Classes

Please note: Immersion classes are taught in a “Master class” format, which is to say at a rapid pace, with as much or as little detail as the teacher believes is necessary, in the method of their choice.

These classes are open to everyone… but you must have your own partner (though it does not have to be a regular partner, and small groups may form) 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. If you are attending for a fun laid back time, you may wish to seriously consider skipping some or all of these classes, as they are not aimed at the merely dedicated, but at the truly obsessed.

For more information about class format, please see the About page of the website.

Reuel Reis & Mike Legett

Mike and Reuel’s favorite hard stuff (Immersion)

At the heart of Reuel and Mike’s blues is partnering. This class is an hour full of their favorite (and hardest) moves, plus a taste of their mad movement skills. You, your partner, two instructors, 96 counts, and 90 minutes. Are you ready?

Blue Jazz (Ballroomin’ Blues)

When a jazz and a blues love each other very much, sometimes they get together and make beautiful music. Since the music of ballroomin comes from jazz, why shouldn’t the dance vocabulary? We’ll be taking some vernacular jazz (and blues) and putting them into our partner dancing in a way that comes entirely from the music.

Filling the Room (Ballroomin’ Blues)

When Sidney Bechet takes the stand, he doesn’t say, “stand still,” or “stay in one place.” When we hear someone like Sidney, Louis, or Bob blow their horns, we feel the need to move- and that’s what we’ll do during this class. We’ll take focus on some of our favorite traveling moves, and the elements that make them work.

Reuel Reis

The Soul Man Routine (Solo)

Get ready to kick some butt with Reuel’s Soul Man routine! This class is for anyone who would like to work on bold high energy movement to enhance the ‘Shock and Awe’ factor in their dancing.

Dexter Santos & Michelle Richter

Fred and Ginger Get The Blues 2 (Ballroomin’ Blues)

Fred and Ginger has once again inspired this class and so Dexter and Michelle bring you back some wonderful goodness to their Ballroomin’ Blues class! One of the distinctive qualities about Fred and Ginger’s dancing is the way each movement flows to the next resulting in a graceful and smooth quality. In this class we are going to apply momentum that will allow us to shape our dance and harness the energy in our step to create dynamic movement whether it’s a turn, dip, or lift. Whether or not you are a performer or a social dancer who wants to add a little flair in your dance, you don’t want to miss this class.

The Blues Your Blues Could Be Like…(Jookin’)

Hello dancers! Look at your dancing, now back to me, now back at your dance, now back to me. Sadly, that isn’t “jookin’”, but if you stopped being lazy, and started using your core, your dance could feel like it’s “jookin’”. Look down, back up. Where are you? You’re in a juke joint, with the blues your blues could be like. What’s in your hand? Back at me. You have it. It’s your partner with the “aesthetic” that you love. Look again! The dance is now blues. Anything is possible when your dance feels like jookin’ and not a joke. I’m at Down Home Blues.

Do You Trust Me? (Immersion)

Are you playing it safe in your dancing? Have you ever wondered what it’s like to dance on the edge? Learn to stretch the limits of your connection by working with, around, and off your “axis.” This class will require you to dance out of your comfort zone and be open to new and creative ways of connecting with your partner.

Dexter Santos

In A Groovy Solo Blues Mood (Solo)

In this class, you’ll learn some of Dexter’s favorite solo dance moves with influences from Earl “Snakehips” Tucker to Michael Jackson as choreographed to a blues song. The class will start with learning choreography and the remainder will be spent creating your own. We’ll incorporate concepts such as “call and response” as well as “riffing.” There are no lead or follow roles in this class, so everyone is encouraged to join and tap into their inner performer!

Julie Brown

Rhythm and blues (Solo)

Rhythm is at the heart of blues dance. From sparse Delta blues to more complex big band jazz, there are plenty of rhythms to play around with. To handle all that rhythm, we’ll learn how to create different rhythms in various parts of the body simultaneously (i.e., move polyrhythmically). This is a difficult and exciting skill that can enhance your solo dancing, cutting, and partner dancing. Challenge yourself to move in new ways.

Damon & Ria

Swagga & Riddum (Immersion)

Jookin’ dances are not about the moves but how you do the moves. Learn how to dance with a bad-ass attitude, expressing confidence and sexiness without crossing the line into arrogance or inappropriateness. Rhythms, isolations, internal tension, and relaxed strength will give you new ways to interpret old moves.

Get Buck (Jookin’)

“Buck is when internal artistry meets external expression.” Lil C
In this class we’ll explore the very edges of the blues envelope, bending rules to create personal styles that flow out of the music. Find that authentic expression of the music and the dance by discarding assumptions and breaking habits, dancing in the moment.

Damon & Heidi

Game Face (Immersion)

They’ve just called your number for the competition and it is your turn to dance. Time to put on your game face. This class will teach you how to not only “bring it” but will teach you what it is. We go over the mental state that will allow you to dance to the top of your ability, as well as explore competition strategies, what some of the best judges out there are looking for, and more importantly what they don’t want to see… EVER.

Dirty Dancing (Jookin’)

Johnny and Baby had a lot of important lessons to teach us – “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.” “This is my dance space. This is your dance space.” “It’s a feeling; a heartbeat.”
This class will discuss these guidelines and how they apply to blues. At the same time we’ll look at how to make your dancing raw, gritty, and unpracticed looking, while still precise, strong, and captivating.

