How to learn to shuffle

Master the basic movements of the shuffle

In this style, you make all the basic movements with your feet, your hands most often move freely - as your heart tells you.

Running man

This is the most basic and important movement of the shuffle. You can do it in three different ways.

For the whole foot

The movement begins with bending your knee and lifting one leg. Next, you need to simultaneously put both legs - supporting and raised - at a distance of one step from each other.

The raised leg is put forward on a full foot, the standing leg behind slips back on the ball of the foot and remains on it - the heel is not placed on the floor. The weight is evenly distributed between the two legs.

After that, it remains to return to the starting position. To do this, the standing leg in front slides backward, and at the same time, the standing leg from the back is pulled up. You find yourself in the starting position and repeat the cycle. The movement itself is soft and springy: do not stick into the floor, keep your legs relaxed.

On the heel

This is a lighter and faster type of Running man, which may be needed for some combinations. Here you put your foot not on the entire foot, but on the heel. At the same time, the one standing behind remains on the toe.

On the pads

In this version, the foot is placed in front of the pad. At the same time, the standing position also remains on the ball of the foot, and the body is slightly tilted back.

T ‑ step

In this movement, one foot constantly makes a "herringbone" - turns the heel inward and outward - and the second touches the floor and immediately rises back.

When the heel of the supporting leg turns inward, the toe of the other leg touches the floor, when outward, the second leg rises, turning the knee inward.

It turns out two positions: closed - when the legs are turned with the knees inward, and one leg is raised, and open - when the legs are turned with the knees outward, and the toe touches the floor. Practice doing the T-step in both directions: first slowly, then with acceleration.

Rocking

You jump on one leg, and the other touch the floor in different places: on the side of the supporting leg, crosswise, behind - wherever you want. You can place your feet on toes or on the heel - the latter is called a kick. The supporting leg can simply rise a little or perform a T-step - move the heel out and in.

Charleston

To begin with, you wrap your knees and toes inward and lift one leg. Then turn your socks and knees outward, and put your raised leg forward crosswise. Repeat the same on the other leg.

All movement takes place on the pads of the feet, the heels do not fall to the floor. You can move both forward and backward.

Diamond

First, with a jump, you put your feet crosswise with your socks outward, then, with a jump, you spread your legs to the sides.

Slides

One leg is straight, stands on the whole foot, the other - with a bent knee on a pad. Leaning on the pad, you slide your straight leg backward, as if wiping the sole on the floor.

Immediately after slipping, you turn around. In the turn, the straight leg bends and goes to the pad, and the one that was on the pad, on the contrary, turns on the heel. After that, it remains only to change legs and move in the same way in the other direction.

Scissors

From the starting position - standing with a raised leg, as in Running man - you swing your hips to the side with a jump and cross your legs.

The standing leg in front is on the heel, while the standing leg is on the pillow. Then you jump to the starting position and do the same on the other side.

Sidekick

From the starting position, you swing your hips to the side with a jump and spread your legs a step away from each other. The standing leg in front is placed on the heel, while the standing leg behind remains on the pad. Then you collect your legs with a jump and do the same in the other direction.

Try other variations of basic shuffle movements

You can perform basic movements in different directions: forward and backward, turning around you. This will give you more freedom to improvise.

Variations Running man

Do it several times in place, and then turn around. You can also try walking to the side in this way. Each time the leg will need to be placed a little cross in order to slowly move to the side.

Variations T ‑ step

You can lower your foot to toe, over your entire foot, touch the floor to the side of your supporting leg, or in front and behind of it.

You can also leave the other leg on the floor at all - leave it on the toe and turn the knee in and out.

Diamond variations

Here, another element is added to the movement - reaching to the heels. In the starting position, you wrap the socks of your feet and knees inward, and then jump onto your heels, turning your toes to the sides.

From this position, without jumping, you turn your socks and knees inward, with a jump you cross your legs, turning your feet toes outward, and then return to the starting position.

Charleston variations

After three Charleston turns, turn both socks one way and then the other. At the end, you can turn the knee to the side.

Connect familiar shuffle moves

While you lack the skills to move freely and come up with something of your own, learn a few combinations. They contain interesting movements that will add to the piggy bank of your dance vocabulary.

Combination 1

It is a simple combination of two basic movements - Running man and T-step. First take five Running man steps, then four T-steps to the side and repeat in the opposite direction.

Combination 2

Another combination of two basic movements. Here you do three Running man, then one T-step with a back kick and two kicks with a heel in front. The same in the other direction.

Combination 3

There are no standard steps here, but there are already familiar Sidekicks and the transition from heels to toes.

Learn the harder combinations

We'll add some videos with good combinations.

1. Cool video for beginners: the movements are repeated in slow motion to make it easier to dance to the music.

2. And here the combination is parsed step by step in slow motion, dividing it into three parts. Very comfortably. Look for more on this channel, there are several such analyzes.

3. There is no slowdown here, just a cool combo. But you already know almost all the movements, so you can figure it out. If something is not clear, watch the video at a speed of 0.25.

Pick up music and improvise

Surely you have favorite compositions to which you can shuffle. Turn them on and start with basic movements: just do the Running man and add different elements periodically whenever you want. Move in different directions, relax and have fun.

If you don't have your favorite tracks, try our selection.

I must say that shuffle is an amazing cardio workout. In just a couple of tracks, you will be out of breath and sweaty, like after a run, but you will feel absolutely happy!

Moreover, if you have to force yourself to move on while running, for the shuffle you need willpower to stop and not dance. As a bonus - a short video from a beginner after a couple of hours of practice.

Shuffle is cool!