Shuffle Dance!

Sven Otten on the cover of Italian Rolling Stone.

My general rule with this site is that I put up whatever interests me. My thinking is that, if it interests me, maybe it will interest you. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. Consider this page, oh, let's call if a fan page for modern dance. I've always loved dance, whether it be classic dancers like Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire of more modern dancers. So, here we look at the current crop of dancers.

And now for some dancing.


You've undoubtedly heard this song a million zillion times. "What Is Love" was created by Nestor Alexander Haddaway (born January 9, 1965), known professionally simply as Haddaway. He is a Trinidadian-born German vocalist and musician best known for his 1993 hit single "What Is Love." If you've spent way too much time watching dance videos on Youtube, like I have, you may know that "What Is Love" is one of the favorite dance tracks today. Yes, over 25 years after it left the charts, "What Is Love" is the eternal king of dance videos on the Internet. And, at least at the moment, this Haddaway "What Is Love" shuffle dance video is the king of all dance videos.

Sven Otten at work.

Anyway, if you into this sort of thing and are a fan of dance, you probably know all this and have seen the video. It does, after all, have well over a hundred million views and is sure to get to a billion views eventually. Why? Well, watch it and decide for yourself. There is one stellar dancer after another. I believe they're all professional dancers, and the style of dance is "Shuffle Dance."


The fellow on the rooftop is Sven Otten. He's more famous in Europe than in the United States, but he's a pretty well-known dancer over there. Perhaps Otten's most famous shuffle dance is this one on a rooftop outside Berlin which really captures the beauty of dance. He's done a lot of other stuff, but that performance really stands out, at least to me. What also stands out for me is that the always wears Converse sneakers. Does he have a deal with Converse? Who knows! But you can usually identify Sven Otten with ease because he's the one dancing in Converse sneakers.


Elena Cruz-Nichipor appears several times in the Haddaway video, though you may not realize it. She's also apparently a professional dancer based in or near Miami who films instructional videos on her Youtube channel.

Elena Cruz-Nichipor gets down to business.

Elena is an expert at creating different looks in addition to her smooth shuffle dance moves, so you may be watching her in a shuffle dance video and not even realize that it's the same you were just watching thirty seconds before.

Elena Cruz-Nichipor in her most famous dance.

Anyway, I'm just making this page in case you're unfamiliar with this style of dancing and want to see something different. Enjoy!

Yes, this is Elena Cruz-Nichipor again.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this visit to dance fever!

2019