What’s a shuffle?
The word ‘shuffle’ can be used in a variety of ways:
1. In every day usage, it means walking while dragging your feet along the ground in a way that causes unnecessary friction.
2. It can mean moving up and down or re-arranging an order, such as with a deck of cards or songs on a playlist.
3. Perhaps the Cambridge dictionary definition with the closest resemblance to Shuffle Dance as we now know it is ’to move similar things from one position to another, often to give an appearance of activity when nothing useful is being done’. Like when someone is shuffling papers to look busy. This has more than a passing resemblance to popular moves such as the T-Step, The Running Man and the Charleston, where rapid foot movement contrasts with a lack of much (or any) distance travelled.
What’s Shuffle Dance?
It’s an umbrella term for a wide range of rave dances based around footwork. These dance styles include Cali Style, Cutting Shapes, DnB Step, Free Step, Ghost Step, JumpStyle, Konijnendans, Malaysian Style, Melbourne Shuffle, Neo Swing Dance, Rebolation, Russian Style and Skitting. Within these sub-genres, there are also sub-categories. Some dancers prefer to sub-divide these styles in terms of Shuffling, Shaping and Stepping. For now, to promote inclusion and highlight just how far they intersect, we will consider them all as part of the Shuffling umbrella.
Don’t worry about being unfamiliar with these styles. We will explore them in more detail below.
What isn't Shuffle Dance?
Arm-based rave dances such as Electro Dance (also known as Milky Way or Tecktonik), Liquid, Muzzing and Hacking are not considered Shuffle Dances, but can be combined with them. Unlike Breaking/B-Boying, in Shuffle Dance, your hands rarely touch the ground, if at all.
Q&As with Kuen-Wah Cheung
Kuen-Wah Cheung is moderator of The Shuffle Dance Community on Facebook and creator of this website. He has written the first ever shuffle dance instructional book, ‘Charleston Variations,’ as part of a brand new series called The Quick and Dirty Guide To Shuffle Dance. Here he explains what’s the deal with this new book:
1. What’s your dance background?
KUEN-WAH: When I was younger, I was very much into b-boying (breakdancing), popping and locking. It came as a natural outgrowth from dancing in nightclubs in Brighton, UK. Then in 2007, there was a BBC documentary called Dance Britannia which included a Lindy Hop instructor Julie Oram demonstrating Charleston moves such as the scarecrow, cowtail and the basic Charleston and it blew my mind. I went up to London to ‘Jitterbugs' to do her five week Charleston workshop which was tremendous fun. For a while, I kept typing in ‘Charleston dance Brighton’ in search engines hoping to find something more local without much success. Then in Summer 2014, I found myself dancing at Brighton Spiegeltent festival, kept bumping into the same friendly folks, was given a flyer by one of them, and started attending MyCharleston classes (then known as I Charleston Brighton), taught by Elena Burslem and Fiona Ring at the Happy Cell Studio in Hove.
2. How did you discover Shuffle Dance?
KUEN-WAH: I’m not entirely sure if it was a shared compilation video on Facebook or if it popped up on YouTube, but when I saw it, it really captured my imagination. It was like a Charleston of the 21st Century. The music, the modern look with all those LED light-up shoes, and the vibe really spoke to me. Without words, it said to me that we don’t have to hark back to racially segregated USA of the 1920s as some kind of golden era, with white flappers stealing the limelight from the black African-Americans who created the dance, that instead we can create a new scene that represents who we are now. Gabby J David and Elena Cruz’s tutorials, along with Anderson Jovani, Guerrorojah and Mark Tore videos, made essential viewing for me in those formative months of learning to shuffle. They were doing the Charleston and Happy Feet, moves I already knew, but they were doing it in a slightly different way, and had variations I had never seen before. And they mixed it up with new moves to me such as the Running Man and T-Step. With the soundtrack of Deamn’s ‘Save Me’ and other iconic tracks, they presented Cutting Shapes in a very appealing, exciting package. Over time, I’ve learnt to appreciate other styles, such as the Melbourne Shuffle and Malaysian Style. I also built up knowledge about the history of shuffling in the UK, from the jazz-funk fusion pioneers such as Foot Patrol, to the 1980s UK rave scene to the early 2010s London Cutting Shapes scene.
3. What inspired you to write a book about shuffling?
KUEN-WAH: I have quite a collection of hip-hop dance instructional books, such as ‘Breakdancing - Let Colin and Venol Show You How’. A lot of these were much more superficial efforts designed to cash in on the ‘Breakdance’ craze of the 1980s. There is even this one featuring Alfonso Ribeiro which I would dearly love to acquire:
There has actually been a ‘How to Charleston Correctly’ book by Bemis Walker from 1925, but the diagrams and symbols are very confusing, as well as other flaws such as rather whitewashing the black African-American roots of the dance.
