Shuffling
What is Shuffling?
Shuffling is an Electronic Rave Dance that emerged from UK Rave Stepping in mid- to late 1980's. It is a footwork-dominant style of dance which is prevalent in the rave scene. You will see it in clubs, at festivals, and it is slowly starting to make its way into the all-style dance scene through competitions and dance events.
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The dance has evolved and branched out into many different variations over the years, including Melbourne Shuffle, Malaysian (MAS), Russian and Cali styles, as well as hybrid shuffle styles that can incorporate Cutting Shapes and Miami Stepping just to to name a few.
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Shuffling is growing exponentially, it is rapidly taking over the internet through platforms like Instagram and Tik Tok, and in 2020s you can see it starting to make its way to on-stage performances at various music shows and festivals for EDM and techno DJs.
Is Cutting Shapes a Shuffle Dance?
One of the most controversial discussion topics is whether Cutting Shapes is Shuffling or it's own style. It is important to understand that both emerged from UK Rave Dancing and have the same contextual and historical origin. While Melbourne Shuffling was being developed in Australia's rave scene in the 90's, which then inspired Malaysian and Cali styles, cutting shapes had it's own path in Europe, with UK Cutting Shapes being born in 2012 and branching out into its own variations of Spanish and US Cutting Shapes styles, as well as Konijnendans in the Netherlands.
Cutting shapes has been referred to as "shuffling" in the UK, although the foundation of the style looked different from the Melbourne variations. Both styles involve a rotational movement of the ankles and hips, with shapes being performed mostly in one place, while shuffling uses the movement to travel in patterns (rocking). Around 2015 many dancers started combining cutting shapes with the Melbourne shuffle, which we refer to as Hybrid Shufflers. So while Cutting Shapes and Melbourne Shuffle were separate styles at one point, they share the same origin and are now converging back into one dance we call Shuffling.
Timeline references: @shuffletimeline / @luva_shuffler / @gaaraofthefunk / @buttr_toes
Key Moves:
T-step is one of the most original moves of the Shuffle dance.
Running Man has become a key element of shuffling with multiple variations, although the move itself originated in hip hop.
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Accessory movements include Spins, Kicks, Glides & Slides
Melbourne Shuffle
One of the earliest and most well known styles of shuffling that originated in the rave scene of Melbourne, Australia. The dance was primarily performed to Hardstyle music, classified by faster BPMs (125-150). Key moves: t-step (rocking) combined with variations of the running man, glides, slides, kicks and spins.
Russian Style (RUS)
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Malaysian Shuffle (MAS)
wide steps to side, powerful wide rm, rocking of the body, mas t-step
Cutting Shapes
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Cali Style
hops, leg swings, swing kick, powerful wide stance rm, swing side to side
Miami Step
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Melbourne Shuffle
Russian Style (RUS)
Malaysian Shuffle (MAS)
Cutting Shapes
Cali Style
Miami Step
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