That unique and contentious dance style known as the Melbourne Shuffle has attracted attention worldwide and been subject to much debate over its origin, even here on RA. It's now the subject of a new groundbreaking documentary video which is available for sale worldwide.
It is a dance style that attracts much attention from admirers, those who want to learn it, and those who deride how much space it can use up on a packed dance floor. Melbourne-based multimedia producers Underground Epidemic Productions (UEP) have completed a highly anticipated documentary revolving around the underground dance style known around the world as the “Melbourne Shuffle”.
While the producers original idea was to make a video to advertise a clothing line featured on great dancers, it evolved into a feature length documentary on the Melbourne Shuffle. Co-producer Michael Knispel adds “With our production we wanted to capture the scene before it disappeared and became different from what we enjoyed. The idea is to promote dancing and self-expression through dance, the spiritual side of dancing and the “love not war” ideals of rave culture.”
Co-producer David Knispel says “When filming the documentary we had to consider a wide range of things including the music, as all music played in the clubs is copyrighted and we are unable to use it in the eventual DVD release. Therefore we have decided to create a Soundtrack solely produced by Melbourne talent, which will also act as a launching pad to promote the Melbourne sound.”
The Melbourne Shuffler Documentary soundtrack includes music from local Melbourne based artists Ben Kakoschke, Siaqua, Zenergy, Brewster B, Syndrome, Benny Drohan, Itchy & Geezer, NFX, Rob Klasic, Pegz, Harvest Brothers, Elite & Andy Maurer, which have been mixed by DJ Scott Alert. The genre’s covered in the DVD vary from hard house, NRG, breaks, hip hop, trance, hard trance, techno, psy trance, acid house and a mergence of these genres. The documentary shows that the Melbourne scene is highly eclectic in its musical tastes and how this influences different styles of electronic music dancing within Melbourne.
Stephen adds, “Unlike other documentaries and DVDs that focus on the electronic music dance scene, we have focused primarily on the dancing and various styles of the Melbourne Shuffle. Rather than pumping out the usual crowd shots, laser shots and DJ shots mix. We believe our documentary has a far more interesting mix up of dancing and discussion infused into it.”
The “Melbourne Shuffler” DVD aims to an informative and innovative audio/visual showcase with over 220 minutes of special features such as a multi-angle DJ lesson, “A Day in the life of a DJ - Ben Kakoschke”, extra interview footage, extra dance footage with DJ’s/Promoters, Party organization advice, VJ Animation, and more. The documentary also features interviews with Leeroy Thornhill (UK) of The Prodigy, Ed Real (UK) of Nukleuz Records, Pascal Feliz (Netherlands), LAB-4 (UK), Scott Alert (Australia), Richie Rich (Australia), DJ Isaac (Netherlands) and many more.
The DVD is now selling online at www.melbourneshuffler.com and is available from selected stores around Australia. Check out the website for more details and it can be ordered from overseas.