The Melbourne Shuffle – "dance to express, not to impress!"

Image: Melbourne Shuffle Oldskool

After tecktonik dancing brought gyrating teenagers to metro platforms around the world, a new electro bop has arrived on the scene. The "Melbourne Shuffle" has attracted flocks of movers and shakers, with over 600 new videos uploaded every week.

The Melbourne Shuffle emerged at the end of the eighties, and for a long time stayed underground. But as electro music gained popularity, the dance move started catching on too. Watching other fans interpret the style on YouTube proved so popular that there's now a veritable cult of "Shufflers" from all corners of the world.

In the process, a faster, more aggressive version of the dance has emerged, leaving old school Shuffle loyalists worried that the phenomenon is killing their culture.

Posted on YouTube by surVAMP.

Melbourne Shuffle "Hardstyle" version battle

Posted on YouTube HSDkynett.

Melbourne Shuffle in the living room

Posted on YouTube by stinkoman01.

"It's gradually become a constant battle of who is the best"

Douglas Brennan is a shuffler from Brisbane, Australia. He's currently writing an essay about the History of the Melbourne Shuffle for his history class.

The dance appeared in Melbourne and it's still the place to go for organised shuffle events. There are many different clubs there and meetups are regularly organised. As for the rest of Australia, it's still relatively underground. It's only recently been recognised in Brisbane as a dance to go clubbing. I learnt about Melbourne Shuffle nine months ago and have been shuffling ever since. Initially, people didn't feel embarrassed because they were doing the moves wrong, everybody had their own style and could express themselves freely but it's gradually become a constant battle of who is the best at it. The reason why it's so popular today is the incorporation of 'hardstyle' techniques, which I personally despise. Hardstyle is when the steps of the Melbourne Shuffle are done to extremes so that the steps are exaggerated. This makes the aspect of sliding generally impossible and smooth shuffling is out of the question."

"A dance limited to teenagers"

Abdul Malek is a fan from Singapore.

I learnt about Melbourne Shuffle through friends last June. The first time I saw someone shuffling, I felt like he was dancing on the moon. I was really impressed by the way he slid across the floor while performing some amazing tricks. I also liked the style that went with it and especially the amazing pants [trousers] that shufflers wear which are called "Phats." I started practicing in September when I got an internet connection and could watch tutorial videos, but I'm still a beginner. In Singapore, we do have a lot of small events like shuffle meetups where local shufflers meet to battle. The Global Shuffle Day, the biggest shuffle event held in a different country every year, took place in Singapore in May. Melbourne shuffle is getting increasingly popular right now, but I think that this dance is limited to teenagers. From 20 onwards, your bones harden and you start loosing flexibility so it gets harder to dance."

"We're fighting against the Melbourne Shuffle becoming fashionable"

Wable is one of the founders of MelbShuffle, a French-speaking forum devoted to the dance.

We started up the forum a year ago; we wanted to get together a community of shufflers in France. Since the summer, there's been loads of interest in the Melbourne Shuffle quite simply because in Australia, where it originated from, it's as big as tecktonik. Loads of videos were posted online and the press started talking about the dance without finding out what it actually is. Tecktonic is a brand, and not a dance, like the media insisted on saying. We're fighting against the Melbourne Shuffle becoming fashionable like that. You have to remember that in the end, it's a rave party dance which values sharing and enjoying. As the purists say: 'dance to express, not to impress'."