I wanted to add to this rich collection of literature, but do one that genuinely helped dancers to learn rather than being more style than substance. I started writing my book after many years of drawing stick figures and writing notes to help me remember choreography learnt at various dance classes. And i knew these worked. At least for me. I figured a tidied up version could be ideal for others to pick up moves at their own pace and in their own time.
4. Why not just do a video? Why a book?
KUEN-WAH: There are already a lot of videos of shuffling. Probably over 100 Running Man tutorials, and over 100 Charleston ones. I wanted to create something unique, and no-one has yet written a dance instructional book about Shuffle Dance, something that you can take out of your bag to practise anywhere you want, such as a studio, car park or your kitchen, with or without decent internet access.
In The Shuffle Dance Community group on Facebook, which has over 8,000 members, we often get posts from beginners, asking “Where do I start?” This from people who clearly know how to use YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. It is because there is an information overload. A book is a great way of organising learning in a logical way, unlike scattered videos all over social media. Learning from a book also has its advantages. As Madeleine Fairfax wrote in The Shuffle Dance Community: “I love it when people break things down step by step because half the time, videos go way too fast. Usually I have to slow a video down, pause it a million times and try to jot the steps down."
I also sense that people welcome something tangible that they can hold in their hand to represent our time as shufflers. A book does a better job of that than video held online, which may not be easily accessible in 20 or 30 years’ time. Someone could just close their account, or video hosting company goes bust, and - BOOM! - all that knowledge will be gone.
5. What will we gain from reading ‘Charleston Variations'?
KUEN-WAH: You will learn 45 different Charleston variations, including different stylings, and how the Charleston combines with other moves such as the Running Man, T-Step, Switchblade, Happy Feet, kicks and jumps, slides and glides, and spins and turns. There is also a history of the Charleston and explanatory information about how Charleston fits into Shuffle Dance as a whole. There are also preparatory exercises for anyone learning the Basic Charleston for the first time. Plus an interview with ex-Prodigy dancer Leeroy Thornhill, who helped introduce the Charleston to the rave generation.
6. What have you learnt from writing the book?
KUEN-WAH: I’ve learnt that arrows on diagrams really help! That it’s not enough to give a text description to go along with an illustration. This is one of the key points I have gained from asking for feedback from the Shuffle Dance Community. I’ve also learnt how to use 3D modelling software. The process of self-publishing had to be learnt from scratch. From the beginning, I was determined not to seek an established book publisher, as I firmly believed that going it alone, aided and abetted by the shuffle community, would be more fun and more in keeping with the spirit of grassroots level dance.
I’ve also learnt how much work is involved in writing and designing a book and polishing it up on my trusty Apple Macintosh computers, and getting it ready for prime time via a lengthy proof-reading process. It’s been a real labour of love during lockdown. So many energy have been expended on this project at weekends, often into the early hours of the day, until I’m bleary eyed. It’s been like going to a rave, but sitting down!
7. How dirty is the book going to be?
KUEN-WAH: I don’t think you can expect a ‘Position of the Fortnight’ in it!
“Quick and dirty’ simply means it’s not promising to be without flaws but that it gets the job done.
That said, the quality of the printing is breathtakingly good, with a hard cover, 24 full-colour lay flat pages and beautifully lush matte finish. You’ll love it!
8. What are you future plans?
KUEN-WAH: I hope to add other books in the series, with ones on the T-Step, Running Man, Switchblade, Happy Feet, Kicks and Jumps, Slides and Glides, and Spins and Turns. All these moves, techniques and stylings of shuffle dance deserve to be archived and shared, and I hope my books help towards achieving this.
The book is available for purchase as of today. Just click to add it to your Shopping Bag, make sure you enter your shipping address and check out……
Free Shipping worldwide! £25 is about $34 USD.Need customer service? Contact kuenwah@me.com
Rebel Industry
Q&As with Sabrina Caputi
(article by Tanja Viti)
I started private online lessons with Sabrina Caputi, a.k.a Rebel Industry, about two months ago.
I’m 45, have no previous dance experience. However, I had a foundation of some moves that I had learned on my own from watching videos. Sabrina introduced me to the Melbourne Shuffle with an emphasis on the correct execution of the Running Man, T-Step, and rocking combined with spins and glides.
She has a professional and competitive dance background in different dance styles (jazz,ballet, modern, hip hop, contemporary etc). Her approach to teaching goes beyond just showing you some steps. She gives you the ability to appreciate and better understand the art of dancing and its technique.
