The Melbourne Shuffle

Wow - this is a fascinating street dance. Not just because the obvious parallels to tektonik and jumpstyle in the rise to internet fame (see futher last post) but because it's actually dynamic and skillful and innovative.



But perhaps even more interesting from my viewpoint is its apparently huge popularity in Malaysia, which has a surprisingly big hardstyle scene. Relatively, it's even bigger there than in Australia, with competitions, big clubs and even more dance videos. Lots more dance videos.



Besides the hardstyle Melbourne shuffle (how did that type of music get from Holland to Australia to Malaysia?) there's apparently also a "softstyle shuffle" which is danced to (what I hear with my limited ear is) more funky trance music and seems stepped a tad more conventionally. Wikipedia also suggests a possibly less ground-based variant called stomping, seemingly featured here. But honestly, I'm fumbling my way in the dark here - this calls for a lot more web research.

Maybe this blog will provide a good start - so far it seems well-researched and with a worldwide reach. I'm especially intrigued, so far, by the enormous post on the "phats", the special trousers you'll see a lot of those dancers wearing.