Ria & Heidi & Damon

Critical Review (Immersion)

Not for the faint of heart. This SYTYCD-styled panel will critique your dancing, with directness and honesty giving you ideas of what you are doing well and what needs work to help you focus your learning for the rest of the weekend.

Steven & Ria & Heidi & Damon

Work It (Immersion)

This hybrid deejay/dancer class will discuss what makes a good blues song to dance to, why some songs are great examples of blues but aren’t played for dancers, and why some songs are poor choices to move the dance floor. Steven will play a selection of interesting and challenging music for Ria, Heidi, and Damon to dance to to give you ideas of what can be done and those willing to rise to the challenge will get their opportunity to test the songs out themselves.

Dan Newsome & Kelly Porter

Introduction to Classic Savoy Ballrooming (Ballroomin’ Blues)

A loose, graceful and very blue dance that was popular in the Savoy Ballroom and other Harlem night spots during the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s. Unlike the grittier dances found at road-houses and rent-parties, this was how people danced to slow music and torch songs in the opulent jazz ballrooms. It was historically called just “ballroomin’” by Harlemites, since it was essentially an uptown take on various forms of white ballroom dancing. Full of running spins, deep drags, lunges and little lifts. Come meet the soulful side of the ballad.

Boxsteps and Cross-steps and Slide-steps . . . Oh My! (Ballroomin’ Blues)

Come tangle your toes with some classic and contemporary footwork patterns that will add intricacy and variety to your ballrooming and slow drag repertoire. Dan and Kelly will break down things that look mighty complicated into digestible and socially-danceable pieces. Don’t be a-skeered. We will also talk about how to really lead and follow this close footwork in an improvisational setting—skills that take dance and musicality up a notch.

Adagio and Apache (Immersion)

Like two sides of a weird and wonderful coin, these two early styles of narrative performance dance were regular fare in the floor shows of the jazz era—the one sweet and melodic (adagio) the other gritty and near-violent (apache). Both showcase slow, close dancing that erupts with acrobatics, emotion and various kinds of role playing. There is a lot of these dances to be found in the roots of Savoy Ballrooming—these are dances that ballrooming riffs on. We will review some historical footage to get a sense of the genres and then take off straight away into some adagio/apache-inspired lifts, holds, spins and antics. Please come with a trustworthy partner. This class is a unique peek into the history of blues culture as well as a resource for those looking to hone their chops on some lifts and tricks.

Performing to the Blues Clinic (Immersion)

Contemporary blues dance is continuing to evolve into competitive and performative styles. This class is meant to open up discussion about what strategies and considerations might push the envelope on performing the blues in this new environment—dynamics, storyline, choreography, athleticism, mood, practice strategies, music, tradition vs. innovation, flash vs. feel, and even costuming. We will attempt to appraise the whole gamut of contemporary blues performance genres including solo, showcase and loosely-structured “strictly” formats using footage of historical and contemporary performance as well as class exercises. With such a wealth of material and differing opinion, this class promises to be lively and will be calibrated to some extent on the interests of the students.

Josh Boroff & Devona Cartier

Built for Comfort (Jookin’)

The rhythm of blues is a combination of wait and catch-up, notes that are a bit too long and a bit to short. part of the aesthetic of both blues music and dancing lies in that rhythm. In this class we will focus on the “wait” portion, the aspect of the cool, of ease. Not only things like “being in the pocket”, and rhythmic syncopation, but cleaning up the connection so that every thing happens nice and easy. Like a nice Mint Julip in the summer.

Built for Speed (Jookin’)

The rhythm of blues is a combination of wait and catch-up, notes that are a bit too long and a bit to short. Part of the aesthetic of both blues music and dancing lies in that rhythm. In this class we will focus on the “catch-up” portion. When can you rush ahead, sharpen your movement, creating a dynamic tension, and how can you do all of that while still being effortless. We will also be bringing the tempo up in this class.

Hips: “Cant stop to turn around, broke my sacroiliac” (Immersion)

As Grandmaster Flash suggests, you cant move if you cant move your hips. This class moves beyond leading and following from your center and focuses on how hip movement influences what you lead, and how you follow, a much more indirect connection. At the immersion level we will be dealing with a deeper understanding, and more complex patterns.

Oblique (Immersion)

When your dancing technique is solid, how do you stand out from the crowd of other dancers with solid technique. Use the dynamic energy of diagonals, and spirals, diverging from the norm, unequal, and indirect. The reality is that blues is never one thing or another, its all mixed, and messy, and yet still has a unified form. How do you get a hold of that? Come find out.

Devona Cartier

It Ain’t What You Do (solo/style)

Duke Ellington verses Muddy Waters: A solo comparison of the styles of Ballroomin’ and Jookin’. We will learn a blues routine then explore how the music changes the character of the movements.

Paul Mandel & Amanda Gruhl

Counterbalance and Conflict (Immersion)

Paul and Amanda won the Choreography Competition at Enter the Blues
2010 with an amazing piece that used these ideas to their extreme.
Come learn some of the sequences from their choreography and how to
integrate them safely and smoothly into your social dancing. Watch
Paul and Amanda’s choreography here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95mSwWEo90s