How do you shuffle?

Anybody here from Texas? I've been out googling on C&W dance styles, and I keep bumping into various shuffle dances.


So what the heck is shuffle (or shuffle variants) Where is it done, and what does it look like?

There are some salsa moves with the word "shuffle" in them. Usually consist of fast & repetitive forward-backward moves. (I'm working on a heel shuffle now. ) They look pretty cool! 8)

There are literally 100's of C&W dances with shuffles in them, however the basic shuffle step (you didn't google this???):

The Shuffle is three steps to two beats of music:
1. Step forward with your left foot.
& Quickly bring your right foot next to your left foot and step down
2. Quickly step forward with your left foot

Just reverse these steps for a right foot lead. This move is sometimes refered to as a step-together-step even a Polka step, and in some areas called the Triple Step. The shuffle step differs from the CHA CHA Step in that there is NO rocking motion involved.

Some of the more popular shuffle-stepping C&W dances: the Sixteen Step (not to be confused with the famous 10 Step), the Ski Bumpus, and the Southside Shuffle . . .

I forgot . . . your moving, correct?

You'll need to learn to dance all over again there . . . :wink:

We are just learning the "Dallas Shuffle" (what they call it in Ft Worth....in Dallas, they just call it "The Shuffle")

Does anyone know where you can find lists of songs that are appropriate for the different dances (namely The Shuffle)?

How do you know which dance to do to which song?

Thanks!
Mark

Unfortunately I don't know anything about the dances/music in question jmarkiemark, just wanted to welcome you to the Dance Forums!

Hopefully someone else can be of help...

jmarkiemark said:

How do you know which dance to do to which song?

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While you are learning, watch what eveyone else is doing, and then jump in . . . whether you know it or not. The C&W dancers all started this way, and they are a very forgving lot!

Soo, you'll be able to equate particular songs (and beats, drive, etc) to specific steps . . . whether its a plain old shuffle, or a Carolina Shuffle (The 16 Step), or the dances that have shuffle in them, i.e., The Ten Step and Cotton-Eyed Joe, etc. Many, many of your traveling C&W dances have the shuffle in them, and it should take you about 15 minutes to learn how to the shuffle well enough to use in those dances.

jmarkiemark said:

How do you know which dance to do to which song?

Click to expand...

Most dances can be done to any song with a similar beat. A lot of time, though, as you learn the dances there will be a slow song, and a fast song to which you'll learn/practice. Usually those are the same songs people dance that particular dance to.

Ft Worth Shuffle is danced
Walk-1
Walk-2
Walk-3
Tri-4
ple -&
Step-5
Tri -6
ple-&

start over

It also has a visual "V" characteristic.

For more info, contact Terry Lewis in DFW area

know what to dance to what?

Hello. here is a small sample on the types of songs and there respective dance. hope this helps.

the shuffle(fort worth shuffle)= pop a top by Alan Jackson
stars in the water by George Strait
little ways by Dwight Yoakam
back when by Tim Mcgraw
Quick step= suds in a bucket by Sra Evans
Jacob's ladder by Mark Wills
chattahoochee by Alan Jackson
redneck woman by Gretchen Wilson
two step= neon moon by Brooks and Dunn
livin' on love by Alan Jackson
sticks and stones by Tracy Lawrence
amarillo by morning by Gerge Strait
waltz= alibis by Tracy Lawrence
you look so good in love by George Strait

know what to dance to what?

Hello. here is a small sample on the types of songs and there respective dance. hope this helps.

the shuffle(fort worth shuffle)
pop a top by Alan Jackson
stars in the water by George Strait
little ways by Dwight Yoakam
back when by Tim Mcgraw

Quick step
suds in a bucket by Sra Evans
Jacob's ladder by Mark Wills
chattahoochee by Alan Jackson
redneck woman by Gretchen Wilson

two step
neon moon by Brooks and Dunn
livin' on love by Alan Jackson
sticks and stones by Tracy Lawrence
amarillo by morning by Gerge Strait

waltz
alibis by Tracy Lawrence
you look so good in love by George Strait

I have been doing some work in Wikipedia, and, after having looked at the country western dance entry, think it is very inadequate (hope no one here created that page).
The article lists "shuffle" as one of the country western partner dances. Not where I come from. I sort of agree with Vince, that it is pretty much a triple step, although there are dances with "shuffle" in the name, and shuffles in the dance itself.
Do you guys think "shuffle" deserves the same status as two step, waltz, etc, as a country western partner dance listed in a Wikipedia article?
Please vote if you dance country western.

I never hear anyone use the term shuffle to describe a specific type of dance. Everyone I know calls them 2-step, triple step etc.

Shuffle (Ft. Worth Shuffle)

Steve Pastor said:

Do you guys think "shuffle" deserves the same status as two step, waltz, etc, as a country western partner dance listed in a Wikipedia article?
Please vote if you dance country western.

Click to expand...

I vote "yes". The Shuffle (also known as the Ft. Worth Shuffle) is a lead and follow dance (as opposed to a patterned partner dance).

I think the confusion comes in because of the step sequence known as the shuffle, which appears in many, many patterned partner dances (such as the 16 Step) and also in many lead and follow dances. For example, the timing for the Ft. Worth Shuffle is 1 2 3 4&5 6&1 (as Lrn2dnc pointed out several posts ago in this thread). So the 4&5 and the 6&1 are going to be shuffles. I guess that must be how the overall dance got its name! The Ft. Worth Shuffle includes 2 shuffles as part of its basic step sequence.

(So to avoid confusion, I gave the step called the shuffle a small "s" whenever I referred to it, and gave the lead and follow dance known as the Shuffle a capital "S".)

Both the United Country Western Dance Council (UCWDC) and the American Country Dance Association (ACDA) recognize the Ft. Worth Shuffle as a lead and follow dance.

I am by no means an expert on the Shuffle, though, so while I agree that there should be a Wikipedia entry for it, I would be utterly unqualified to write that entry.

I shuffle one foot at a time.... ;-)