Well, I've seen that plenty of members shuffle, know some of the bases or perhaps are just learning, but thing is that at least a very big ammount of ppl manage their way through, at the very least knowledge-wise, and that's a good thing. I can't help but wonder though, as to how many really know its culture? I mean, shuffling itself has a culture such as glowsticking does too, and the dance itself isn't complete without it; therefore, I was wondering if you could tell me what you think about it and what it consists in; those who don't know, I'd be more than happy to help out. Thanks ppl.

As far as history goes, the "shuffle" which is what it is referred to by its natives in Melbourne, Australia started in the late 1980's. Worldwide this style is accepted by the name the Melbourne Shuffle.

It was an underground style of dancing to mainly electronic beats, that wasn't known worldwide until videos were made and especially posted on Youtube.

Variations of the "shuffle" can include spins, gliding & sliding, and arm movements, but the main shuffle originated from heel-toe movements.

Personally I'd love to perfect this, however after trying to watch vids and practicing, I dont' think this style fits me....yet I'm still trying to incorporate it in the way I dance/stomp as anyone could use some of these movements and make it their own. (IMG:http://www.glowsticking.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

stompqueen will be eventually shufflequeen if she tries (IMG:http://www.glowsticking.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Hmm, but that's actually the history of the shuffle, the culture also includes other aspects, such as... well you could call it a code of conduct.

Hmm... perhaps you've seen mostly videos of hardstylers; I personally like the MS more than Hardstyle Shuffling

this is a pretty good example of what I like //_^'. Hope you enjoy it

Lockshot good vid. I wasn't referring to hardstyle especially since I rarely use that term.

I was just giving my two cents. It would be great if you could describe the code of conduct and add it to this thread. We're all trying to learn and understand from each other.

How is the Hardstyle shuffle different from the Melbourne shuffle anyways?

I'll quote something said by a veteran shuffler:

"Cross-over running mans, stalls, stall spins, an actual whole foot stomp, arm movements are more rigged and cut.

upper body is more stiff and neck bops forward and backwards.

the transition is alot different."

That is hardstyling, thus, you don't stomp harder, you just make it look harder; if the person starts stomping as if they have a massive grudge against the floor, the only thing that person's gonna get is his/her stamina depleted in less than 10 min. Here's a vid of BigMilan explaining why it looks harder:




Thus, the HS normally uses more Running Man than the MS, and the MS depends more on the shuffle. However, that doesn't mean that the HS depends solely on the RM.

Those are the main differences between the Melbourne Shuffle and the Hardstyle Shuffle, but in the end, the HS derived from the MS. Oh yeah btw, there's no such thing as "softstyle", "malay shuffle", "sydney shuffle", "electro shuffle", "house shuffle", "teck shuffle"... you get the picture. Those are the only 2 variations of the shuffle; the others... just names ppl start to put around. The only one that does vary, is the cupid shuffle... but that's a whole different dance.

Now, about the culture: well, the shuffle is a club dance, made to express and for the sole purpose of enjoying oneself. It's easy to determine the shuffle culture by knowing what a TB is and what they do, and for that, once again I'm gonna quote another veteran shuffler (it's a bit long though, but it expresses the idea clearly; I also made a few modifications to suit the language):

"A teeny bopper - summarised in one word - is a conformist.
If there is a trend set out, they will follow it religiously, disregarding any remifications such trends may have on their own image and of those around them. They do not care, as "if everyone's doing it, I can do it too". This often spurs from wanting to fit into a certain kind of group or wanting to look "cool" to others. The term TB is too broad to cover, so I'll just skim through the definition of a TB, in terms of shuffling.

Now, I really don't care how someone learns to shuffle, how they shuffle or whatever, but the attitude behind it is an issue. You could sure as hell be the best shuffler in Sydney, but if your attitude is "wrong", you are no better than a beginner who's having fun and wanting to learn.

1. A tb owns a PHD/BAXX/club attire without having been to the club.
Now, alot of you will say that you simply "like the look" of it. It may apply to 5% of owners, but really - let's face reality, you're wearing it because EVEYRONE has it. You, fitting the connotations of a TB, follow the trend by buying a hoodie worth $80(?) because everyone has it. To say it's cool is senseless, I've seen loads of hoodies that cost 40-50 that are plain awesome.

