Friday, January 18, 2008

Adelaide (Aust) Shufflers

In Australia the major cities are pretty far apart. For instance, going north Sydney is about 10-12 hours drive from Melbourne, Brisbane another 10 hours drive north (Keeping to speed limits of course). Going west we have Adelaide, only about 8 hours drive from Melbourne. Then Perth, about 3 days drive ! (No exaggeration).

There's a few Adelaide shuffle vids appearing on Youtube these days, and about time ;) Great to see.

One point though. From what we can see in online comments, you all seem to be ripping each others heads off, about who's the greatest, and even being greater because you don't care about being greater !?

Come on guys :) Get it together, you should be encouraging each other, especially when you're starting out. Like the world hasn't got enough wars, you want to start fighting over dance? Better things to do with your life, like Shuffling. ;)

It's been a while since I was down Rundle Mall (Adelaide CBD), but from memory, there's some pretty good shuffling surfaces in it.

According to Jordano in this first clip Shuffle meets happen in the Rundle Mall after school on Thursdays/Fridays in front of Rebel sport.

So lets see some more shuffling coming out of Adelaide !!!

Here's a sample of some Adelaide shufflers - though not all individuals are from Adelaide.

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Jordano Melbourne Shuffle Adelaide HardStyle Shufflers AHS -Adelaide City meetups i think usaully on thursday after skool infront of rebel sport rundle mee well for us anyway after skool since some of us have other commitments friday nights but yeah dont expect this to be right

 

Adelaide Shufflers compilation - in order of FIRST appearance: Josh Cuong Dweebz Hektic Sad Phil

 

ADELAIDE SHUFFLERS COMPILATION #1 -Hektic Dwee Josh Anto Goobarr Wangstain Cbee

 

HSI/mario shuffle in Adelaide - every1 was cleaning up inside after my cuz engagement party so i decided to make a shuffle vid and show these Adelaide people how to do the Melbourne shuffle. try and see if u can find the spelling mistake. the song is called: Psy Man - Backbiter

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Melbourneshuffle.nu

There's a great new site for shufflers in the Netherlands, called MelbourneShuffle.nu

The google language tools does a reasonable job translating to English as well. So I find it quite a good site to browse for how the Melbourne Shuffle is moving along, in that neck of the woods.

They've got a nice forum, local shuffle events and stacks of local shuffle news. Check it out when you get a chance.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Shifter, Champion @ Miri NYE Rave 2007/2008 (Malaysia)

Congratulations to Shifter Hardstyle Prodigy who won the "Shuffle Dance Competition 2007 for 2008 New Year Rave Party Countdown" (Malaysia) on 31st Dec 2007. The event was organized by RT Krokop in conjuction with Celcom (telco) and Sarawak Tourism Board and got published in the national press.

Great to see Shuffle events picking up business and tourism sponsorship, fantastic. Here's the winners (pic below), with what look like giant cheque's for the prize money...always welcomed :)

I recognise Alicia and some of the Tribezone guys in the group pic too. Tribezone came 2nd runner up. It's the 1st time they have travelled from Kuching for a competition. Good effort Tribezone, looking forward to seeing more of you.

Below, Shifter members in this event "iqal, faez, afiez, dien & apai.

Shifter have a great set of new moves in this vid. The little 'rubber legs' sideways jump is excellent! well done guys. And that fall, from the circle move is very good, nice development on the motif. In fact, Shifter are showing some very classy moves and are really expanding the whole genre of team shuffling.

Shifter have come a very long way from the 6 months or so ago when they first contacted Melbourne Shuffle Oldskool. Lots of hard work rehearsing. There's no easy way to improve with dance, just sweat.

Well done Shifter.

shifter hardstyle prodigy (champion) @ Miri Rave Party 2007

 

Here's Cript Ballas 1st Runner Up of the comp, some great Phats with some great Shuffling. This is the first time for Cript Ballas on MSO, welcome guys look forward to seeing more of you.

Cript Ballas 1st Runner Up at Miri Shuffle Competition

 

And here's Tribezone's performance, very nice to see a bit of classical ballet included in there as well :) Good on ya Tribezone.

Tribezone - Miri Rave Competition 2007

Here's a couple of the other teams below, first time on Melbourne Shuffle Oldskool: 7 Sparkz and Hard Bass Chroniclez, welcome!

And from Melbourne Shuffle Oldskool, Well Done! to all who participated in the event. It's great to see so many enthusiastic about the Shuffle. You make the rest of us proud to be Shufflers!

