Intermediate Dance Lesson: Intro to Blues

If you’ve been social dancing at Vintage Dance Company (or any one of hundreds of other swing dancing communities around the world), you’ve probably noticed a shift in the music and atmosphere later in the evening as the songs slow down, the beat feels heavier, and dance steps become smaller. Songs are often a bit longer, and there seems to be more emotional intimacy between many partners on the floor as they rock, sway, and step.

This, folks, is the Blues.

If you’ve been interested in learning more about this type of music and dance, this is the right time and the right place! We know many dancers feel rightly lost when they can’t rely on their Swing steps, and that it’s frustrating when others' advice is often to “make it all up” (which, while we're mentioning it, is not good advice for the Blues). Blues dancing is indeed more freeform than Swing, but still has its own structures; the first step is to recognize that Blues as a dance term, like “Swing,” is also a collection of many more specific dances that we refer to as the “Blues idiom dances,” including Slow Drag, Piedmont Triple, Texas Shuffle, the Savoy Walk, and more.

In this class, we’ll briefly discuss authentic Blues musical traditions (including Chicago Blues, Memphis Blues, and Delta Blues), we’ll cover the two main categories of Blues Idiom dances (Juking and Ballroomin’), and we’ll provide easy basic steps in each to help you feel comfortable on the dance floor and connect with your partner when the music slows down! With basic steps and form established, you’ll find it much easier to create “authentically improvised” movements with your partner in each new dance.

Not all Blues songs are sad or romantic, either – the emotions and themes of the Blues can range from melancholy, pain, and loss, to outright defiance, hope, or occasionally even joy and exultation. We hope to see you on Saturday and to help you discover how engaging and rewarding a good Blues dance can be!

The price is $20 and includes free entry to the social dance at 8:00pm.