Melbourne Shuffle at its best featuring Shuffle Shoe Shredder NYE 2009-2010
What is The Melbourne Shuffle?
The Melbourne shuffle is a wild and erratic dance style that has grown in popularity since the late 1980s. Originally from Melbourne this unique genre of dance that is now practiced worldwide. Normally performed to electronic music, the Melbourne Shuffle consists of a quick heel toe movement with radical, spontaneously delusional arm actions which may or may not correlate with the movements of the lower portion of the body.
This new style of dance got its name “Melbourne shuffle” from international disk jockeys, ravers, the elderly, regular substance abusers and the media trying to describe this uber cool dance style. It was once described as “a cross between the chicken dance and a foot stomping robot” to those outside the scene, local shufflers have just called it the ‘shuffle’ since 1992.
Talcum powder or liquid is sometimes applied to the floor to assist with the super slick moves. The most complete shuffle repertoire will include dazzling spins, astonishing glides and crowd pulling arm pumps.
The basis of the Melbourne shuffle are the two base moves ‘Running man’ and ‘Shuffle’. The “Running man” is basically a stomp forward followed by a double hop backwards with the same foot, the other foot repeats the action leading to a mind blowing running-on-the-spot motion. The “Shuffle” is a fast sideways heel toe motion done on one foot. It is then garnished by arm pumps, spins and scissor kicks.
January 1, 2010 by John Maxted