LVNDR
When her soles kiss the surface, New Orleans native Bridget Miller transforms herself into LVNDR, whose kaleidoscopic expression through dance unleashes her colorful spirit like an unbottled supernova.
Music is an expression of identity. For Louisiana-born Bridget Miller, she's found an expression of her own among the local EDM scene: the Melbourne Shuffle, a high-powered style of dance of rhythmic stomps and heel-toe locomotions that's evolved from its underground roots among 1990s raves and dance parties.
Growing up with a disco DJ father, Bridget had already garnered a natural affinity for upbeat tempos. From legendary Motown artists and Warped Tour rock bands to the quintessential bounce music of New Orleans hip-hop, Bridget’s musical palette has tasted many hues, so her debut into the EDM culture came second nature. Whether she’s shuffling to the rumbling soundscapes of dark techno or the anthemic choruses of house, Bridget’s energy finds its place in every pace.
Known among the shuffling community as LVNDR—a stylization of “lavender”—Bridget currently acts as the marketing manager for Killersteeze, one of many hand-selected teams of professional shufflers around the country.
I meet with Bridget following 2018’s BUKU Music + Art Project festival, marking seven months since she’s made Washington, DC her new home. Her hair is dyed at its bluest yet, and she’s adorned the corners of her eyes with specks of reflective glitter like a chef garnishing her dishes with finishing touches of iridescence.
LVNDR opens up about finding her new identity in a new city, and why shuffling to her is more than just another hobby and spectacle.
With social media, people usually get a glimpse of what you’re all about. Someone who never stops dancing, someone who goes to all of these EDM festivals. But how would you define yourself in this spectrum?
To be honest, I feel like the way I’m portrayed on the Internet is super social, but in reality I’m a very anxious person. I get scared a lot. It’s actually been a challenge for me to be as social as I am, out in the festival world working and dancing. It’s challenging just to get up out of bed.
So you’re even exhausted right now. Glad we’re drinking coffee.
Exactly. You want to describe me? I’m exhausted. [laughs] I’m so tired all the time. My day job consumes my life more than dance does just so I can pay to do dance and all of that.
Shuffling’s a major part of your life, but I know you weren’t always into it. Tell me how it started. What was it that made you go, “I want to try that”?
An ex-boyfriend showed me what shuffling was. That’s when I first started getting into the rave scene back in 2011. I don’t know, at first I did it just because it looked cool, and then I just continued because it was something that I picked up easy. I’ve always loved dancing. I grew up doing musical theater. I knew that I didn’t want to do musical theater, but I always wanted to perform in some type of way. I’ve always seen myself as a performer—as a personality, like a character—so I just stuck with shuffling. I don’t want to say it’s easy because it’s not as easy as it looks. But it’s a feeling that is indescribable. It just felt so right that I kept working towards it.
“I knew that I didn’t want to do musical theater, but I always wanted to perform in some type of way. I’ve always seen myself as a performer—as a personality, like a character—so I just stuck with shuffling.”
And how did you work towards it?
I tell people that I first started shuffling at BUKU Fest 2012 during Porter Robinson’s closing set. The very first BUKU Fest in New Orleans. I started shuffling at home doing it by myself in my bedroom just hoping it looked right. I didn’t even start posting videos until I felt like it looked okay. I have a friend in Mexico named Armando; he actually knew how to shuffle, and I would video him back and forth, and he would teach me moves. So I kind of had a little friend who would teach me things because I didn’t meet any other shufflers until three years later. I mostly just did it on my own.
There are massive shuffling scenes in little pockets around the country. How did you find your place in it all after you’d realized there were actual communities for it?
Instagram and YouTube definitely helped. That’s how I found all of the other shufflers out there. I’ve been following FTS (ForeverTogetherStrong) and Star67—these two crews from California—since the beginning. I went searching around the country because in New Orleans there wasn’t really a community for it. I didn’t even know there was a community [in DC] until I was about to move out here.
“My move from New Orleans to DC was a challenge for myself. It was me purposefully putting myself in an anxious situation to try and grow stronger.”
