Pre-shuffling dances

Shuffling originated from 'Stomping', which in turn originated from previous historical Celtic dances. Stomping originally incorporated tap and traditional ballet -style foot shuffling. The clog and sword dance can easily be matched to some earlier experimental rave and club dance moves that evolved into Stomping.

[edit] Late 1980s–early 1990s

In the late '80s, the Melbourne Shuffle began to emerge as a distinct dance, incorporating more hand movement than its predecessor, Stomping. Breakbeat and techno music was gradually replaced with the more hardcore forms of rave music, such as hard trance. When b-boys started attending Shuffling dance events, they brought in their own set of hip hop dance moves, for example, the running man and gliding. Ever since these hip hop influences became predominant, the Melbourne Shuffle has also been practiced outside of raves (a characteristic of hip hop dance culture).
Where the Melbourne Shuffle was originally danced, the places were not considered to be named 'raves', but rather 'dance parties'