I found that she has endless patience and a very motivating way to teach and push you forward. She is so encouraging and enthusiastic and you can tell that she loves sharing her extensive knowledge with her pupils.
She takes time to really explain technique and the feel of each movement. I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending her as an excellent teacher to anyone, any level and age.
She was also happy to answer my questions for her:
1. How did you start your shuffle journey, what were you inspired by?
SABRINA: I began my shuffle journey back in 2014. I was inspired by the countless dancers I would see at music festivals and events, along with the growing trending videos on Instagram. Since 2010 when I started raving, I was always extremely passionate about the music; specifically house, trance and techno. I realized that shuffling could be a way to experience the music on a soulful level, therefore I decided to begin my journey.
2. You already had a solid dance background. Did you find it difficult though?
SABRINA: My dance background was focused around ballet, along with other styles like contemporary, modern, jazz and tap. I quickly learned that what was required for shuffling was much different than other dance styles, especially due to the extreme speed and muscle memory that was required. I wouldn’t say it was easy but having a dance background definitely helped in areas like technique and anatomy, since I could distinguish what was necessary in order to embody the movement. The practice took me a great deal of time either way, since the style is extremely intricate and fast paced.
3. Do you have a favorite Shuffle style and if yes which one?
SABRINA: I absolutely love all the styles of shuffling. I have done a great deal of work and research becoming versed in Melbourne, Cutting Shapes and Cali styles, along with having some understanding of Malaysian. If I had to decide it would be Melbourne. Not just because it is an originating style but because it helps with smoothness, fluidity and overall flow. I prefer to mix all the styles as I dance, in order to form more of a hybrid style.
4. What did you struggle most with?
SABRINA: I definitely struggled the most with being able to embody multiple styles of shuffling. This is because there is a different muscle memory required for each. Therefore training must be rigorous in order to have a developed understanding. I found it was hard to practice one style without integrating movement from another, so a very disciplined form of practice is what helped me achieve what I was looking for. I have perfected this method of learning to pass on to my students so that they in turn can embody multiple styles and create a depth to their flow like I do.
5. Your favorite shuffle song?
SABRINA: It’s hard to pick just one song, but my go to artist would definitely be Above and Beyond especially if I’m working on flow. One particular song I’ve always loved by them, especially from my early days of raving is 'Love Is Not Enough' with vocals by the wonderful Zoe Johnston. A vocalist can truly spark a feeling when you’re dancing that lends itself to musicality.
6. What sort of people usually book your classes?
SABRINA: I work with all types of levels and ages so I wouldn’t say just one! My youngest student is 6 and my oldest is 64. It is my belief that any age can learn! I often start with complete beginners, however I have a range of intermediate students that are looking to develop their movement base. I also train advanced levels as well, in achieving and developing personal style, working with complex concepts and movement, and even assisting in professional choreography advice for commercial shufflers. I absolutely love working with all stages and offer a wide range of lessons and concepts that will transform my students. I have also been teaching shuffling for 4 years, so I have developed a multitude of teaching methods to suit each dancer’s needs.
7. What style of shuffle dance classes do you teach?
SABRINA: As previously mentioned, I offer a wide range of lessons. Since I teach all different levels, the types of classes vary from student to student. At a beginner level, I focus on technique and building the foundations in order to develop a proper movement understanding. As the level of the student progresses, different exercises, drills, combos and choreographies are utilized. I always start with a Melbourne focus for beginner students, as I believe this is an important foundation for freestyling and understanding the dance form. Units of focus on different styles help the student learn new pathways as well as develop their own style.
8. How do you inspire and motivate your students?
SABRINA: I have been obsessed with shuffling since the day I began practicing. My passion for this style became so much a part of my life that I quit my job as a project manager to pursue it full time. I share this passion with every single student. I am so grateful and excited to help them every step of the way on their own journey. By becoming their own personal cheerleader, I hope to inspire them to continue their practice, despite whatever obstacles they face. I hold my students accountable and have frequent interactions with them, through messaging apps rather than strictly through email. Students are encouraged to send videos of their practice so they can get feedback between sessions along with being able to ask any questions they may have. It is my hope that they see me as both a mentor and friend, which has helped me develop a wonderful relationship with all my students.
9: How important is technique when it comes to shuffle dancing?
SABRINA: My opinion on technique stems from my experience with dancing professionally for a majority of my life. Technique is extremely important and I spend a great deal of time making sure that movement is demonstrated with this being the primary focus of understanding. Since I have such a strong background in other dance styles, I ensure that my students understand the technique behind dance concepts like pirouettes or glides. Shuffle technique and form also assists in maintaining healthy body function. When movement is executed improperly, tension, pain or ultimately injuries can occur. So yes I believe technique is one of the most important things a dancer should be educated in.