Let’s talk nicknames. I’ve noticed that some of the more serious shufflers have one. Could you tell me the story behind “LVNDR”?
Of course! Lavender is my favorite color, flavor, scent—literally everything about it is my favorite. My friends back home would make fun of me for how much I loved it because everything that’s scented in my house is lavender, I would always search for lavender-flavored things, and everything I would buy would be lavender-colored. It’s who I am. Lavender has benefits when it comes to anxiety and relaxing—like with essential oils—so it’s helped me in meditation, and to calm me down when I’m having an anxiety attack or feeling very anxious. As a whole, I’ve named myself after something that’s helped me get through things.
I’m curious how your lifestyle’s changed—not only since adopting the shuffling lifestyle, but also since moving from New Orleans to DC.
My move from New Orleans to DC was a challenge for myself. It was me purposefully putting myself in an anxious situation to try and grow stronger. Because back at home in New Orleans? I lived there literally my whole life. Things were becoming routine, there wasn’t anything interesting happening for me, and I wasn’t happy where I was at in my life. I had spent three years trying to make someone else happy and I had to make a change. I had a friend [in DC] that I met through festivals, and he offered me a job in the restaurant that I work in now. I had family out here, too. Everything just aligned super perfectly. The struggle bus is real, but I’ve learned a lot about myself. I feel like I’m more me. I’m the most me that I can be. And shout-out to Taran and Megan, my best friends; I wouldn’t be who I am today without them. They pushed me to be me more than anyone else ever has.
I think some of us could use that phase—living against ourselves first, just so we can realize and figure out what we really want for ourselves after all.
Yeah! Like, I didn’t dye my hair, didn’t wear my piercings. Now that I’m here, I’m way happier because I feel like I am who I am. I even started dyeing my hair. First, I went purple—
Lavender?
Dark purple. [laughs] I haven’t dyed my hair lavender yet, only because it’s too expected. I went lime green. And then I went full-on hot pink. And then I went blue, and the blue looks so good. But every time I dye my hair, someone goes, “Why didn’t you dye it lavender?”
Because it’s expected.
Because it’s expensive.
Your day job—or I guess your night job—you’re a chef. How do you feel about that change of pace?
To be honest, it’s not that different. If you were a cook, you’d understand, but most cooks are fucking weirdos. Most of us are outcasts. I love the kitchen because I feel like it’s comparable to my festival scene, getting to work with interesting characters that also enjoy creating—because food is an art. Before I started to make shuffling a career, cooking was going to be it. It’s my other go-to way to express myself creatively. It’s therapy. I can zone in with my knife and vegetables for hours and be okay.
What’s your favorite thing to prep?
Sauces. I love making gallons of sauces. Why? I don’t know. I’m sauce boss.
Shuffling is a style of dance that not a lot of people understand. It’s pretty overlooked. What’s something that people who just don’t get it need to know?
Just to start, the sour taste in other people’s mouths is because we take up a lot of room [at shows]. We create circles and push people back. But I think what turns people on to it is that everyone loves to watch someone dancing, especially if they’re good. I think people who do like it enjoy watching people express themselves freely whether they’re talented or not. When you’re in a circle, you’re smiling and happy and expressing yourself freely with no judgment. Feeling yourself, the confidence that comes with it, you’re pretty much making yourself vulnerable. I feel like people are mostly turned on by our energy—by our vibe.
“When you’re in a circle, you’re smiling and happy and expressing yourself freely with no judgment. Feeling yourself, the confidence that comes with it, you’re pretty much making yourself vulnerable.”
The “KS” in your Instagram handle stands for Killersteeze. Tell me about that.
Killersteeze is my team. I was actually going to try out for the New York team (New Empire Shufflers), and the week I was going to try out, the president who started Killersteeze—we call him “El Prez”—his real name is Supa Man—that’s his real name—he just so happened to come into town in New Orleans, and he hit up NOLA Shuffles—which is our community Instagram—and was like, “Let’s link up. Let’s shuffle. I’m in New Orleans.” And I was like, fuck yeah, let’s do it. I met him, and he and I just hit it off so well vibe-wise and personality-wise to the point where I ended up not trying out for New Empire and just went straight to Supa like, “Hey, can I be a part of your team? I love your vibe, I love the name of the group.” I just felt like I could do a lot more with Killersteeze.
