dance workshops
Learn from top instructors how to dance all the different kinds of blues that our various bands will be playing! Choose your own adventure by jumping between workshop levels and lectures throughout the weekend.
Workshops will feature the theme:
Honoring the Origins of Blues.
Class Levels:
Blues Bootcamp
This level is for those who have taken less than 50 hours of classes in blues dancing. Bootcamp classes will be challenging but fun with a focus on mastering the fundamentals needed to get out on the dance floor and have a blast all night long.
Intermediate
These classes are meant for those who have a solid understanding of the blues aesthetic and regularly dance with the proper posture, connection, pulse, and lag needed to execute good blues dancing. You'll get brand new information as well as the opportunity to flex skills and knowledge you've already acquired but at deeper levels.
Immersion (Advanced)
Don't go to these classes!
You probably signed up to have a great time meeting new people, hanging out with friends, and to pick up a new move or two. These classes are for the masochists among us who hate the idea that as good as they may be, they aren't quite perfect. They're the weird people who are happy to spend an hour relearning how to walk. They will sit and talk about the cultural context of a specific blues idiom dance for 50 minutes of an hour-long dance class and then be expected to show immediate improvement. If having your brain turn to jelly sounds like a good time for you, bring a partner or a small group of people who equally dislike fun because there will be no rotation in this class. Teachers will progress at a pace as if they were teaching their peers. You won't get it all. You probably won't get even half of it. Seriously. Stay. Away.
Class Descriptions:
Nothing Connects like a hug
Level: Blues Bootcamp
Time: Saturday 11:00am
Teachers: Tim O'Neill
How do you establish that deep, rich connection that makes blues so "yummy"? Well, in this class we are going to start with a hug and use that connected, relaxed feeling in our dance. We will talk a little bit about the history and blues and how that contributed to what we think of as the blues connection. This class is a must for anyone looking for the "Bluesy" feeling.
Ballroomin' Flash
Level: Blues Bootcamp
Time: Saturday 12:30pm
Teachers: Krystal & Adam Wilkerson
Come learn some turns, tricks, and dips to spice up your ballroomin'!
Keep Your Pulse
Level: Blues Bootcamp
Time: Sunday 11:30am
Teachers: Jenny Sowden
With the rhythm, with the movement, let movement come from the pulse. *Kids Free Dance Class
Recipe for the Blues
Level: Blues Bootcamp
Time: Sunday 1:00pm
Teachers: Tim O'Neill
In order to cook up your own Blues you have to start with the basic ingredients. But what are they? In this class we learn the four fundamental parts of what makes Blues so unique. Then we explore these concepts with a bit of theory on how to apply them to your dance. By the end of this class you should be able to explain to anyone what Blues is and have some new directions to explore these things in your own dancing.
Variations and Composition in Close Embrace
Level: Intermediate
Time: Saturday 11:00am
Teachers: Krystal & Adam Wilkerson
Close embrace is more than a hug. In this class, we'll work on texture variation, position changes, and partnership independence in close embrace to help you find your voice with your partner! This is part 1 of the close embrace series.
Hooking the Music (feat. Live Music)
Level: Intermediate
Time: Saturday 12:30pm
Teacher: Jenny Sowden & Kenny Shipp
How to connect with musicians, find the groove, the riff, and taking safe chances when dancing solo, even welcome a little chaos.
CBM: Creating Badass Moves
Level: Intermediate
Time: Saturday 3:00pm
Teacher: Tim O'Neill
Part 2 of the Close Embrace Series. CBM or contra body movement is fundamental to strong, balanced dancing and the key to some of the most fun moves in Blues. Use it to create inertia, rotation, or momentum. It can also supercharge some of the moves you already know. This class is more about the skill than the moves, and it’s a tough skill. Come prepared to work hard and have lots of homework by the end! Requirements: Pt 1 of Series and HIGH COMFORT LEVEL WITH CLOSE EMBRACE
Practice Teaching Blues Dance
Level: Intermediate
Time: Sunday 11:30am
Teachers: Krystal & Adam Wilkerson
If you're new to teaching blues dance and want to get your feet wet, this is the class for you! Targeted at newer teachers, we'll help you focus your lesson planning and movement development, and give you in-class hands-on time teaching a small group, complete with feedback on your methods!
Walking in the Ballroom (feat. Bleaux Bros)
Level: Intermediate
Time: Sunday 1:00pm
Teachers: Krystal & Adam Wilkerson
Whether in Idiom or Freestyle ballroomin’, when Jazz Blues begins to play, we get to walkin’! In this class, we’ll explore our relationship with the ground and with our partner to step powerfully and confidently every time! Planting ourselves like a tree with every step to clearly resolve balance will concretely center your relationship with the ground and the music! Improving clarity through firmly grounded movement generated via your pulse will allow for increased precision in your movements and improve your own musical representation throughout any dance.
Soul Dancing
Level: Intermediate
Time: Sunday 3:30pm
Teachers: Jenny Sowden
Grabbing some specific moves and others inspired by the TV series Soul Train. Solo & Partnered.
Resist!
Level: Immersion (Advanced)
Time: Saturday 3:00pm
Teachers: Jenny Sowden & Kenny Shipp
Or also sometimes called lag when following. The range, use and responses.
Stuttin' Moves, Music & Footwork Variations
Level: Immersion (Advanced)
Time: Sunday 3:30pm
Teachers: Tim O'Neill
Get deeper into the music that characterizes this style of dance, learn about its roots and influences, and get inspired by new moves and opportunities in this deceptively simple dance. If you've already got some simple jogging in your skill set, it's time to level up with this class.Extend your struttin’ with footwork variations for followers & leaders, as well as some lead moves too! If you've already got some simple jogging in your skill set, it's time to level up with this class.
FatTBACK Struttin'
Level: Beginner (no experience required)
Time: Friday 7:30pm
Teachers: Brother Yusef & Christi Jay Wells
This class is beginner friendly and will focus on struttin' as an idiom as we also break down the Louisiana stomp and other elements of Brother Yusef's "Fattback Sound" that lend his music to that idiom so well.