Festivals will bring out all different kinds of crowds, from headbangers to house heads and more. If you’re walking by the house and techno stages and set, you’ll oftentimes see groups of people shuffling to the beats of the music; sometimes, you’ll even see ravers shuffling and grooving on their own.

If you’re not familiar with shuffling, shuffling is a type of dance that involves fast T-step movements and branches off of that. It usually goes well at house music BPMs, which is why you’ll see most shufflers there. But you can also find them at faster tempos, like techno and psytrance. Here are five reasons why you should try shuffling!

Complex and Fun Dance

Like any other dance, shuffling is both challenging and requires a lot of practice and technical detail. If you like to dance, shuffling is a great one to pick up. Many people start off learning the basics, which is getting the T-step down. Once you have that mastered, you can move on to the more complex moves, such as “cutting shapes”, which requires more of the rest of your body and ankles.

There are many different components of shuffling that you can learn, like Miami step, Melbourne Shuffle, Malaysian Shuffle and more. If you’re up for a challenge, shuffling is a great hobby to pick up and try. Soon, you can show off your moves at your next rave.

Amazing Community

The shuffle community within the rave scene is huge and you can find many shufflers no matter where you are in the world. These communities are super welcoming to ravers and no matter your level from noob to pro, you’ll find great people that will support your shuffle journey.

Chicago, New York City and Los Angeles all have huge and well known shuffle communities that host events like shuffle sessions or classes. But smaller cities have their communities as well! Even if there isn’t a group, it’s never too late to start your own group and start hosting a community for other ravers that shuffle. 

Shuffle Circle

On top of the amazing community wherever you are, you’ll find big groups at festivals and raves that will have a shuffle circle at many sets. If you’ve never seen or been part of a shuffle circle, you should definitely find one! They are super fun and energizing and it makes whatever set you’re at much more fun.

You can watch ravers join in one by one to show off their moves and if you’re feeling brave, you can even hop in. The people and community around will cheer you on and it is a completely judgment free zone, so you dance to your heart’s desire! 

Sweaty Exercise

If you’ve ever tried shuffling, you’ll know that it is an entire workout. Shuffling is a great way to get some cardio in and have fun while doing it! And it’s convenient since you can shuffle just about anywhere you are, from at home to the gym and raves. So grab your speaker and head outside and challenge yourself to 30 minutes of shuffling. 

Get Creative

There are already a lot of moves that are defined for shuffling that you can challenge yourself to pick up and learn, but that doesn’t stop you from creating your own moves! What’s great about shuffling is that even though there might be some common moves, you can create your own unique choreography and combine different moves together to make it your dance.

Shuffling is a great way to express your creativity and add your own touch to the dance. You can see that each shuffler has their own style and it’s great to be able to see everyone being connected by a community and dance.

The next time you’re at a rave, head on over to the shuffle circle and just get in there and dance! Even if you’ve never shuffled before, you’re welcome to try and test your moves out. It’s never too late to start your shuffle journey so start today and get your shuffle on!