7 Sparkz @ Miri Indoor Stadium

 

Hard Bass Chroniclez at Rave Party Competition 2007

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Recent Federation Square Shuffle Meets: Melbourne

Here's a bunch of recent Fed Square shuffle meets. These are organised by our good friends at MelbShuffle forum - good on ya

Federation Square is on the corner of Swanston Street and Flinders Street Melbourne, at the Flinders Street railway station. Just across the road from me :)

You can find out more info about upcoming Shuffle Meets at Fed Square on the MelbShuffle forum.

JAN 4th 2008 Shuffle Meetup

 

Dec 20 2007 Shuffle Meetup

 

Dec 8 2007 Shuffle Meetup

 

Ist Official Melbourne Shuffle Meet-Up @ Federation Square - Melbourne Cup Day. Melbourne Nov 8 2007.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Happy New Year 2008

Only 136 days and counting down to the Global Shuffle 17 May 2008.

Have you started working out what you'll do for the Youtube Global Melbourne Shuffle Spectacular !?! Are you going to be on the Melbourne Shuffle parade float in the 2nd Annual New York Dance Parade, and Shuffle on down Broadway for the Global Shuffle? Want to get involved or do a Global Shuffle event in your town ?

More info www.GlobalShuffle.com

New Human Rights Charter in Melbourne & Dancing

There's a new Human Rights Charter in town as of today 1 January 2008, for the state of Victoria (Australia), Melbourne is the capital city.

The Human Rights Charter covers things which have generally been protected by laws for some time now.

"A Lawyers Picnic" it has been called, by none less than a lawyer PETER FARIS QC in today's Herald Sun newspaper. Peter is co-author of the book Human Rights Charters in Australia, soon to be published.

To give you an idea of the bias:

  • 9 pages of the charter outline in broad terms the Human Rights
  • 27 pages outline how lawyers and government bureaucrats deal with it.

Dancing the Melbourne Shuffle is not specifically mentioned in the Freedom Of Expression section - I doubt the Government even knows what the Melbourne Shuffle is, probably thinking it refers to a special way of shuffling cards at their much loved casino's :)

  • NB This last statement, made in jest, is now protected under the new Human Rights Charter I believe ;) Freedom Of Expression - (1) Every person has the right to hold an opinion without interference.

The Charter does mention specifically other traditional expression methods -(a) orally; or (b) in writing; or (c) in print; or (d) by way of art; or (e) in another medium chosen by him or her. but not Dance.

Evidently Dance is not worthy of a mention.

Which is curious seeing dance is an equally traditional method of expression in all world cultures, going back to caveman days and/or pre human deities, depending on your belief system.

Dance may be protected, but it will now take a court case to prove it is. The '(e) in another medium chosen by him or her' line could be argued to include dance, but until a court decision resolves that issue after being tested in court, it's ambiguous. Unlike 'in print' or 'in writing', with those simple words it's legally clear.

Saying 'in dance' would have also made it legally clear. But now dance is open to legal challenge as a protected Freedom Of Expression.

The 'expressions' list, short as it is, sounds like things off the top of a boring bureaucrats head. No real thought has been put into it, it's just padding to make the list look like someone's actually done some work on it. A could-not-careless about Freedom Of Expression approach. And clearly not a bureaucrat or Government who  cares about dance.

Since the Age of Reason about 500 years ago, dance in western cultures has basically been removed from the authority spectra, which strongly favours the spoken and written word. It's done the same with visual art too. Placed them in the leisure pursuit category, not to be taken seriously.

Words and Text however - no matter how stupid or obscure, considered 'the final word' as 'the voice of authority'. 

Even demanding to be mentioned twice - in writing and in print, in the human rights charter. Word is supreme. Dance is nowhere to be seen. Grrrr 

Although, could you imagine the 'Dance of Authority' instead of the 'Voice of Authority' ? Well yes, but it's not a pleasant image since Boris Yeltsin did his thang a few years back. :)

I must say with a video remix and better sound track, his dancing has improved remarkably ;)

Boris Yeltsin Dancing to Peanut Butter Jelly Time (LOUD!!!)

 

But of course most of Melbourne's politicians kids have heard of the Melbourne Shuffle, and probably shuffle around home. The parents no doubt dismissing it as 'Just that silly little thing he/she does these days' or 'That thing they're always watching on Youtube'

The last Politician I can recall professing a love of dance was former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett, who loves Spanish dancing, in particular Flamingo. He discovered early that he had no real ability, and to his dance teacher's relief - his words, decided he'd dance in private and be content watching others do it.

