by Bri Kilroy

If you’re like everyone at the last wedding I was at, you fear the dance floor like it is a pedestal of embarrassment. Maybe you get out there during dance songs like The Cha Cha Slide and Macarena because those moves have been engraved in your memory since the roller rink. Otherwise, you spend the rest of the tunes at the sidelines or the bar line.

It’s time to add a new dance for all those jams that aren’t “YMCA.” The Cupid Shuffle spawned from the 2007 song by hip-hop artist, Cupid is still going strong. It is a popular, easy-to-learn, line dance that can groove to any song with slight modifications in speed and number of counts based on the beat.

By the time you’re done reading the following steps, you’ll be the fearless one on the dance floor moving everybody to join.

Step 1:

Step to the Right. Standing straight, step sideways to your right, bringing your feet together with each step, for eight counts (four steps). Tap the floor with the ball of your left foot on the final count.

Step 2:

Step to the Left. Repeat, stepping to the left this time. You’ll end up back where you started. Tap the floor with the ball of your right foot on the final count.

Step 3:

Heel Switch. Standing in place, shift your right foot in front of you, tapping your heel on the floor. That’s one count. Repeat on the left foot.

Switch heels, alternating tapping between left and right for eight counts (four counts per foot).

Step 4:

Walk it by Yourself. Take eight counts to turn a quarter way to your left. This is the part of the song Cupid sings “Walk it by yourself” Add a personal sway or shake and have fun with your movement as you turn. Stop at eight counts. Facing a new direction, start the dance again.

The great thing about the Cupid Shuffle is the variety of genres it can pair with and the freedom your body has to move with the steps, giving it a different feel every time.

Whether the DJ spins rock, country, rap, R&B, blues or folk, you’ll have this go-to-dance move in your pocket as you leave your fear on the chair and step up to the dance floor.

Find examples on YouTube by simply typing in the search box: “The Cupid Shuffle”

[three_fourth last="yes"]

Bri Kilroy is a Grand Valley and AmeriCorps alumna who learned to type through vigorous Mavis Beacon trainings. She also passes as an artist, illustrator and author of this bio.

[/three_fourth]