10: Describe your dance class in three words…
SABRINA: Technical,enlightening, passionate
11: Advice for anyone who wants to start their shuffle journey?
SABRINA: My best advice is just to begin! We can make all kinds of excuses not to do something when in reality taking the first step is not so hard. Commit and dedicate yourself to what you want to accomplish, because as I tell my students, you can do anything you set your mind (and body) to do. There are a plethora of resources out there, much more than when I began my own journey. So take that first step, and you’ll be happy you did! If you don’t know where to start and you’re looking for mentorship I would be honored to share this passionate dance with you!
Thank you!
Sabrina offers private shuffle lessons in Toronto or worldwide on a online base. Online lessons can be booked for a single person as a private lessons or collective for a group. Due to her teaching experience she offers a personalized program developed on the need and request of every single dancer. Also workshops with different techniques/styles and ranging from beginner to advanced are available on her website rebelindustry.ca
21 Day Challenge – Q&As with Victoria Diaz
1. How long have you been shuffling? Whose lessons have you found to be most helpful?
VICTORIA: I started shuffling in 2015 and learned mostly from YouTube videos and replaying shuffle videos I found on Instagram. I took a break from it and found shuffling again in 2019 after attending a live shuffle workshop in Miami, FL. Since then I have been practicing consistently and taking classes from experienced shufflers! I have found classes from The Shuffle Circle, Elev8ed Movement (Chelsee Ramos), Sabrina (Rebel Industry), Gabby J David, Dave Ruby and Ciara Castro to be most helpful.
2. What's your background in health and physical fitness?
VICTORIA: I did ballet from age 6-11, and stopped dancing when I discovered tennis in 5th grade. I competed in USTA tournaments and played in many leagues throughout middle to high school. I was also on the swim team for three years in high school. I wanted to go pro in tennis at one point and would travel to the Dominican Republic every summer to train for hours with different coaches. However, my path changed and I ended up doing college tennis my first two years. During those years I worked with personal trainers and strength and conditioning coaches. That’s when I realized I wanted to become a coach myself. They helped me transform my game and physique entirely! I have been a certified personal trainer for 4 years and tennis coach for 5 years now. I work with mostly middle aged-older populations in PT and work with all ages for tennis.
3. Do you see shuffling primarily as a vehicle to achieve fitness, or fitness as a means to shuffle longer and better?
VICTORIA: The two go hand in hand, but I definitely use fitness as a means to shuffle longer and better. I picked up shuffling just for fun and didn’t really look at it as a form of exercise (even though it is). Now I can’t stop! I fell in love with it, I just want to continue improving and learning. I have also noticed that my endurance on court has improved since shuffling.
4. Please tell us about the concept behind Shuffle and Sculpt.
VICTORIA: I wanted to fuse my two passions together and form a program that people could benefit from. Shuffling is not only a great form of cardio, but it's also extremely fun! People lose interest fast in exercise programs if they are not thoroughly enjoying what they are doing.
Shuffling provides a fun way to express yourself while also doing cardio. The “sculpt” part of this program is strength training and conditioning. I’ve designed this to include workouts that will help build up strength and muscle to protect your joints, prevent injury and ultimately sculpt (tone) your body. The conditioning portion includes workouts and drills to build up speed, stamina and footwork.
5. Is the course about developing a positive body image?
VICTORIA: Absolutely! I want people to learn to love their body in every stage of the process. Developing a strong and healthy mindset is another main factor in this challenge.
6. Will there be daily tasks? What do these involve?
VICTORIA: Yes, I have a set task for each day which will involve either shuffling or working out (sometimes both). There will also be positive habit forming tasks for each week.
7. In your challenge, what is required in terms of participation? Are participants expected to post videos and photos of themselves to show their progress?
The only thing I am requiring is effort! I encourage participants to post progress photos and videos as these are extremely helpful! I am also giving participants the option for check in calls with me to help with accountability and discipline.
8. Will participants be in an online group to support each other?
VICTORIA: Yes! The group is on facebook “Shuffle and Sculpt – 21 Day Challenge” and is free to join in December.
9. How does someone sign up?
VICTORIA: Sign up by clicking the link in my bio on my IG: @shufflesculpt or my main @fitnessfinn_. You can also message me for the link to join.
