For the past year I’ve been kind of obsessed with shuffling. It’s a high energy and rhythmic style of dance that’s usually done with electronic dance music. I just love to shuffle and connect with the beat and let go. It’s become a huge creative outlet for me and my favorite way to exercise.
Moving to music is so liberating when I allow myself to just go with it. My whole life I’ve held myself back, but lately I’ve been letting go. I let the beat take hold of my body and I start to groove. I commit to my instincts. I connect to the present moment and lose myself in it. I stop thinking. My creativity and primal urges take over. Dancing like this, unrestrained, is such a pleasurable and satisfying way to express myself. It makes me feel alive.
This all started about a year ago. Des wanted to learn how to do the floss, so we searched for a tutorial on YouTube, and that’s when I came across my first shuffle video. It was a running man tutorial, and the running man is the foundation of shuffling. Just like that I was hooked.
Later that day I found a quiet spot to myself in the house. I watched the video a few times and started working on the running man. I was terrible at it but also completely fascinated. Then I stopped after a few minutes and rejoined my family. I told nobody about my first taste of shuffling.
After Des fell asleep that night Julie and I hung out on the back patio. It was a warm and beautiful summer evening. Julie went in to grab a drink, so I jumped up and started doing the running man again. I was so taken with it. But when I heard her coming back outside, I immediately stopped and sat down and pretended like nothing out of the ordinary had been happening.
Things kept going like this for the next week. I was a closet shuffler. Whenever I had the chance I would go off surreptitiously and dance the running man. I was so uncoordinated, but it was exhilarating.
At the same time, I had this incredibly intense desire to not be found out. I didn't want anyone to know that I was doing this. It terrified me and made me feel embarrassed.
By the next weekend, though, I had resolved to let Julie know what I was up to. My shuffling obsession had continued to grow and I just needed to be open about it, regardless of the shame I was feeling. I was nervous, like I was about to reveal a deep secret. I sat Julie down and showed her the running man video and told her about my shuffle love. I told her how excited I was, and how insecure I was, too. Then I told her that I wanted to go out to the garage to shuffle for a while.
Julie smiled warmly and chuckled cutely and looked at me encouragingly. She was supportive and glad that I talked to her about it. That made me feel unbelievably good. A weight lifted off my shoulders and I felt free.
Ever since then I’ve been heading out to the garage once or twice a week to shuffle. I’ve learned a bunch of moves, and I’ve gotten much more coordinated and rhythmic with the steps. I’ve even set up a makeshift dance studio, which is really just a spot in the corner of my garage about eight by twelve feet with a couple of mirrors on the wall. Des joins me out there sometimes. He does a killer running man for a six-year-old.
When I blast electronic dance music and shuffle hard, I’m free from the stresses of life and work and parenthood. I’m one with the beat, expressing my feelings and my passions by moving my body. I sweat. My heart pulses. I’m bouncing, spinning, shifting, grooving. It’s so much fun and I love it.
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I’m totally blown away by all of the incredible YouTube dance videos out there. Here are some links to shuffle videos and tutorials that were helpful and inspiring to me.
How to Shuffle / Running Man tutorial - This is the video that got me started. The “Speed List” she made (you can access it in the video description) is also unbelievably helpful when working on new moves.
Shuffle transformation - I love this video. In the first few clips you can tell he’s a great dancer. By the end his moves are just ridiculous.
Charleston tutorial - The Charleston is a classic step that I mix in to my shuffling all the time. Mihran K. also has a ton of other great dance tutorials on YouTube.
Shuffle moves - A nice demonstration of more advanced shuffle moves.