​Every Blues Cafe event begins with an hour-long drop-in lesson included with admission that will teach you what you need to burn up the dance floor for the rest of the night.  Typically, lessons are taught by some of our seasoned local instructors; occasionally, we will bring in guest instructors from out of town.  We will also sometimes do themed lessons focusing on a particular topic.  Check the event description for the month for more information!

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What Is Blues Dance?

(from www.vanblues.com):

 

Have you ever seen the movie Dirty Dancing?  It's like that.  Blues dancing is a style of partner dance that originally began in the early 1900s and recently has re-surged in popularity.  It is a street dance, often associated with swing dance, but danced to blues music ranging from lyrical Nora Jones ballads to down and dirty Muddy Waters juke.   Because blues dancers often move in close embrace with an African hip action, and burlesque style-movements the dance earned the nicknamed "the grind."

Modern blues as a dance, focuses on subtle and distilled movements.  As such blues is a dancer's dance.  It's not as flashy as other dances,  but it is often taken up by Swing, Salsa, Tango and Ballroom dancers looking to deepen their connection and break free of rhythmic assumptions and patterned steps.   Most major cities around North America have active blues dancing scenes, with weekly dancing and competitions. 



What is Fusion Dance?

(from www.vanblues.com):

 

Anything you want it to be.  Fusion dancing is style of dance that has developed out of blues dancing over the past decade.   Instructors began taking the principals of blues dancing and mixing in movements adapted from other dances.  In a sense they were "fusing" blues with other dances.   At the same time, DJs began injecting modern and in many cases electronic music.  The result was the creation of a modern dance style exploding with artistry.

Fusion dance prides its self on inclusiveness and expression.  Most fusion dancers study multiple genres of movement, but truly everyone is welcome.  What has been created is the ultimate free form partner dance environment where salsa dancers dance with swing dancers, boys dance with boys, and hulla-hoops are always welcome.   It's a circus in here!



Learn more, click [here].

Also visit  local Blues Dance instructors Diane Garceau and David Yates
for more information on learning to dance, at NIGHT AND DAY DANCE

Rose City Blues Dance Festival 2012
Portland, Oregon - Competitions:
Strictly - #1: All-Skate

"What is Fusion Dance?"

Rose City Blues 2012 class recaps - Dexter Santos, Heidi Fite - BluesDancingtotheExtreme-SlowDancing

Rose City Blues 2012 class recaps - Andrew Smith & Julie Brown - Finesse, Footwork, and Floorcraft

Rose City Blues 2012 class recaps - Shawn Hershey & Julie Brown - Grits & Ass

Rose City Blues 2012 class recaps - Shawn Hershey & Julie Brown - Ballroomin' Badassery

Maven & Man - Barry and Brenda - Rose City Blues 2012 - Teacher Demo