Shuffle Wisdom
Q&As with Jolie Anastasia Hubbard
1. To those who don’t know yet, what is Shuffle Wisdom? What’s its purpose and how will you achieve this?
JOLIE: The purpose of Shuffle Wisdom is to #bridgethegap in 3 ways:
• Between professional dancers and shufflers
We want shufflers to get the recognition and respect we deserve. Plenty of artists and companies wanting to utilize our dance for content. We’d like to correctly set the standard for shufflers, not for level of influence, but from respect for the dance.
• Within the shuffle community
There’s been loads of division within the shuffle community for almost a decade. Back in March of 2011, when ‘Party Rock Anthem’ came out, the shuffle scene was exposed from the underground. Ever since then, there hasn’t been a clear platform for people to turn to find the roots of this dance. We’d like to take the dance back to its roots to define and clarify what shuffling actually is and give the credit where it’s due.
• Between people and dancers
We believe that everyone can dance. Social media has caused this HUGE wave of people *literally* stepping into this realm of dance. We LOVE to see it. We want to keep growing and inspire people to tap into their creative selves by further deconstructing shuffling to make it more tangible to tap into the true freestyle ‘flow state’ that shuffling stems from.
2. How have your plans been affected by COVID19?
JOLIE: Ooof. Well, of course we had to enforce a limited capacity. 50 shufflers. 70 in attendance in total (DJs & production crew) in a 1500-person capacity venue.
Mandated COVID-19 testing & temperatures checked upon entry.
3. You’ve kicked things off with a Shuffle Masterclass, with Dave Rubinstein, Val (founder of Shuffle Babes), Lauren Corazza, and yourself. Do you find that teaching and learning upper body flow is often much harder than footwork?
JOLIE: I don’t feel that upper body flow is necessarily harder to teach or learn with shuffling. I just feel that it’s a core subject that is more than often overlooked.
4. How long have you been shuffling for? How did you learn?
JOLIE: Fun question. I’ve been actively shuffling (every week at least) for the last 3 years. That being said, when I was 16, still living in Hawaii, I did discover shuffling on YouTube:
That was not only my first time being exposed to shuffling, but also to electronic music. Growing up a playing guitar and electronic bass, I’ve always gravitated towards the harder styles of music. Discovering hardstyle made me instantly curious to dive into electronic music and expand my musical knowledge.
When I moved to California, I found the rave scene, continued to fall more and more in love with the MUSIC. Then NYE 2018, I made it my New Year’s Resolution to find my own style in shuffling. And now, here we are!
5. Is Cutting Shapes a sibling of Shuffling, a type of Shuffling, or just another word for Shuffling? Where do you stand on this vexed issue?
JOLIE: Cutting Shapes and Shuffling are both styles of footwork. The fundamental teaching of both have been consistently blended through out the last few years. Hence, the birth of the ‘hybrid shuffler’.
Are they different styles? 100%.
Shuffling and/or Rocking stems from the illusion of gliding across the floor from side to side while implementing different variations of the Running Man and T-Step. Although I am not as proficient in Cutting Shapes, I believe the most obvious difference between the two styles is literally ‘cutting’ or creating shapes under your body. There isn’t a lot of ‘traveling’ and definitely no ‘rocking’ involved in Cutting Shapes. It all comes from fast footwork in place and/or slightly from front to back.
My stance on the issue is: there shouldn’t be an issue. It’s just a matter of defining and clarifying the different styles. Especially if you’re teaching it.
6. What can we expect from the Virtual Showcase (Halloween Edition) on Friday, October 30th 8PM PST on the Wisdome LA YouTube channel?
JOLIE: The most epic shuffle movie the world has ever seen. 6 hours of amazing shufflers from across the country to different styles of electronic dance music. House, Techno & even Trance! (my favorite!)
7. Please tell us about the contest.
JOLIE: Well!! It ends at midnight (October 27th 11:59 PST)!!
BUT if anyone is interested in entering:
• Take the first Shuffle Wisdom masterclass.
• Throw on a costume and show us what you’ve learned!!
• There are 3 winners: Best Dance, Best Costume & Biggest Level-Up after taking the course.
• Each winner will receive $100 CASH, a bunch of dope merch from: Shuffle Wisdom, The Electric Cult & Affiliated Minds, and an invitation to come to the next Shuffle Wisdom Virtual Showcase!
8. What are you plans for the future for Shuffle Wisdom?
JOLIE: The future is SO bright for Shuffle Wisdom. 💎 This is a platform meant to teach the THEORY of shuffling. Never choreography. Shuffling originated as a freestyle dance.
Shuffle Wisdom will be filled with loads of knowledge on how to find your unique flow in this dance. We’re already drafting loads of other segments for the future on how to truly deconstruct this dance to make it more tangible for the average viewer/aspiring shuffler.
Everyone wants to learn how to shuffle, right?
