How to Do the Shuffle in Tap Dance

The "shuffle" will be one of the very first steps taught in a tap dance class. It is one of the basics and is in almost every single tap dance routine ever choreographed.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Tap shoes

1. Listen to a shuffle step performed by a tap dancer. The shuffle has two sounds or two times that the taps on the ball of the foot hit the floor.

2. Stand on your left foot to do a right shuffle. Lift your right foot slightly behind you and brush the foot forward. While the foot goes out forward the ball of the foot brushes or "taps" the floor. This is a small brush or movement.

3. Pull the right foot back while brushing the ball of the foot on the floor. The reverse brush makes another "tap" as it comes back to the beginning position.

4. Repeat the shuffle step to get the double tap sound. It is a brush out and then brush back in. Keep practicing the shuffle. You can also do this on the left foot by standing on the right foot and lifting the left foot to start the shuffle.

5. Pick up your speed on the shuffle. Beginning tap dancers learn to do the shuffle by making it a two-count dance step, with the brush out as count one and the brush back as count two. However, your goal is to be able to do a shuffle, making two distinctive tap sounds, within one beat of the music. It is a very quick step and takes a great deal of practice to get to the advanced level.

[unitedtaps]

on 1/24/2009 They have a video of this step at http://www.unitedtaps.com