Advanced Shuffle Footwork - Exercises #1

We've had a great response from our Advanced Shuffle Footwork post, and lots of questions on HOW YOU DO IT ! :)

• If you're new to the Shuffle, start here, on the MSO forum for lots of information on moves, styles, what shoes, how to use baby talcum powder on the floor, stretching exercises, balance exercises, why did we do the Shuffle in the first place, who started it etc.
  
  You can ask questions and get answers as well, it's beginners friendly (no flaming or dribbling) and designed to encourage you to Shuffle and help you improve.
  
  http://mso1.cultureforum.net/tutorials-f1/where-do-i-start-t54.htm 

As we've mentioned, shuffle footwork is based on Celtic Dance and the vids posted below will give you enough information to keep you busy for 6 months.

Turns, spins, jumps, hops, sideways steps, kicks, all these basic movements are used in shuffling and this is where they came from, Celtic Dance.

You don't need to do them exactly like the vids unless you want to learn strict Irish Dance. But the exercises are great for getting your similar shuffle moves working properly. They'll also give you a breakdown of the steps from different angles with English language commentary.

The moves and steps are for both male and female.

Irish Dance Movements

beginner slip jig

men's reel

steps broken down

 

Here's some great instructions from Learn To Dance http://www.learntodance.com/

The first thing to remember is that at all times during the dance your arms must be straight and held down by your sides (Like a soldier at Attention)

Basic Position  (This position is usually called the 'T" in shuffling)

Start with your feet together with the heel of your right foot by the toes of your left foot. Feet at 90° to each other. This will mean your right knee has the left tucked behind. This position is the normal position after each step, changing to ending with the left foot in front instead, and vice versa.

The Basic Steps
There are three basic steps to Light shoe dances, around which all dancers are built.

Teachers weave these into their choreography in different ways and vary them slightly, but if you can't master them in their basic form you will never really make the grade as a step dancer.

The basic steps are the Jump Threes, the Hop Threes and the Sevens or Side Step.

Jump Threes (basic step)
Start in Basic Position

1) Now lift the front leg (in this case the right) keeping it dead straight with the toes curled forwards, so don't try to lift too high. (The worst thing you can do is point your toes up so that people see the soles of your shoes)

Jump off the foot still on the floor onto the raised foot, landing just in front of where it started.

As you jump bring the back foot up to kick your behind.
This is all done at the same time so takes practice!

2) As you land, step forward onto the original back foot, placing it just in front of the other foot.

3) Tuck the original front foot "behind" to end up in "basic position" but with the other foot now in front

Jump threes are always started from whichever foot is in front.

Do threes very slowly to start with and build up speed. One Three per bar of music. Once you have the hang of them try the lead round

Hops threes (basic step)
Start in Basic Position

1) Hop on the back foot as high as possible, landing back on the same foot.

At the same time the front foot is brought up across the knee of the other leg, as high as possible (try to  touch your hip with your toes)

2) step very slightly forward on front foot

3) tuck back foot behind

Hop threes are always started by hopping off whichever foot is behind. One three per bar of music.

Sevens or side step (basic step)

1) is a hop or jump
2) The leading foot is moved to the side
(for example, the leading foot is the right one so move right, left foot move left)
3) back foot moves the same direction but crosses behind
4) front foot again
5) back foot behind again
6) front foot again
7) back foot behind again

All Irish Step dances follow the same basic pattern.
There are usually several components :

The Lead Round
The First Step

The Second Step (or Lead Back)

As the dances become more advanced these become a little harder to distinguish. However in the early stages they are very easily defined. Below is a basic beginners reel.

A Beginners Reel
this is a Beginners Reel, so choose Reel music. Try not to make it too fast, as this is hard work!

A Reel is a soft shoe dance so either get some proper Irish shoes, or use ballet shoes or the like (preferably black)

For a costume you need something with a shorter skirt (above the knee) with plenty of material so that you can lift your legs freely. A Sports skirt would be fine, although something a little more colourful would be better.

A simple white blouse with loose sleeves would also suffice. If you really want to look traditional then take a simple scarf and pin it onto the left shoulder. Then drape it across the back and pin it at the waist on the right side.

Count the bars in your mind, stood in basic position.(the bars are usually easy to count in Irish music)

At the first note of the sixth bar point your front foot and toes forward moving the leg ahead of the back foot so that only the toes touch the ground.

Keep your feet in the same turned out position as in basic position.

You do not start dancing until the first note of the ninth bar

LEAD ROUND
The lead round is simply Eight continuous Jump threes in a circle, alternating leading legs.

You must end up back where you started, facing the front again.

As each persons jumps are different don't try to follow someone elses circle.

