The Melbourne Shuffle

Dance Style of the Melbourne Underground

The Melbourne Shuffle developed in the late 1980s and early 90s at Melbourne rave parties. It is a fun expression with fast fancy footwork in a small area.

Rave parties are all night dance parties where electronic dance music is accompanied by laser light shows, projected images, and artificial fog.

The Shuffle was one of several dances of the acid house era. Acid house refers to a repetitive, hypnotic trance-like dance style, which had emerged from House Music, an electronic dance music that developed in Chicago in the 1980s.

The Melbourne Shuffle evolved organically from Melburnian's love of dance and music. It is a fun jump and slide style and was originally called Stomping.

It is more a concept that you can play with than a set of dance steps. It continues to be shared, added on and experimented with. It is a free style that encourages freedom of expression.

In the late 1990s it was picked up internationally and named the ‘Melbourne Shuffle’. It became a cultural phenomenon in the dance music scene.

How to Melbourne Shuffle

(from WikiHow)

1. Take whichever foot you prefer and angle it a little bit to that foots side (e.g. tilt your right foot to the right).
2. Place your other foot behind that foot, tilting the other way. The heel of your front foot should be touching about the middle of the back foot.
3. Pivot your front foot on its heel. While doing this, take your back foot off the ground (only a few inches, and don't rotate it). Both feet should now be pointing in relatively the same direction.
4. Get back into the original position by pivoting your front foot on its toe and dropping your foot back to where it was. You should've moved a little bit in one direction, depending on which foot you chose for your front.
5. When you want to, change directions. This is done by, when you're about to put your back foot down, place it in front of the other foot instead.
6. If you're confused as to what to do from there, re-read these steps and teach yourself how to do the dance both ways.

Shuffle Basics

Here are the basic steps (by BigMilan) if you want to learn how to shuffle:

The Dark Side of Rave Parties

Rave parties are associated with the use of drugs. While the Melbourne Shuffle is an art form and fun, we do not condone the use of drugs.

Drugs are destructive to creativity, the individual and the building of a future.

There is some great help for getting off drugs in Melbourne , and internationally.