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Hello, hello!

We’re kicking off our guest instructor/DJ month with Andrew Smith (http://www.andrewsmithdance.com/), from Portland, Oregon! Andrew’s taught at Blues Union before, in addition to teaching at several national venues and local venues in Portland. This week, he and Julie Brown will be teaching the following classes:

Solo Movement (Intermediate, 7:30-8:15)
Through various improv exercises, learn how to emote in your dancing. Practice listening to the sentiment of a song and conveying that in your body through solo movement. This class covers isolations, rhythms, and musicality.

Vintage Ballroom Blues (Beginner, 8:15-9:00)
This class introduces you to Ballroomin’ — originally a slow dance done by Lindy Hoppers at the Harlem Ballroom — that has become a nationally recognized and appreciated styling for Blues dancing. The styling is ideal for dancing to vintage jazz and New Orleans blues music. The class will look at quintessential elements of Ballroomin’, such as walking, turns, posture, and aesthetic lines.

Afterwards, he and Julie will be DJing for us from 9:00 to 11:00.

As always, the lessons on their own are $5, and the dance on its own is $5. Both combined… are $10!

This week, come to Blues Union for our very own Blues Clinic from 7:30 to 9pm, followed by four fantastic DJs from 9pm to 11pm!

This week, our DJs are Gui and Ogden for the first set, followed by Khrysti and Amy for the second set.   They will lift you up! They will not leave you low!  Oh no.

Also- a special offer!  If a dancer brings a newbie to the lesson, the dancer and their friend only have to pay for the lesson ($5)- the dance is free!

We’re all pumped after this past weekend with Sweet Molasses Blues; we hope you’re ready for some more dancing as well!

This week, Blues Union kicks off Sweet Molasses Blues!  Come for two great classes with Paul Mandel and Amanda Gruhl:

Crazy Counterbalance!
Ever wonder how to create those lovely stretches advanced dancers have?  Want to make those counterbalance moves look and feel great?  This class will show you how to incorporate weight sharing into your social dances in closed and open.  And if we have time, we’ll throw in a few unusual positions!

Blues Connection
The basis for all great partnered dancing is connection!  This week’s beginner blues lesson will focus on how to establish connection, make it feel great, and use it to lead and follow your partner.

DJs will be special guests Jennie Shortway (NJ) and Tina Davis (TX)!

February is our month for working on connection in our intermediate classes! Last week Julie and Shawn focused on connection in close embrace, and this week Gui and Jenn will be going to the other extreme and focusing on connection in open position and breakaway. Maintaining solid, comfortable connection through open position requires a lot of practice and knowledge of momentum and balance, but the big payoff is that you have the most freedom of movement available to you of all of the frames. It’ll be a hard class, but it’ll be worth it!

In our beginner class, we’ll be focusing on the Blues aesthetic. What makes the dance you’re doing Blues dancing? How do you get that 2-AM-in-a-Mississippi-juke-joint look and feel without traveling for a couple of hundred miles and downing a pitcher of beer? We’ll be talking about your posture, your attitude, and your movement and how they all interact to create a solid dance.

Our intermediate classes run from 7:30 to 8:15, and our beginner classes run from 8:15 to 9:00.

Finally, you can look forward to DJs Gui Cavalcanti and Amy Kucharik bringing it to the dance floor!

Hello, hello!

This month we’re going to have a class description for both the beginner class and the intermediate class! Check out what Shawn and Julie are teaching this week:

Intermediate (7:30-8:15): This week, we’ll focus on closed position and close embrace. Learn our favorite tips for leading and following in closed/close, when we like to use this type of connection, and some neat ways you can use this connection to do cool things.

Beginner (8:15-9:00): New to blues? Want to brush up on your basics? Come to the beginner lesson to learn the basics of blues dance, as well as plenty of moves to get you traveling around the room.

After the lessons, John Brooks and Micki Balder will be spinning the night away for us, and Amy Kucharik and Karen Dunham will be bringing food for us!

Hope to see you soon!