Electronic dance step alert: A lot of people are shuffle dancing on the internet and at concerts. The “Melbourne shuffle” originated in Australia.
Twerking and upside down twerking rose in popularity about three or four years ago, although it never really went away in certain establishments. Now shuffle dancing is the cool new thing.
About Twerking
Urban Dictionary defines ‘twerk’ as, “The rhythmic gyrating of the lower fleshy extremities in a lascivious manner with the intent to elicit sexual arousal or laughter in ones intended audience.” Basically it is a mating dance in which the woman imitates the sex act for fun and/or profit.
That’s great and all. But after a while you realize that you are staring at a row of rectums, and that’s only appealing to maybe half the population. It’s more of a dance step for women because they have greater deposits of fat in their rear ends. Not everyone feels comfortable twerking in public. Poor Miley Cyrus is still getting trolled for her twerking. And it’s really hard to stand on your hands drunk.
Doing the Melbourne Shuffle
The Melbourne shuffle was invented in the 1980’s at concerts in Australia. In the early 90’s Australians would shuffle dance to alternative rock music. It is a variation of the running man that looks like a robot chicken scratching around in the dirt. Once you get the basic steps down you can add fancy twists and other moves to give the appearance of rhythmically floating around in place.
There are Instagram accounts and YouTube channels dedicated to the shuffle dancing phenomenon. A lot of them are connected to the EDM festival scene and travel around the world attending shows and shuffle dancing at them. Some of them are sponsored by rave clothing distributors and other brands.
This is similar to the twerk where a lot of women enter contests or post videos on social media. Except that more men are doing it as well.
This Instagram post by Alexxa, an EDM aficionado from Arizona, is going viral. It is her shuffle dancing at a music festival and enjoying a slice of pizza. That shows good multi tasking skills.
To learn more about shuffle dancing, and to practice the dance move yourself, check out some instructional videos on YouTube. Soon you will be the coolest person at the rave.
Unknown shuffle dancer
Shuffle dance in flat rubber soled sneakers such as the Vans x Peanuts Christmas collaboration or a pair of metallic sneakers perfect for the holidays.
Cover image: YouTube’s Best Shuffle Dancing Couple