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Syracuse University freshman Addi Rudman has taken on a new fixation to bring to her usual dorm hangouts: gloving. With her room lights off, light-up hand gloves on and speakers blasting, Rudman puts on a performance.

“The gloves take over, the gloves have a mind of their own,” Rudman said.

Gloving, a finger dance using LED light-up gloves, is popular among EDM performers, at rave festivals and most recently on TikTok. The gloves are fabric, with small LED bulbs attached to the fingertips. Performers who use the gloves are referred to as “glovers.”

Glovers move their fingers in elaborate ways to create a light show with their hands, usually in the dark. Rudman had been seeing gloving videos on her feed since last summer, when she thought, “I can so do that.”

When Rudman came back to campus this January, she bought gloves off Amazon. And with encouragement from her friends, Rudman decided to start a TikTok page: @syracuse.glovers. While the whole concept is “lowkey satire,” it’s a fun bit for her friend group and the page has gotten her recognized by fellow students, Rudman said.

The Syracuse Glovers account also refers to themselves as “touse,” which merges the words “top” and “house.” Oftentimes, the term refers to the top ranked sororities and fraternities in Greek life. Rudman jokingly named her dorm “touse” at the start of the school year because she lives on the top floor of her dorm.

“Then I was like, ‘You know what gloving is? Touse,’” she said.

Teagan Tokheim, an SU freshman and Rudman’s friend, is the videographer for most of the TikTok videos. She recalls filming their video to “Rush” by Troye Sivan, which she said had an “electric” vibe. Immediately after, Tokheim and Rudman knew it was a one take wonder, she said.

EDM, house or pop songs with a good beat drop are Rudman’s favorite “to glove to,” she said. Currently, the page only has five videos. She plans to film her next TikTok to “Paparazzi” by Lady Gaga and use flashlights in the background.

Addi Rudman first landed on gloving TikTok videos this past summer. This January, Rudman bought some LED gloves on Amazon and became a “glover” who performs finger dances. Courtesy of Addi Rudman

Rudman’s ultimate goal is to go viral, but the videos she has posted have gotten only some views, specifically from people on campus. Other people on her floor have asked her to perform for them or show them her ways.

“Everyone comes to my room and they ask if they can use the gloves, and they’re like, ‘Teach me, I can’t do it,’” Rudman said. “I’m like, ‘No, you put the gloves on, it comes to you.’”

Though the account hasn’t reached Rudman’s goal of virality yet, at only 136 followers, it’s reached people outside of Syracuse, many friends of friends, Rudman said. Tokheim posted one of the videos on her Snapchat private story, urging everyone to follow the account and her sister in Nebraska said she’d already seen it.

Another member of Rudman’s friend group, SU freshman Sara Spring told her mom about the account, who’s also now invested. At first, Spring’s mom thought Rudman was simply holding glow sticks in her hands, she said. Now, she has an appreciation for it.

Gloving has simply become a hobby for Rudman to entertain her friends. Spring said their friend group often asks Rudman to glove for them, eager to see her newly learned techniques. Rudman said that she has never danced seriously before and doesn’t claim to be a dancer, but gloving is often a full body experience.

“Once the gloves go on, it’s dance city over here,” Tokheim said.

One night, the friend group was hanging out in Tokheim’s dorm when she got a text from Rudman, asking her to turn the lights off as Rudman wanted to make a “dramatic entrance.”

“She walks in, music blasting with her gloves on and gives us a full performance,” Tokheim said.

Spring said Rudman’s confidence and willingness to not take herself seriously are why the account is so fun. Their friend group is big on long running bits — some have lasted since the first day they met each other, Spring said.

Rudman is somebody who is “undeniably herself,” and her humor makes the account and gloving something unserious for the friend group to be a part of, Spring said. Tokheim said it’s extended beyond their circle — gloving is now a social conversation topic with other students.

“This is something that I’m gonna be laughing about until I’m actually on my deathbed,” Spring said. “I’ll be telling my grandchildren about it.”

Published on February 17, 2026 at 10:06 pm
Contact Claire: cmzhang@syr.edu