The Ambassador
Should Melbourne Shuffling be considered a cultural dance?Friday, May 20, 2011 By Cassandra Garnica
Shuffling has become one of the most popular dances in the world. Many teenagers today practice shuffling and create new moves everyday. This new dance consists of dancing with the beat of techno music and creating the dancers own style. This new dancing style was first introduced in the 1800’s by a Melbourne underground dance club in Ireland. During the 1800’s its was called shuffling; in the 1900’s though, it adapted a new name which is the Melbourne Shuffling. This dance consists of picking up one leg at a time and sliding back like walk-man together with a series of movements and tricks that make the dance fun. Shuffling is not only good for a personal work out but also helps dancers use creativity when creating new styles. Although shuffling might be a new experience for dancers, there are others who discard it as a dance but more of an annoying illogical dancing style. The question that has arisen around the world is: Should this dance be considered as a cultural dance? People have different opinions and points of view about this issue, which is what makes it interesting to discuss and analyze. ”New people started shuffling. I don’t think anyone would forget about it that easily,” sophomore David Garcia said. Garcia agrees that shuffling should be considered as a dance just like the majority of the people think it should be. Many people try to imitate this dance simply because others do it. For a dancer, music and every time they do a move for any type of dance, they first think of what they want to show and project with their dance. “I like this new dance. Its like you can use the whole stage to perform and it’s also very creative,” sophomore Tamannah Harooni said. Many students are very enthusiastic about this dance but the question, should shuffling be considered as a cultural dance? Or should it be just be left as a dance and nothing else? As for now the question will remain blank, but will most likely be answered as time goes by. |