But the core break downs of this movement and flow is something that the world hasn’t seen yet. We can’t wait to share this knowledge with the world and not only inspire people to start dancing with us, but to do it for the love of the music.
THE MASTERCLASS: Shuffle Wisdom: Learn to Shuffle Online
THE EVENT: Shuffle Wisdom: Halloween Edition (Friday, October 30th 8pm PST)
CAROLYN ANNE says:
I found this master class a great starting point for beginners. The teachers are thorough with the steps they cover. It covers a broad range of moves including T-step variations, basic upper body movements, shapes, and RM variations. I personally found Dave Ruby the most effective teacher, and learned the most from him. If you are intermediate / advanced, you’ve likely covered this material in other classes or just picked it up over time. I would love to see more collaborative master classes like this. Perhaps one with combos and mini sequences for intermediate / advanced.
Cali style shuffling was adapted from the Melbourne Shuffle and strongly influenced by Malaysian Style. It originated in California and is characterized by its aggressive stomps, long strides and high knees. The staple moves of this style are the high knees Running Man, and T-Stepping involving tapping at different angles. Within Cali style there are killer combos that also feature a galloping movement as well as spins and slides. (Synopsis by Flowmi)
Cutting Shapes has become a global phenomenon since it blew up as a craze in the UK in the early 2010s. It added the 1920s Charleston and Happy Feet to the Running Man as its foundational base. Its history includes the footshufflers from the UK’s jazz funk fusion groups who danced to house music well before the rave scene in the early to mid-1980s. Within Cutting Shapes there is strong emphasis on diagonal lines and pivoting feet. For example, the Running Man is often performed diagonally (with front foot toe raised) as the Crossblade. There is even a Cutting Shapes Style Charleston, involving a switching motion and criss-crossing feet, that has becoming the signature move of Leeroy Thornhill, former Prodigy dancer. Whereas the London shapers were much more groove-based, those within the Barcelona scene emphasised flow, speed and smoothness. From these influences, the Charleston is performed with a stronger sense of ‘attack’ and athleticism than usually found in solo jazz circles. Belatedly, Cutting Shapes has also taken off in the USA in recent years, especially on social media. However, an increasing sexualisation of moves and emphasis on influencers selling energy drinks, and not respecting the history of Shuffle Dance, has drawn a lot of criticism. (Synopsis by Kuen-Wah Cheung)
The Reddit page for DNB Step describes it as a ‘weird kick-ass mix between C-Walk and JumpStyle, to the sound of dub.” The dance has a strong Eastern European influence in its development and growth. Its integral movement involves the shifting position of the standing leg while the working foot taps alternately with heel or toe in various posiitions. Moves and combos are commonly known as ’tricks.' One of the key concepts is X-Outing, involving toe-heel steps across an X-grid. Within the dance there are also hip-twists, toe-twists and foot lifts. (Synopsis by Kuen-Wah Cheung)
This is a South American dance style based on free improvisation of steps danced to the rhythm of Electronic Dance Music. The defining characteristic is the tendency to step on heel or toe before bringing the rest of the foot down so it is flat-footed. There are various styles such as base kick, speed, slide, joker, robot and aggressive which mix different components from Breaking, Hard Step, Brazilian dance and C-Walk. (Synopsis by Tanja Viti)
This Chinese style of shuffling is known as 'Guǐ bù’ in Mandarin. It takes a mechanical, ‘military’ style approach to shuffling, with a lot of leisurely doubling up of moves and very little hip movement. It is used mostly as exercise for the elderly and young children. According to a Daily Mail report in January 2019: "Pupils around China are required to do radio callisthenics every morning, in which they move their arms, legs and torso in a rhythmic, synchronised way to music broadcast through a loudspeaker.” Ghost Step is providing an alternative way of fulfillng this. This isn’t to say that Ghost Step is the only Chinese involvement in shuffling. There are many Chinese shufflers involved in much harder approaches such as Russian style. (Synopsis by Kuen-Wah Cheung)
This style has its roots in Dutch and Belgian clubs in the early 2000s. A jumper will commonly dance to HardStyle music around 140–160 bpm. The dance is characterised by a strong emphasis on kicking with one leg while hopping on the standing leg. Similarly, dancers step forward and backwards on their toes while hopping on their standing leg. There are also a variety of spins and twists. Sometimes it is executed in the form of 'duo jump', where two dancers move in sync with each other. Different sub-genres of JumpStyle include oldschool/Belgian Jump, French Jump, Hardjump, Sidejump and Tekstyle. (Synopsis by Tanja Viti)
