What is Blues Dance?
Blues dance is a family of Black American social dances (some solo, some partnered) that developed alongside the different styles of Blues music, starting in the early 20th century and extending through today. Each dance was shaped by the music, the people, and the settings in which it developed.
On the dance floor today, you might see different dances like the slow drag, fishtail, funky butt, or struttin’, as well as a breadth of personal stylings on these dances, and a wide variety of improvisations.
Historical blues dance videos | Modern blues dance videos
Suggested further reading:
- Steppin’ on the Blues by Jacqui Malone
- Jookin’ by Katrina Hazzard-Gordon
- Blues Documentaries for Social Distancing collected by Grey Armstrong*
- More documentaries: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gGwYbi7KMMKZSR7nSSK4cuuADBUgaYBxvCPvhUI0v30/edit?usp=sharing
*you may need to subscribe to Obsidian Tea to see this, which we recommend! Grey creates lots of great content.
Suggested further reading/education on anti-racsim: Curated list of resources