I was treasurer of Dancehouse in Melbourne in the mid 1990's when Jeff was state Premier. We were an independent dance community featuring avant guarde, progressive, and exploratory contemporary dance with a heavy element of researching new dance. Pretty much a hardcore specialist thing. 

Jeff gave Dancehouse nearly $500,000 in funding to replace our aging dancefloor! As a dancer he knew the paramount importance and delirious joy of a good dancefloor, as all dancers do.  

We were surprised he'd even heard of us. And even more surprised seeing he was from the opposite side of politics to the mainly leftish Dancehouse. We'd often get $5000 here and there in funding, mainly for productions. We had four dance seasons a year. Usually 6-8 new works in a short season of a month or so. Everyone was pretty much voluntary with a passion for new dance. I filmed 100's of hours of performances and worked as video artist with neo-butoh dance company Mixed Company, and Company In Space who used a variety of online avatars and live performance technologies in their productions. (I'll post some clips down the track.) 

Dancehouse was (and still is) in an old temperance (anti-alcohol) dance hall from the early 1900's. They'd have dance parties there, and wouldn't serve alcohol, only tea, coffee, fruit punch etc.

A bit like this local suburban hall, but smaller.

It had a 'sprung floor'. Literally a large hall, with a really smooth polished wooden floor, that sat on huge metal springs, to give you a bit of bounce when you dance. Fun Huh? Sure beats a carpark surface ;)

So out of the blue Jeff says ' Yeah great idea, restore the dance floor, here's the money'. And yes, he was one of the first to come and try it out - privately and away from media camera's :) And a not too shabby effort, according to witnesses.

I can't help but wonder that, had this Human Rights charter been introduced by a Premier who is a dance lover, dance would have been mentioned.

A small thing in the larger scale of Human Rights, but Expression is a major part of being human, it is a major part of human life. Surely Dance is worthy of a mention to ensure that everyone knows, dance is important and deserves protection...perhaps, but not today, according to Melbourne's current State Government.

My understanding with the dance ban in New York is that Social Dancing is not covered by the American Human Rights, but 'Art Dancing' is. Art dancing such as Broadway musicals, ballet, formal cultural dance performances, and the sort of thing we'd do at Dancehouse.

The everyday person strutting their stuff, is by the New York Human Rights definition - NOT ART, and not protected. Sorry guys and gals, but that's the Law in New York as decided by a panel of 5 judges. 

In Australia it's pretty simple what ART is, the taxation office has sorted it for us, where legions of academics and critics have disagreed for millennia. Do you want to be taxed as an artist or not? :) Basically "Yeah sure, we'll call you an artist, now pay us the tax..."

"public order, public health"  are the key words in the Freedom Of Expression exceptions section that would be the legal basis to ban dancing the Melbourne Shuffle in Melbourne.

These are the same basis-in-law arguments that are used in New York and used by Tim Sabre of Raw Entertainment  to ban the Melbourne Shuffle.

I agree with the human rights charter, it's a good thing, but it can be better. Too many broad statements to exploit for those who want to. A work in progress, I could hear the Government saying in it's defence, something to be worked out over time as interpretations are debated.  The sort of interpretation you debate in an expensive court case, to quote Peter Faris QC 

"As soon as lawyers understand the charter there will be an explosion of litigation.

From a professional point of view, as a practising lawyer I can see an almost unlimited number of ways in which the charter can be used. Inevitably this means more money for lawyers.

And who pays?

You do, of course."

PETER FARIS QC 

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Excerpt from the new Human Rights Charter, Justice department, Victorian Government site

 

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

15 Freedom of expression

s. 15

(1) Every person has the right to hold an opinion without interference.

(2) Every person has the right to freedom of expression which includes the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, whether within or outside Victoria and whether—

(a) orally; or

(b) in writing; or

(c) in print; or

(d) by way of art; or

(e) in another medium chosen by him or her.

(3) Special duties and responsibilities are attached to the right of freedom of expression and the right may be subject to lawful restrictions reasonably necessary—

(a) to respect the rights and reputation of other persons; or

(b) for the protection of national security, public order, public health or public morality.

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Yep that's it, barely 1 page. Your legal Freedoms Of Expression. The laws that govern the entire means of human expression of a city of 5 million that speaks over 180 languages every day. Pitiful isn't it ? And we paid good money for it !!! ;)

Ah yes the Politics Of Dancing. And as usual after thinking about such matters I hum along and drift away to Reflex (It seems to help) “The Politics Of Dancing. The Politics of Feeling Good, The Politics of Moving, is this message understood?"

The Politics Of Dancing - Reflex (1983)