This is pronounced ‘ko-NAY-nen dans’ which means ‘Rabbit dance’ in Dutch. It is also sometimes known as Bunny Dance or Dutch shuffle. It originated in the Netherlands during the first half of 2010. It is descended from Melbourne Shuffle and closely related to Cutting Shapes in its London heyday. It is slightly more reliant on the Running Man, though, and is bouncier and slower. The Running Man within Konijnendans is performed with a repeating back step, although stylistically different from The New Jersey Running Man used in 'The Running Man Challenge.’ Although Konijnendans is still danced in clubs and raves in the Benelux region, it never gained a worldwide reach. (Synopsis by Kuen-Wah Cheung)
This heavy style is sometimes known as MAS Style. It combines aggression with a smooth dancing style. It is usually danced to hard trance and is seen as an offshoot of the Melbourne Shuffle and a sibling of Cali Style. The main step is a modified version of the Running Man, involving a high knee and ‘L’ shape for the ‘up’ position, just like on the Cali Style Running Man. However, it also features a side to side motion and a tilt of the head and upper body to the centre. As Xhuffflis, director of Shuffle Showcase, explains: “It’s really hardcore and flowing at the same time.” The Running Man is usually supplemented with a T-Step style known as Rocking. (Synopsis by Tanja Viti and Kuen-Wah Cheung)
This aggressive rave dance made its way into Melbourne in the 1990s where it was known as stomping and shuffling. Many accounts suggest it was learnt by the locals from English backpackers. The dance echoed the Surfer Stomp, which had been a craze in Australia in the early 1960s, and a Mickey-taking version of the Eagle Rock boogie by Sharpie fans of AC/DC in the mid-1970s. The latter mutated into the Melbourne Shuffle, which was sometimes supplemented with hat tricks. In its heydey, the dance floor was often covered in talcum powder to help gliding. The original move was the T-Step, which was once simply known as The Shuffle. The feet formed a T shape on the ‘down’ position in the formative years of the move, but this is no longer considered necessary. The Running Man took over from T-Step as the fundamental move. Depending up who you ask, ‘Rocking’ is another name for the whole dance, a reference to the motion of the upper body, a sub-style for dancing in a confined space, or a form of T-Stepping with a shunt of the standing leg rather than a pivot, Named after the year of its emergence, '07 Style is considered ‘harder’ with bigger moves and lots of spins. It is strongly associated with HardStyle music. By contrast, ’Smoothstyle’ or ’Soft style’ involves technical, seamless light footwork (Synopsis by Kuen-Wah Cheung).
This is a new interpretation of 1920s Charleston with a lot of improvisation combining different elements from other dance styles such as Cutting Shapes, Melbourne Shuffle, Lindy Hop, Jive, Rebolation, Tecktonik and Hip-Hop. Although it is popularly known as Electro Swing Dance, many aficionados insist that Electro Swing is the music genre, while Neo Swing is the name of the dance. That said, these are misnomers as Electro Swing is not technically swing music, and Charleston is not a swing dance. Electro Swing music refers to a cutesy genre that originated in the 2000s, which mixes old style music such as Dixieland jazz, funk and Gipsy jazz along with more modern music such as rap, electro techno, reggae and dubstep. (Synopsis by Tanja Viti)
This Brazilian dance has its origins in rave parties. It is danced to Electronic Dance Music with fast arm and feet movements. Its fundamental movement is a heel-step and then heel-pivot (adopted within Cutting Shapes as the Heelston move) or a toe-step followed by toe pivot. The dance is considered a mixture of Melbourne Shuffle and Charleston. (Synopsis by Tanja Viti)
With its high knees, long strides and hunched over stance, Russian style is teeming with aggression. According to GQ Gannon, it is like a hybrid style of Melbourne and Malaysian styles. One hallmark of this style, often known as RUS style, is travelling side to side while facing forward, far more than within other approaches to Shuffling. For example, this can be seen in the use of V-Steps rather than T-Steps, and dragging the standing leg rather than pivoting. T1M brought a new level of athleticism and B-Boy attitude to Russian style shuffling after his emergence in 2011-13, changing the template for what we know as RUS style forever. (Synopsis by Kuen-Wah Cheung)
This is an underground dance style that originated in east Johannnesburg in South Africa. It has two main styles. The original style is often referred to as the Truth style or Old School. According to Gyannipedia, "It is characterised by crisscrossing and sweeping base movements where the dancers feet would rarely leave the ground.” The float step or heel-toe style is now the most popular one. "In this style, a dancer uses a leg mostly for balance and to bounce on, while the other does various moves which gives the impression that the dancer is floating.” (Synopsis by Kuen-Wah Cheung)
Although the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, Cutting Shapes is simply a type/sub-genre/style of Shuffle Dance.
