the brand name of a type of chocolate candy).

This post presents the full lyrics for the 1994 song "The Tootsie Roll" as well as an excerpt of the lyrics for Admiral Bailey's 1994 song "The Butterfly". That excerpt are the lyrics from that song which describe how to dance "The Butterfly".

 

This pancocojams post also presents a list of what I consider to be the main differences between the Butterfly dance and the Tootsie Roll dance.

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The content of this post is presented for cultural and entertainment purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who created and popularized these dances. Thanks to all those who are associated with these embedded videos and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2 



langseth80, March 9, 2008

The butterfly? Uh-uh, that's old! Let me see the Tootsee Roll! Yeah, 199Quad! 69 Boyz backed up by the Quad City DJ's! One time ! Cotton candy, sweetie go, let me see the Tootsee Roll! Tootsee Roll! (8x) To the left! (2x) To the right! (2x) To the front! (2x) To the back! (2x) Slide! (8x) To the left! (2x) To the right! (2x) To the front! (2x) To the back! (2x) Dip, baby, dip! (4x) Cotton candy, sweetie, go, Let me see the Tootsee Roll! (Verse 1) I don't know what you've been told It ain't the butterfly, it's the Tootsee Roll A brand new dance SO, Grab a partner and get on the dance FLO' And work them hips a lil' bit Then do that dip a lil' bit Oh yeah, you got it, now whip, baby, no buts about it [...] The butterfly? Uh-uh, that's old! The butterfly? Uh-uh, that's old! Let me see the Tootsee Roll! Tootsee Roll! (8x) To the left! (2x) To the right! (2x) To the front! (2x) To the back! (2x) Slide! (8x) To the left! (2x) To the right! (2x) To the front! (2x) To the back! (2x) Dip, baby, dip! (4x) I feel a whoop comin' on, a whoop comin' on (2x) Whoop! (8x) Just roll! (16x)
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PARTIAL LYRICS - "THE BUTTERFLY"
(written by Admiral Bailey)

...."Giddy up, giddy up new style come up
Have a new one and dey no stop
(Bring it up)
Giddy up, giddy up new style come up
Have a new one and dey no stop
(Bring it up)

Butterfly butterfly, do the butterfly
Butterfly butterfly, do the butterfly
Just, stretch out ya one leg you inna parachute
Naturally girl you know you look cute
Make two dance and dip and salute
Ah boy dun saw what you can wan' pick you

[...]

If you can't do it, me go a teach you fi do it
Just, stretch out ya one leg you inna parachute
Naturally girl you know you look cute
Whine and go down and den come up back
Make dem know sey ya hot ya hot
Mate dey a watch but make dem wan chat
Cau' ya know sey you de pon de track

Giddy up, giddy up new style come up
Have a new one and dey no stop
(Bring it up)
Giddy up, giddy up new style come up
Have a new one and dey no stop
(Bring it up)"...

Online source: https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/5954118/Admiral+Bailey/Butterfly

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ARE THERE REALLY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE BUTTERFLY AND THE TOOTSIE ROLL?

Yes and no.

(I created this list. Additions and corrections are welcome.)

1. "The Butterfly" is the name of a Jamaican Dancehall dance motion.

2. "The Tootsie Roll" is the name of an African American Hip Hop line dance.

3. The first record to refer to Dancehall dance motion "The Butterfly" was released in 1992 by Admiral Bailey.

4. The Tootsie Roll record was released in 1994 by The 69 Boys.

5. The Jamaican Dancehall deejay Admiral Bailey may have given the name "The Butterfly" to a dance motion that he had previously seen performed in Jamaian dancehalls.

6. The 69 Boys created a line dance which included "The Butterfly" motion and named it "the Tootsie Roll". The Butterfly is only one of the movements in "The Tootsie Roll" line dance, but that is the only motion that people think of when they refer to "The Tootsie Roll".

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7. The Dancehall dance "The Butterfly" was the focus of at least two and possibly more Caribbean records (Macka B's "Do The Butterfly" and Byron Lee & The Dragonaire's Soca Butterfly").  The Butterfly dance was also popularized by its performance in other Dancehall videos (such as the video for Chaka Demus & Plier's mega hit song "Murder She Wrote". Dancehall Queens such as Carlene Smith also helped to popularize "The Butterfly" in the above mentioned "Murder She Wrote" video, in Dancehall Queen competitions, and elsewhere.    

8. The 69 Boys' "Tootsie Roll" record is the only record that mentions that Hip Hop dance and that group was/is the only ones that dance is associated with.

9. "The Butterfly" Dancehall dance was (is?) and international sensation which may still be performed in 2022. If not, the Butterfly dance certainly lasted for a long time in Jamaica (among the people who originated it.)

10."The Tootsie Roll" Hip Hop dance was a very short lived dance fad, although it was hughly popular among many African Americans and some other Americans when it was first released. I'm unsure how widely "The Tootsie Roll" dance spread to other nations outside of the United States.

Since the 1990s,  "The Tootsie Roll" appears to only be remembered in the United States as an "old school dance". However, "The Tootsie Roll" may also currently be performed as a line dance accompanied by The 69 Boys' record of that name. However, judging by various YouTube videos, the Tootsie Roll line dance may not even include the Butterfly dance motion which was the main movement of that original line dance. 
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My position is that "The Butterfly" and "The Tootsie Roll" leg wobbling movements are supposed to be performed essentially the same ways since the leg wobbling movement in "The Tootsie Roll" line dance was modeled after the movements of the Dancehall Reggae "Butterfly" dance.

I chose to showcase Chaka Demus and Pliers' "Murder She Wrote" video as an example of  The Butterfly dance rather than any instructional videos of The Butterfly (of which there are at least two) or other YouTube videos of people doing The Butterfly dance. I chose that "Murder She Wrote" video because several online articles* refer to Dancehall Queen Carlene Smith's appearance in that video dancing "The Butterfly" and how she helped popularize "The Butterfly" dance. Therefore, I could be assured that the ways that Carlene Smith performed "The Butterfly" in that video was indeed the authentic ways (or some of the authentic ways) that that dance was supposed to be performed.  
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*Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/05/admiral-bailey-butterfly-1992-dancehall.html to read some article excerpts about this topic.)

I chose to showcase the official 69 Boys' "Tootsie Roll" YouTube video rather than any instructional videos of  the Tootsie Roll or other people performing what they said was "The Tootsie Roll" because I could be assured that the dance movements that The 69 Boys performed were the movements that they had created for that dance. 
 

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