Please Watch Thousands Of Aussies Break The Record For World’s Biggest Nutbush
Somebody alert Tina Turner.
A bunch of Australians at the Birdsville Big Red Bash Festival have officially broken the record for the largest ever group to do the Nutbush.
According to the team, a whopping 4,084 people joined in on the choreographed dance in the middle of the Simpson Desert.
Here are 4084 boot-scooting people dancing to the nut bush at the Birdsville Big Red Bash pic.twitter.com/fRKKf4T7Zr
— Ben Grubb ? (@bengrubb) July 7, 2022
The Birdsville Big Red Bash team seem to have a personal stake in the dance, considering they beat their own record — 2,878 dancers — which was previously set at last year’s festival. The festival has repeatedly broken its own record, thus solidifying its place in Nutbush history.
Dancers had to register in order to participate in the dance, with a $15 registration fee resulting in a massive $60,000 donation to the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS).
“We all have a fantastic time doing this dance each year, and the money you pay to participate goes directly to the RFDS — every cent of it, so thank you so much,” festival owner Greg Donovan told the crowd. “What a spectacular site to see. You are all legends!”
While the words “school house, outhouse” probably have most of us dusting off our dancing shoes and lining up to bust out the moves we’ve been meticulously perfecting since our first Blue Light disco, the dance craze has never took off overseas — not even our trans-Tasman mates in New Zealand are familiar with the dance.
According to my research, the dance likely draws inspiration from the Madison line dance, which gained popularity in the 1950s. Rumours have also swirled that the dance — as we know it today — was first taught as part of Queensland’s school PE curriculum.
However, a spokesperson for the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority confirmed to the Sydney Morning Herald in 2018 that the dance has “never been an official or mandated requirement in Queensland’s physical education or dance curriculums”.
Despite dozens of reporters trying to get to the bottom of it, the origin of the Nutbush remains a mystery. But if more than 4,000 festival goers busting out the dance in the desert has taught us anything, it’s that the dance will likely remain an important part of Australian dance culture for many years to come.