Still, some Melbourne Shufflers are resentful of Cutting Shapes, saying that it is not real shuffling. However, as Marc Losper (Shaboogen), who was prominent in the Melbourne scene, said recently on That Podcast About Dancing, “Everyone who says that Cutting Shapes and shuffling are different dances: you’re wrong!"
There is more of an emphasis on pivoting feet and diagonal lines than other shuffling styles such as the Melbourne Shuffle. However, it clearly still fits within the remit of Shuffle Dance.
Anything that moves you, really! The music genres danced to in the early days were house music, hardstyle and, fleetingly, rock music. Given its rich heritage, you can legitimately move your feet to trance, jazz, electro swing, ska, disco, hip-hop, funk, reggae, techno, drum ’n’ bass and so on. It’s a versatile dance!
That said, there are some parameters. As Kirlll Zheludkov said: “It’s gotta have a confident and repetitive beat, man! When your foot hits the ground, there’s gotta be bass. You gotta make us feel that you’ve stomped that bass into the ground!”
So probably no shuffling to Adele. It’s very unlikely to work! Chances are you’ll find yourself trying to fit square pegs in round holes.
Providing you’re not dealing with injuries, when you are a beginner, it doesn’t really matter what footwear you have on as long as it is comfortable. So don’t let not having the ‘perfect’ footwear get in the way of getting started!
Some people prefer to practise in their socks, as it helps them slide on a carpet. However, wearing shoes is important as it is unlikely you’ll be in your socks when at a club, rave or festival.
The best footwear is light yet offers protection, especially to the toes. This is helpful if you are Moonwalking or attempting Toe Stands. However, these are quite advanced moves, so you probably won’t be attempting these as a beginner.
As the dance involves sliding and shunting, many shufflers have come up with ingenious methods to reduce the grip produced by their sports footwear, from talcum powder on the dancefloor to applying Duct tape or car protection film to their soles.
Regarding different brands, Vans are very popular as they are both lightweight and yet have strong soles. Others swear by Nike Air Max 97s. As for the best looking footwear, this is debatable. That said, most shufflers agree that LED light-up shoes look fantastic at night time.
Learning a new dance can be a great way to discover new music. In his online tutorials, Ali Chokairy advises looking up ‘futurism’, ‘future house’, ‘electro house’, ‘EDM’ and ’techno’ and use Shazam’s app to identify the tracks.
On Spotify and other music streaming services, there are already Cutting Shapes / Shuffle Dance playlists, not to mention playlists to different BPM (beats per minute).
Meanwhile, Mavis Everett has created a Shuffle Speed List on YouTube. This is useful for when you are practising new moves and wish to gradually get up to speed. You can even download a metronome app, such as MetroTimer, to practise dancing to a repetitive beat of specific speeds.
It is useful to know how fast different genres of dance music are. Some websites give an popular tempo for difference types of dance music, and this gives you an idea of what to aim for, even if at the beginning of your dance journey, it is likely that your favourite dance track will be too fast.
You can even create your own playlist, identifying the speed of your chosen tracks using songbpm.com
In a word: practice! As journalist Kieran Yates wrote: “Shuffling is basic enough that most people can get that gist of it.” Even so, it’s sufficiently complicated, with many more layers and variations than one trick fad dances such as the Dab, Nae Nae or the Floss. You’ll be rewarded the more you put in to shuffling, in skills, artistic expression and freedom of the dance floor from admiring punters.
When you start learning moves, it is important to go slowly. Shuffler SteamzAus recommends starting at an eighth of full-speed, before moving to quarter-speed, half-speed and then full-speed. Going fast too soon will short-circuit your ability to develop ‘muscle memory.’
However, if you learn at a gradual pace, the more you practise, the more ‘muscle memory’ you will develop. And the more muscle memory you develop, the more flow you have and the more effortless your shuffling will look. When your footwork becomes second nature, it frees your brain up to explore movement to music with your arms.
Within some geographical areas, there are regular Shuffling meet-ups. If you join The Shuffle Dance Community, you can see if there are other shufflers in your area. One member, Katelin Gates, has compiled a list of live online classes.
The Shuffle Dance Community was started by Brian Bee, the tutor behind the Shuffle Dance Master Class Volumes 1, 2 and 3 on Udemy, an online learning platform. He started the Facebook group in response from feedback from his online tutorials, and it’s been a great success, growing to over 8,000 members in May 2021. Admin is Brian Bee. The Moderator is Kuen-Wah Cheung who is currently writing a book series called ’The Quick and Dirty Guide to Shuffle Dance.'
It’s a friendly community with a very positive vibe, full of support, tips and encouragement. Come join the group!