About Blues Dance
What is blues dancing?
In its simplest terms, blues dancing involves dancing to traditional blues music. Blues music originated among African-Americans in the American south and spread throughout the US and the world. Blues dancing started in small juke joints and grand ballrooms during the late 19th and early 20th century.
Blues dancing has no ‘basic’ step, but includes several vintage dance genres such as slow drag, fishtails, struttin’, mooche, ballroomin’, and funky butt. (See Damon Stone and Heidi Fite’s demos at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwXbXhv0aeY and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNVpNbZrcX8
Damon Stone, arguably the foremost authority on blues dancing, describes blues dancing as a grounded dance involving asymmetry in the body, rhythmic movement through the body, improvisation between partners, and a lazy drawing of the beats. Learn more about Damon’s philosophy and approach at http://damonstone.dance/articles/
Videos
Some examples of the bluesSHOUT! competitions are shown below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BPwTANA-j4
‘Blues dancing is a family of historical dances that developed alongside and were danced to blues music, or the contemporary dances that are danced in that aesthetic.’
‘Like Swing dance, Blues dance originated and evolved from African rhythms and movements. However, Blues dancing was never widely practiced as a "social" or performance dance in the United States outside of the Black communities; so it developed and thrived in smoky juke joints and at Blues house parties and rent parties, giving it a more intimate feel.’
http://coloradobluesdance.com/what-is-blues-dancing/
BLUES DANCE CLASSES:
Dates:
Location and time:
Apologies that Blues classes are on hold as dancing that close might be a little much at the moment.
What is blues dancing? Blues dancing is a relaxed partner or solo dance that responds to the rhythms and emotions of blues music. It includes a family of dances created in African American communities for social dancing to blues and jazz music, from the late 19th through the 20th century. Rooted in African movement, blues dancing values improvisation, rhythm, and fun. Over the last several decades, a vibrant blues dancing community has grown in many parts of the world, from the birthplace of the blues in the US south, to festivals in Europe, to clubs in East Asia. (For more on blues dancing, check out Blues Dance New York or Laura Chieko’s pages http://bluesdancenewyork.com/what-is-blues/ http://www.laurachieko.com/blues-idiom-dances/ )
Check the Dal King’s Swing website registration page to register. http://www.dalswing.ca/registration/