Shuffle Dance Steps Explained

Fact about Tap dance and Mexican shuffle dance
For most of the countries in the world, dance has become an art form. Youngsters are taking it as a full-time profession and exploring newer dance styles day by day. Shuffle dance is one such dance form. If you are interested in this dance form, scroll down to learn the steps in shuffle dancing.
Dance is one of the strongest mediums of expression. All the dance forms existing today represent the culture of the place to which they belong. Shuffle dance is a dance style that has originated from or has its roots in the most popular jazz of early years. In the jazz dance form, heel and toe movements were the point of focus which was then shifted to the addition of hand movements in the shuffle dance form. Today, this dance form has become so popular that most of the wedding shows, party events, award functions require to have this dance form.
One of the significant features of this dance form is that the dancers sprinkle talcum powder on the dance floor under their feet to make the dancing easier. It helps the dancers to glide on the floor and achieve the expected smoothness in the steps. There are various types of shuffle dance like, the Cupid Shuffle, Harlem Shuffle, Melbourne Shuffle and Cleveland Shuffle Dance. Let us learn how to do Cupid shuffle dance step by step.
Cupid Shuffle Dance Steps
Cupid shuffle dance is named after the songwriter 'Cupid'. This type is suitable for the beginners because you just have to turn on the music and follow the cues for the steps in the song. The song itself guides to pick up the steps and also changes after a certain number of beats. Some general steps of cupid shuffle dance are listed below:
Step 1
An introductory music is played at the beginning, which gives you the clue to pick up the first step. It lasts for about 1 minute and you have to listen to it carefully. The singer then utters a line, "Do ya Dance?"
Step 2
Taking the cue from the above line, move 4 steps to your right and then 4 steps to your left.
Step 3
You will hear the singer saying, "Now Kick.. Now Kick.." and you have to begin it with your right foot. Just kick your right leg about a foot and bring it back. Repeat the same step with the left leg. Do it twice with the right leg and twice with the left.
Step 4
The last part of the first set is,"Walk it by yourself..". You have to walk in your place by lifting your right and left leg, alternately. You have to dip your leg down the ground to get a bounce.
Step 5
Repeat all the steps again and again, till you get a hang of it.
The basic steps for other two types of shuffle dancing are the same as Cupid dance with a slight variation in some movements. To be specific, I have mentioned some variations below:
In Melbourne Shuffle, running man, hat tricks, arm movements, kicks, forward and backward movements, spins, etc., are the popular types out of which 'running man' is the basic and the easier one as compared to others. The significant feature that was mentioned earlier of the talcum powder is found prominently in this form. The dancer runs in his/her place and creates an optical illusion of a person actually running and the background moving in the opposite direction.
Through Harlem Shuffle, a kind of homage is offered to the vibrant dance culture during Herlam renaissance. It is done in various forms out of which the most common is the one done in 25 steps and it is called the 'line dance form'. Other forms include two steps followed by a shoulder brushing motion.
Cleveland Shuffle is a song released in the year 2007 which soon became popular not only as a song but also as a line dancing song. The steps included in this dance style are kicks and quarter turns, cross steps and heel clicks, basic steps to the right and left and knee kicks and turns.
Other dance forms that include shuffling steps are Tap dance and 'Mexican Shuffle'. If you have a passion for dance and a good instructor to teach, you can learn the best of shuffle dance. Good luck!