FIRST STEP

A
Hop three twice
Hop Seven side step to right
Jump three twice
Jump seven side step back to left

B
repeat A but to opposite side

C
Repeat A again but this time move forward more with each hop three (on step 2 of the three)

D
repeat C but opposite (your sevens should be along the very front of the stage)

LEAD BACK

Repeat Lead round (eight jump threes), but instead of creating a circle just curve back to end your last three facing the front again in your original starting place in basic position

FINISH

To finish any Irish Step dance do the following :
Point your front foot as if starting, and bow from the waist, head and face up, arms still by your side.

Then turn towards the musician (or person running the music machine) and bow in the same way to them.

This is a recognised show of respect that all Irish dancers uphold, and it looks very smart.

Stand up straight, turn left and walk off stage with arms still by sides, and still straight legs and pointed toes.

SHUFFLE! - Earliest known Shuffle Footage. Melbourne 1991

 

Well here it is, the earliest known classic Melbourne Shuffle footage to date. 31 August 1991, at the Sarah Sands Hotel in Melbourne.

Not the first Shuffler that we know of, rather the earliest video footage we know of. We'll try to stop a few arguments here before we get started ;)

• UPDATE: A few people have commented that the top Aslan is wearing looks like a PHD top with the circle and PHD letters inside the circle. This, they claim proves the footage was shot only a few years ago. PHD is a small commercial club from Sydney that opened in Melbourne in 2002. It closed down due to poor crowd sizes and tried to restart a number of times. But it never really re-established itself after it's 2003/05 peak. Today it is best known for selling it's fluro PHD hoodie seen in Shuffle vids.
  
  However the PHD claim is nonsense, the top Aslan was wearing is a fluro PIL top using the PIL logo (pic left), which were quite common at the time in a range of merchandise styles and colors, even a PIL ring! and are still available today. PIL is Public Image Limited John (Johnny Rotten) Lydon's band after the Sex Pistols.

I shot this. It was a new night that opened and closed on that night. About 800 people turned up to the 3 level event, this footage is on the main dance floor.

It was an indie rock venue, and the pub owner lost money because nobody drank any beer. He complained 'Everybody's drinking water, I had to send home 6 bar staff."

The Sarah Sands was the sort of Hotel that had lunchtime strip shows in the front bar on the pool tables, with whipped cream.

People were just refilling water bottles in the washrooms. The pub owner even turned off the water to force people to buy beer and bottled water ! True

So here's the face of the Shuffler. I believe it's Aslan, a well known Shuffler in the two dozen or so hardcore shufflers during the Melbourne Shuffle's creation. Any oldskoolers who can verify it's Aslan, your comments are welcomed :)

I've got about 8 mins of raw camera footage so you can hear the music and try to get a feel of a very early rave done Melbourne Style.

This is how the Shuffle in all it's forms spread. Individual dancers in a crowd shuffling. The style that's commonly known today we generally call the 'classic' Shuffle. But there were as many variations as there were Shufflers. You mixed up the styles to suit your mood thru the night.

This footage is at 3am after a few hours of live acts on stage. So it's the wind down set and the crowd has thinned out, making space for the Shuffle Brigade to slink their way across the dance floor.

The little old lady is from the CWA (Country Womens Association) selling lollies (candy) to the Shufflers at 3am. She regularly came to raise charity money for the CWA. 'I know the young people like to eat them at this hour of the night' she told me, she was right ;) Munchee time home delivered ! She sold out in about 30 minutes.

Got some really nice dance footage of two other well known Shufflers. (Pic Below) The young lady, I remember well, but have forgotten her name, starts with an S, I think. She was involved in the fashion industry and regularly flew between New York and Melbourne for a fashion magazine ?

The guy on the right is old friend Paul Gaffney / DJ Krusty / Eugene. Paul had a great pink Buick (very big heavy car) which I helped push start on many a morning after a party. It was always getting a flat battery :)

Krusty's long been involved with Green Ant and Rainbow Serpent parties.

 

NB: Earliest known Melbourne Shuffle footage can now be seen in the GLOBAL SHUFFLE movie. www.globalshuffle.com

brought to you by GLOBAL SHUFFLE www.globalshuffle.com

SHUFFLE - introduction

It is significant that no single person has been identified as the creator of the Melbourne Shuffle. While it is commonly danced by individuals, it has always been a communal experience. A group of people moving.

Part of the Shuffle ethos is, that it is freely owned by everybody, everyone can contribute and everybody is welcomed. How does such an ideal work?

No one can even be sure when it started. It just seemed to be. Like a touchstone, everybody just knew about it. Like something primal, something that has always been. 'It' called, they came.

What is it about an isolated coastal village on the edge of the planet (next stop South Pole), that gave birth to such a mysterious creature? Why do so many relate to this dance and call it their own? Why does it cross international, religious and cultural boundaries with ease?

It's always fresh, always personal, and is always passionate! It adapts to it's surroundings, to each generation, growing and changing...

Find tutorials from beginners to advanced, history, shuffle practice music and lots more from the side bar menus