Down Home Blues Festival July 17-19, 2009

Down Home Blues is a dance festival that provides vehicle for comprehensive blues dance classes and fun blues dances.

Philosophy

Every year we try and bring something new, different, and innovative to the teaching/learning process. We have seen a number of these innovations embraced by events across the country and become part of numerous events. This year is going to be the biggest departure yet from the typical weekend event format.

DHB is known for tough classes, intense but fun teaching, and the place to come to really get a chance to work on your dancing in a no BS environment. That said every year our event and every other gets the same types of complaints, “I should have been in a higher level”, “that person should have been in a lower level”, “I wanted to take classes from all the instructors”, “I only wanted to take classes from an instructor who wasn’t teaching my level”…

So, we’ve decided to put the power in your hands.

You will be responsible for your own learning.

Classes

First thing… there will be no auditions. There will be no auditions because there will be no levels. Rather than levels there will be three Core Classes taught throughout Saturday and Sunday each one with a different focus, Technique, Vocabulary, and Musicality. Each teaching couple will teach one of each of these and two of these subjects twice (though the material will differ). Students will be able to follow around a specific instructor all weekend long if they choose, may create their own learning experience by balancing or focusing on the subjects they feel they need the most work on, or may pick and choose which instructors and when they want to take their classes too ensure an opportunity to learn from each couple.

The classes will be accessible, interesting and challenging for people of all levels. Now I know the one complaint from mixed levels classes that tends to get brought up in other workshops is people in a given class not being at a high enough level. DHB for the last couple of years has used a mentoring/level-integration process that has received rave reviews from students at from the beginning up to master levels. This will be aided by the fact that we will not have any absolute novice dancers, or more to the point we will be clear this event is for those who already possess Blues dance experience.

Second, we will have four Immersion Classes a day, two the first period of the day, and two the last period of the day. These will be taught in a “Master class” format, which is to say at your pace, with as much or as little detail as you believe necessary, in the method of your choice. These classes are open to everyone… but you must have your own partner and there will be no teacher led rotation. You are encouraged to ask questions and to work with each other to figure out the material, but the teachers will not slow down nor dumb down the material. These classes are offered in the slots they are so those who do not believe they are ready for this kind of intensity can sleep in and/or leave for dinner early. Each teaching couple will teach one of these classes.

Instructors

• Joshua Boroff, New York City
• Devona Cartier, New York City
• Ria Debiase, Sacramento
• Heidi Fite, San Francisco
• Amanda Gruhl, Boston
• Shawn Hershey, Boston
• Michelle Richter, Emeryville
• Dexter Santos, Santa Clara
• Damon Stone, Oakland

The workshop passes will be capped at 120 people, and we reserve the right to further limit registration for gender balance.

DJs

We’ve also got a trio of returning deejays headlining and holding down the fort -

• Roy “I’m too stinking good to need a DJ name” Rydbeck
• Keith “Big Poppa” Shapiro
• Steven “Dr. Feelgood” Watkins

and a couple of deejays new to down home -

• Heather Adams
• Jonathan Pechon

all working hard to play the best Blues music recorded for your dancing pleasure.

Stay tuned, more information will be forthcoming.