2. A tb shuffles in malls/public places for attention.
I admit I do get the odd rush of adrenaline when a good song pumps, but i've never had the urge to shuffle in public to "express" myself. You shuffling in malls only means one thing, you're well-aware you're attracting attention, even if it's negative. But that doesn't matter, you're out to show off, show that you can shuffle and ultimately, show that you're a trend follower.

3. A tb is in a crew.
Justifying a crew is ridiculous, you cannot justify it being "for fun" when you can just have as much fun simply shuffling with a few mates, without having to name yourself. You need to show off, be known, be a trend follower -a crew is your new attire in your venture to be a TB warrior.

4. Battles.
Once again, show whos better, impressing etc. etc.

5.Styles
Now, I really don't care what style you get, as long as you HONESTLY and genuinely attempted to create your own style. You can tell a TB shuffler solely by the way they shuffle, the style they have is often adopted in YouTube, millions of the same style videos are evident, and unless you've actually experimented or even altered a copied move, I'd be inclined to say you're a tb for being a carbon copy of the YouTube style.

6. Phats
You can often spot someone who's a tb if they're under 16 and own a pair of phats. paying 200+ for a pair of pants that do NOTHING for the shuffle (the whole "it makes it look better" is a lie, as your knee lifting/style makes it look worse) for the sole reason of showing you're a shuffler. If you've been to a rave, fair enough, but if not - why bother wasting so much money? I actually know peope that have asked me where to buy phats after ONE day of shuffling, cause they think it's "shuffle attire" that you NEED to have to shuffle.

7. Idolisation/Impressing mentality
I for one do not mind if you idolise someone, as I do have a few people I idol (Shotties/Len/Stevo), but there is a limit to idolisation. Appreciating someones dance style is completely different from thinking that they are a God solely because they shuffle. Sure, they may be good but they are no better than you or me as a human being. It is abit annoying when people parade about Mikki/Sacco/Francis as Gods when they have yet to seen the overage rockers. Extreme idolisation is retarded.
Also, the idea of "but ur shitz lmme c u vid kgoz" is also retarded. I admit I do flame retards, but it's because, they're retards. It's fun to see people take the shuffle so seriously that they need to impress others and when you tell them they suck, they ask you to back it up, only proving that they themsleves are out to impress. truth is, i really don't care if you're better than me or not, if you're into it to battle/impress then i'll troll you nonetheless. To get something out of this site - you need to want to learn, be prepared to accept critism (even if it seems harsh/rude) and just move on, as you know what your intent is, and if you stick by it and KNOW that its right (not because someone else said it is) then you'll be loving this community.

8. Video making
Now, I don't mind people making videos, its an awesome way to get feedback and learn, but theres a line between making a video, and just being an idiot. Editting is fine, but jesus christ must you retards make a 30+ second intro ? 30 seconds is alright as it's bareable, but anymore is just torture. What's with editting anyways? WHy do you need special effects and all? It' looks bad. If you want a good example of editting, look at leonardhall on YouTube. Simplistic easy and quick. TBs tend to edit as much as they can, with dedications aplenty for 70% of the video with only 20% shuffling (if you can call it that) and 10% pre-shuffle intro. On top of this, TB's tend to hate "negative" comments because they themselves only want to know that they're impressing someone, and can't handle the fact that they may suck.

9.Insecurity
The fact that you ASK if you're a TB makes you one because you're insecure and you want to "make sure" you're not following a trend. If you're 100% sure you're not a TB, who is anyone to tell you that you are?


And to end it all up, I'm gonna finish it with one last quote (pardon the length of the post, but I just didn't know how to make it shorter):

"This whole idea of crews, battles, dancing in the middle of circles and all comes from street dances, for example breakdancing. It's perfectly fine to be in a crew or to battle someone else if you're a bboy, but NOT if you're a shuffler. Tons of TB's don't know the difference between the rave scene and the street dance scene. They're completely different things, almost complete opposites of each other, and they should never be mixed up together.

Battles/Crews are a big part of the bboying culture, but never and never will be a part of the raving culture. Shuffling isn't about being better than someone else or competing against others, it's not about proving yourself to others and so on. It's not about fitting in a crew. You shuffle for yourself, not for anyone else, unlike breakdancing.

