This week at Blues Union

Update for this Thursday…

Alright folks. Time for a hilarious change of plans.

Sadly, Jenn could not extract herself from tech week, and will not be able to make the lesson. HOWEVER, we have something extra special instead. Gui Cavalcanti and Kevin Sihlanick will be throwing down a Dissection of the Blues. Kevin will be rockin’ his harp, Gui will be rockin’ his bass, and the dynamic dueling duo will be taking you on a tour of how Blues music is built. They’ll investigate rhythm, chord progression and more, while discussing how your dancing reflects these fundamental structures (and how you can take advantage of your newfound knowledge of these structures to rock out harder on the dance floor!)

Come for the dissection and stay for the witty reparte as a couple of the Olin boys take you on a tour of the Blues.

Thursday, October 29

This week’s class is going to be a little… different.

Gui and Jenn are going to throw Blues music on the operating table and show you a whole bunch of bits and pieces of the music that make you dance in different ways. Gui will be busting out his bass and explaining the fundamental 12-bar chord structure of Blues, which you dance to and hit even if you don’t know it! Their goal is to introduce you to and make you aware of what you’re dancing to in the music, so that you can listen for it and hit it more effectively in your dancing.

Amy Kucharik and Rif will be DJing!

Thursday, Oct 15th

This Thursday, Blues Union will be bringing you another excellent out-of-town instructor and DJ: Andrew Smith from Portland, OR!

Andrew teaches locally in Portland, and has taught at Steel City Blues (2009), at East Meets West (2009), and will teach at San Diego Fusion Exchange (2010).  Andrew travels and competes throughout the country. Most recently, he took 1st Place in the Open Strictly Blues Competition (with partner Karissa Lightsmith) at Emerald City Blues Festival 2008, tied for 2nd Place in the Open Jack & Jill Competition at Steel City Blues 2009, and competed in the Invitational Jack & Jill Competition at BluesSHOUT! 2009. Andrew is a caring and enthusiastic teacher, who seeks to share his passion for dance and help others organically find their own joy in dance.

Andrew is also an excellent DJ, who was a finalist in the 2009 East Meets West DJ competition! This week, he will be bringing his badass tunes to Blues Union!

Watch a video of Andrew dancing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCVx2J5AMoA

Andrew will also be available for private lessons. If you are interested, please contact Julie Brown at queenofbuttons@gmail.com.

This Thursday at Blues Union, Andrew will be teaching an intermediate lesson from 7:30-8:30pm, followed by a half-hour beginner crash course from 8:30-9:00. Then he and Julie Brown will be DJing the night away from 9:00-11:00pm, for your dancing pleasure.

As always:

Lesson + dance: $10
Dance only: $5

at Dance Union
16 Bow St
Somerville, MA

See you there for an awesome evening of classes, music, and dancing!

Thursday, October 8

This week, Julie and Ogden bring you Lead/Follow Technique – What You Need:

This week, we’ll be working on some specific aspects of leading and following that we have seen lacking in the local dance scene. We have tailored this class according to what we’ve seen you do out on the dance floor, so we’ve made this class specifically for you. And this class is for everyone–both leads and follows–so no one gets off the hook 😉 If you’re ready to take your leading and following to the next level, this is your chance.

The above class startsat 7:30, with a half hour drop in class for beginners at 8:30! As always, it’s $10 for the dance and lesson, and only $5 for the dance alone.

Thursday, September 24

Shawn and Amanda are teaching this week! Their class:

Solo Geometry: Waves and Circles
Learn to warp space-time with your hips! Ever wondered how to actually do those crazy hip and chest movements and make them look and feel nice? We’ll teach you how to move your body with solo work and isolations, then show you how to apply them to your lead/follow.

Then, we let people loose on the dance floor with DJs Rif and Tim tearing it up! Expect great things as they come to you fresh from a big old DJ listening party where we tossed around ideas and songs.