The Melbourne shuffle is a rave dance that developed in Melbourne, Australia, in the late 1980s and early 1990s.[1][2] The dance moves involve a fast heel-and-toe movement or T-step, combined with a variation of the running man coupled with a matching arm action.[1] The dance is improvised and involves "repeatedly shuffling your feet inwards, then outwards, while thrusting your arms up and down, or side to side, in time with the beat". Other moves can be incorporated including 360-degree spins and jumps and slides.[2]
| Melbourne shuffle | |
|---|---|
| Dance type | Rave dance |
| Year | 1980s–present |
| Country | Australia |
| Related topics | |
During the Melbourne shuffle's heyday in the 1990s and 2000s, the dance was a common sight at Melbourne clubs Hard Kandy, Bubble, Xpress at Chasers, Heat, Mercury Lounge, Viper, Two Tribes at Chasers and PHD.[1] Melbourne's first techno dance parties—Biology, Hardware, and Every Picture Tells a Story—were also popular with Melbourne shuffle practitioners.[3]
Technique
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The underlying dance moves involve the T-step, combined with a variation of the running man.[1] The dance is improvised and involves "repeatedly shuffling your feet inwards, then outwards, while thrusting your arms up and down, or side to side, in time with the beat". 360-degree spins, jumps and slides are also incorporated.[2] It is often associated with another style of dance, "cutting shapes."
Some dancers sprinkle talcum powder or apply liquid to the floor beneath their feet to help them slide more easily.[2]
Popularity outside Melbourne
editIn 2009, the German hard dance group Scooter released the single "J'adore Hardcore", its music video featuring dancers Pae (Missaghi Peyman) and Sarah Miatt performing the Melbourne shuffle on the streets of Melbourne. Two years later, American dance music duo LMFAO also referenced the shuffle with their hit "Party Rock Anthem".
While the Melbourne shuffle grew in popularity outside Australia, a variant of shuffling emerged in the United Kingdom, which would go on to be referred to as "cutting shapes" by 2012.[4]
In 2014, researchers at Brown University named a new computer security algorithm after the Melbourne shuffle. The algorithm deletes traces of users' access on cloud servers by shuffling the location of data on those servers.[5]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Fazal, Mahmood (28 June 2017). "Which Is Sicker: Melbourne Shuffle or Sydney Gabber?". Vice. Vice Media. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
- ^ a b c d Tomazin, Farrah; Donovan, Patrick; Mundell, Meg (7 December 2002). "Dance Trance". The Age. The Age Company Ltd.
- ^ Stanmore, Carl (22 June 2021). "Australia's Forgotten Rave Culture – Who Did It Better, Sydney or Melbourne?". The DJ Revolution. The DJ Revolution. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ "Shuffling: the War at the Heart of London's New Dance Scene". vice.com/en_uk. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
- ^ "'Melbourne Shuffle' secures data in the cloud". American Association for the Advancement of Science. 10 July 2014.
Further reading
edit- Pagett, Matt (2008). "Melbourne Shuffle". The Best Dance Moves in the World - Ever! 100 New and Classic Moves and How to Bust Them. Chronicle Books. pp. 28–29. ISBN 978-0-811-86303-2.
External links
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