As shuffling is not a street dance, it should never be done outside of raves/clubs. Street dances were made for the streets, they were made for showing off your skillz0rs and such. Shuffling was made for raves/clubs, and it should stay there. There is a time and place for everything, certain things were made to be done at certain places only. You don't see someone breakdancing at a rave or a club, so you shouldn't be shuffling out in the streets. And to you TB-mall-tards, malls are for shopping, not shuffling. You don't see anyone shopping at a rave do you?

But of course you can shuffle at your house or a mates house. Nothing wrong with that. But outside of home, keep it to raves/clubs.

If you're a bboy, it's perfectly fine for you to super confident with your dancing. It's perfectly fine for you to act all cocky and be full of attitude in battles. But even so, right after breakdancing battles, the breakers will be all friendly with their opponents, because it's all about respect. They don't go being like Murat saying you wanna stab someone and so on.

Shufflers should never be cocky. Shufflers should never battle or be in a crew. If you love the idea of battles, crews, dancing in public, etc so much then go learn how to break, pop, krump or something. The rave scene is not about all of this.

Once again, shuffling is NOT a street/dance. So don't try to do anything that street dancers do if you're a shuffler. I've seen tons of shufflers entering an Urban/Street dance competition, and they failed, miserably."

That is the culture behind it, and most shufflers stick to it and defend it. Hope this helped you expand your vision of the Melbourne Shuffle.

-bump- I was wondering if this perhaps could be taken into consideration to be stickied? It can help others out to expand their culture amongst the club dances.

Ok, well first I think this is the oldest video of the shuffle. Second thanks for the info. it is really important that shufflers understand this. And, God if you haven't figured it out, the Melbourne Shuffle comes from Melbourne Australia not Malaysia. Whom you've quoted makes a good point about the shuffle. However, we must realize that things change as they go on, I'm not saying forget the good old days and what it means to be a shuffler. I'm saying you just have to be ok with people being in crews and battling or doing something like that. Personally I think a shuffle crew isn't such a bad thing, but I don't really agree with the battles or competitions and god forbid the mall peeps. I guess in my mind I think of a shuffle crew as being more as a club. Just a group of people who are having a good time together. However, yet again you should definetly not be an ignorant noob shuffler and go start a crew. At the very least please respect what shuffling is, as a symbol, its history, and future.
Thanks lockshot.

No worries man, but something's bothering me. You say it's ok to form a crew, even if the culture itself isn't about it. It's a club dance, not a street dance. Would you start a glowsticking crew, even if its culture was built on completely opposite ideals?

Yes, I would, but I'm not going to. I would because my idea of a crew is different. What crew means to me is a group of people working together. It has nothing to do with gangs or fighting or even street dancing. It's just there to help. Thats all.

Hmm, I still consider that you can help others without having to form a separate group amongst everyone, to help within the community, not a limited amount of ppl.

True, I'm just don't mind it.

fair enough... but you gotta pardon my anti-crew and anti-battling pride, I just think it messes up the whole raving scene, not just the shuffling culture; it's best to dance with others than rather against them or segregating oneself from the rest

Ya, I understand that and agree, but what I was mostly saying was that I'm not going to make a big deal out of in im neutral.

i agree.. rave should be fun and friendly.. dancing together.. shuffling together.. not battling.. i used to go to rave scene 10 yrs ago.. where most of the dancer they were battling.. and many fight start from that.. i rather enjoy dancing with ppl...than battling..

As long as there are things that require skill, there will be competition. All you can do it point out why its stupid when you can and move on, and be proud you're above that.

My opinion: Crews and battling are not evil, taking things too seriously is evil.

Edit: This thread was profoundly helpful. I second that sticky. (IMG:http://www.glowsticking.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/thumbsup.gif)

but think of this people who battle take things way too seriously, they take the dancing seriously to the point of where they have to say they are "elite" and have to battle others to think they are better which means they are taking it too seriously most of the time. You should dance for fun and the music not to see whos a better dancer. thats just my thoughts on that.

Everyone has the right to their opinions.
And Rorok's logic makes sense...which I conclude means..battling is evil. (IMG:http://www.glowsticking.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

agree with both rorok and stompqueen, battling is not the way to go. I'd also like to state that also undermining others of you're good or being an idiot to newer shufflers -or dancers for that matter- shouldn't be acceptable; if you're good and have knowledge of the subject, help out, that's the best way to go. Thus, if you're new or asking for help, accept the criticism that's given politely and be thankful, sometimes you might not agree fully to what's said but in the long run one notices that most of the comments were right.