Once you’re officially part of a shuffling team, what kind of projects do you get involved with?
Right now, we’re trying to get to the point where we’re being sponsored by brands or making song release videos for artists. We’re pretty much trying to do what any other dancer would do, just with a different style of dancing. Recently, I filmed with a project out in LA called “AR PROJCT.” They’re probably the one project that every shuffler wants to film with. It was a major goal for me, and the fact that I hit that goal two days into the New Years...
Killersteeze is just like any dance crew and we’re working on getting hired by festivals. We recently did BUKU Fest just roaming performers. We were a part of a project for BUKU called Special Moments. They have it every year. They hire people like us—they also have acroyoga people, artists, performers—that become those random moments in the middle of the field, unexpected. Because the little things matter. They hired us to start random dance parties.
They only hired Killersteeze? Or were there other dancers?
They had the Buku Breakers, but for shufflers, yeah, we were the only shuffle team they hired. It’s helping push boundaries for shufflers. To be honest, for a lot of the OG’s that have been doing it since they were 14, it’s just a hobby for them. Yeah, they work on progressing their style, but we’re literally trying to make a career out of it. It’s not a hobby for us. It’s something pretty serious that we’re trying to do.
Do you ever collaborate with other shuffle teams?
Oh, yeah. I’ve done some videos with the [New Empire Shufflers] girls, and my AR PROJCT video was all collaboration. If you read my Instagram caption for it, I made it a point to say that this is the year of collaboration because we’re not going to get anywhere unless we lift each other up. There’s definitely a crew mentality, like your crew is your crew, but—this is what I said: Yes, rep your crew, but also rep your community because a community is not a community without unison. Came from the heart. Because it’s true. If you don’t unite as an art, then how is the art going to progress?
“Yes, rep your crew, but also rep your community because a community is not a community without unison. ”
Because we often see creators putting each other down instead of supporting each other in the craft.
Right. Personal beef is personal beef, but no. I will always rep Killersteeze—that’ll be my forte—but I’m never going to turn down collaborating with other artists just because they’re from a different team.
You’re achieving a lot in the shuffle scene right now. Any breakthrough in particular that stands out for you?
The AR PROJCT video. Going to LA. Going over New Year’s was probably my most memorable moment so far. BUKU was great, don’t get me wrong. That was definitely a huge step and I’m grateful. But traveling by myself to Los Angeles and staying with this boy that I barely knew for a whole week—shout-out to Boomboxx—because he showed me almost everything in LA. He took me in and introduced me to all these shufflers that I’ve been following since day one. It was one of the most socially anxious situations I’ve ever put myself in, and I’ll always remember it because I’m proud of myself for doing it.
You’ve got to have a strong mindset to keep yourself on this grind and never run out of energy. I know it takes a lot out of you. I’m curious— what’s your secret?
To consistently think of how I want to make my parents proud. I want my parents to be proud of me being who I am, but also successfully. You know, they’re my parents, so they worry. They want me to be financially stable just like anyone’s parents. I’m sure that they wish I would just stick to the kitchen and make that my career. What keeps me moving forward and working hard is because if I don’t get somewhere with [shuffling], I feel like I’m failing them in a sense. Mostly, I just want to make my mom proud.
Don’t we all?
I know, everyone does, but I feel like she’s my toughest egg to crack because she’s very closed in. She holds in a lot. When I first moved here and I was dropping her off at the airport, that was the first time in a really long time that she told me she was proud of me. I literally do it for my parents. I want them to see that I’m being who I am, but I also want them to be proud of it. My dad loves it. He shares all of my videos like, “Look at my hippie daughter!” I mean, my dad’s a disco DJ. It’s hard to not be who I am.