This weekend the Spotlight falls again on the Melbourne Shuffle, a crazy-sexy-funky-organic dance style that has quietly evolved over the years in Melbourne. On the eve of the second Exhibition of the Melbourne Shuffle, inthemix.com.au message board user, ViRgilante shares his perspective on how the Melbourne Shuffle evolved and where it came from.



The Melbourne Shuffle was one of several dances that emerged during the Acid House era. The main dance styles in that period were Jacking, Stepping and Shuffling.



Jacking came first (from overseas) and was the definitive dance methodology for Acid House. It was a stationary dance (ie you remained strictly in one place) and it consisted mainly of overhead arm movements with occasional knee-bends and knee-ups (whilst bending at the waist).



However, as Acid House became more diverse and rhythmically complex, Jacking simply didn’t cut it any more and went extinct. 2 different (though not mutually exclusive) dance philosophies evolved to meet the heightened rhythmic demands of early techno – 1. The Back-Step (aka The Quick-Step) and 2. The Shuffle



The Back-Step approach was to map the main central beat to a pronounced backward step or hop. The secondary beats and off-beats were then mapped to a series of small steps and hops coordinated around the main back step.



The Shuffle approach did away with a main central move (ie the back-step part of The Back-Step) and “smudged” the numerous small steps and hops into a smoother more integrated series of shuffling/dragging foot movements.



Both approaches enabled dancers to wander freely about the dance-floor, and both spurned the extravagant arm movements of Jacking.



The greatest strength and weakness of The Back-Step was its openness and clarity – when done well, the Back-Stepper’s connection to the music was unmistakeable and intimate in a way that a Shuffler could never hope to achieve. However, if any of a Back-Stepper’s hops and steps were not totally synchronised to the music then the smooth continuity of even an apprentice Shuffler would make the Stepper look clumsy and awkward.



In contrast, the Shuffle was esoteric & indistinct; when done well, the Shuffler would seem to float through and over the music rather than being “inside” the music like a Back-Stepper.



Both dance philosophies are alive and well in Melbourne today, but whereas the Shuffle has remained recognisable over the years, the Back-Step has changed its form (though not its intent) many times. For this reason the Shuffle has become famous, but the Back-Step has faded into obscurity.





This brief history which traces the origins of The Melbourne Shuffle first appeared in a thread on the Melbourne inthemix forums. Read the rest of the thread here.



This Saturday afternoon, catch the second instalment of the Melbourne Shuffle series of gatherings at The Melbourne Metro. Check the ITM what’s on for full details.





Author’s Footnote:

I have always subscribed to the Stepping approach to dance – I declare this so as to avoid prejudicing the reader with any of my own biases.





*Photos courtesy of Damian Petty