Although traditional Blues and Argentine Tango music are distinctly different, dancing to these musical styles calls for similar techniques, making for a very special kind of crossover between the two dance styles. The smooth, sultry quality of movement, the traditional close embrace, and the clarity of direction and weight changes of Argentine Tango lend themselves perfectly to Blues dancing. Blues dancers will learn some Tango movement vocabulary to add spice to your Blues repertoire while perfecting your partner connection. Tango dancers; learn how to fuse traditional Tango steps with a more free-form dance while practicing improvisational skills for maximum creativity.

No partner required.

Offered Saturday January 28th:

-       1 hour crash course in Blues partner dancing with Mike Legett and Dan Rosenthal.

-       1 hour crash course in Tango with Andy Blair and Christy Byers

-       3 hours of dancing with national DJ’s Mike Legett, Patrick Draus, and (to be announced) 9pm-12am

Pricing:

Both classes and dance package: $30 per person

$12 for the Dance (**Dance fee included with the purchase of one or both classes**)

$20 per person, per class

Discounts for members of the LSDS, Blair’s Ballroom/Tango Club of Louisville, and any university or high school student with a valid student ID: $10 dance. No discount on package discount.

Location: Blair’s Ballroom 9321 New Lagrange Road Louisville, Kentucky 502 425-7355

 Schedule:

1-2pm Blues with Mike and Dan

2-3pm Tango with Andy and Christie

9pm-? Blues Fusion Dancing

Video clips of Blues and Fusion dancing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YY8rbcWsn4&feature=related

A bit more about blues from Mike and Dan’s website:

Blues

Blues is actually a name for a family of dances, danced to a variety of music styles. All have, as their basic unit, a single step. This means that there is very little reliance on patterns, and a great deal of emphasis on creativity and partnership. Styles of blues dance include vintage styles like ballroomin and jukin, as well as modern styles like drag blues, microblues, groovin, and more. Ballroomin’ Blues In the big ballrooms, in the heyday of jazz as pop, the big band would play slow tunes, as well as fast tunes. So rather than take a break, the dancers would continue to dance, doing what we now call ballroomin blues. Ballroomin is characterized by traveling, momentum, large moves, and fancy turns, and is danced to slow jazz music. Jukin’ Blues Jukin blues, on the other hand, grew up alongside blues music, in juke joints- basically, bars with live music. They were often crowded, and were not dance halls, so to speak, so the dance uses much less traveling and momentum than ballroom. Instead, it focuses on sharp, rhythmic movements, and a repetitive structure that allows for a lot of individual freedom. Additional Styles Additional styles that have sprung up since the resurgence of blues include groovin (a relaxed, low-momentum dance popular in the northeast), micro-blues (an in-place style danced to contemporary, often non-blues music), drag blues (a style that uses modern connection ideas to dance to slow jazz, and often steals ideas from tango), and more.

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This event is a swing dance lesson and alternative music/dancing night organized,  taught, and DJ’ed by LSDS trustee Dan Jones and special guests/help. The lessons are introductory and community building in nature and the venue is all ages! It’s $5 for the lesson 7-8pm followed by dancing 8pm-10pm.

 Below is a link to the ball room’s website the address is 10841 bluegrass parkway.
http://www.godsballroom.com/index.html?mrkIGR=1

Let this site and its pages be your guide to Social Swing Dancing in Louisville, Kentucky!