Yes, there is. Just watch how the likes of Lucky dance, and it should be pretty obvious.
Right .... before someone points to a 'Advanced Blues' DVD and says, "Yes .. its there" ... let me explain my point.
There has been an upswing in interest in Blues/Smooth dancing in our area. I've taught, along with a few others, intro to Blues classes. I've also got a workshop that covers off the next level ... but this is increasignly moves dependant though there is some technique.
However, is there anything else? Short of showing more complex drops or shapes that can be slowed down to a Blues-type beat ... is there anything else that comes from within Blues itself that can be taught and/or labelled as 'advanced blues'?? Oh .. and can we avoid the perpetual debate about "what is blues"?
Yes, there is. Just watch how the likes of Lucky dance, and it should be pretty obvious.
If you cannot tell or show somebody what blues dancing is, let alone "advanced" blues dancing is, how can you hope to teach it?
For me blues dancing is about feeling rather than appearance. I can imagine a separate categories, exhibition blues dancing and competition blues dancing, which are about transmitting the feeling to judges and an audience, which could be taught. I can also believe that the techniques involved would help to transmit the feelings between partners. Otherwise, once the moves have been sorted out, I think that teaching blues dancing is about leaders teaching followers, and followers teaching leaders.
More succinctly - for me trying to teach blues dancing is a bit like trying to teach making love.
Would "micro blues" be considered 'advanced' ?
After the basic magnetism within the connection has been established, then what is it that evolves the dancers into 'advanced' blues dancers?
I propose Interpretation of the music. Isn't that what makes any dancer 'advanced'? Moves are just moves - anyone can learn them and reproduce them. It's the movements made within the moves - the "how" and "when" - that separates the best dancers from the rest of us.
And I think that the 'when' almost dictates the 'how': a single beat or count within a move tends to mark a specific position within a move. But the space between counts and beats is a long time ~ an advanced dancer has many ways to fill this space.
Blues dancing is danced to slower music, with bigger spaces, so Advanced Blues would be utilising the spaces to emphasise the music. If "advanced blues" does not exist, then neither does "advanced MJ"
Yes, it's where you progress from swaying side by side to moving round slowly ACW
Yep! Couldn't agree more about the 'general consensus'; and it's a ****ing travesty!
What Lucky dances IS Blues. Gus, I guess you need to ask yourself if you want to play it safe and teach more of the same ol' same ol' MJ-Blues, or if you want to abandon the move based MJ-Fusion-Type-Blues, and actually concentrate on teaching Blues techniques which will allow dancers to become real Blues dancers.
If you watch some of the MJ-Blues routines and classes performed by some of the UK's "leading lights" in Blues and then compare and contrast that with what is happening in The States (the home of Blues dancing), and what's happening at Lindy/Blues nights. You'll be able to see what advanced Blues looks like first hand. A huge slow sweeping angelic pose may look beautiful, but it's not the Shake 'n Bake, Fish Tailin' or Ballroomin' ... mostly it's coreographed pap .. it's not learning to connect with your partner and the music, in fact more often than not it has very little to do with authentic Blues.
Isn't advanced blues, blues where you have the confidence and skill to dance using hardly any moves at all.....with a connection that is inexplicably linked to your partner and the music at the same time.
A moment in time, which actually defies explanation as it it is something which is felt with the soul.
I am a novice blues dancer (even though I dance in Blues rooms most of the time), but have on occasions been involved in what can only be described as moments in time, where my connection that I have had with my partner was SO in tune with the music and rhythm, it was magical.
I cannot even start to try describe how to get there.
Is there an advanced blues? yes there is but it is not something that can be taught very easily.
It is something you feel within the music and is transmitted to those partners in dance who can feel the same "je ne sais quois" about the same music.
It is never sordid or soiled but an uplifting experience shared by very few.
But yearned after by many.
Probably not a helpful explanation of my point of view but the best I can manage.
Step 1 find an advanced blues dancer/teacher.
Step 2 book in an advanced blues workshop (which after all, will be filled with beginner and intermediate blues dancers, wondering what to do next)
Step 3, sit back and watch the advanced blues dancer/teacher giving out insights to the next level.
As well as teaching his twitchy Lindy-style Blues, Lucky teaches some techniques which should also work for MJ-style Blues.
That said, why I would want to lead the breathing of my partner, I'm not quite sure...
Let your mind go and your body will follow. – Steve Martin, LA Story
If isn't blues.... with all due respect to you... perhaps you'd care to enlighten us as what it actually is?
Myself, I'd say that I've seen very virtually no blues dancers in the UK to touch him.
And the why of that brings me back to...
Is it my imagination, or does 'technique' seem to be a dirty word in the MJ lexicon? The answer is in the question... you want advanced blues? Technique is your answer. Learn it, live it, breathe it, become technique obsessed. That's your way forward. If you're thinking 'moves', you're headed in the wrong direction.
Right, a more serious response than my earlier contribution
I don't see how you can 'sell' an advanced Blues workshop without having a pretty solid idea in your own head as to what Blues is (you may well have this Gus, I don't know) because that is the product you are giving to your punters. If it's the MJ style Blues then that's no problem provided that's what the people coming to your workshop are looking for. If those same people are expecting the more epileptic style of Blues then you could have a problem. Labelling is key here - in the same way that the term Swing can encompass a wide variety of dance styles so can Blues.
I must admit to hate the occasional drive to put things in a beginner/intermediate/advanced camp. Personally I'm not sure I'll ever be an advanced dancer in anybody's book, but I've had some damn good 'blues' dances in my 3 years of dancing.
Back to the point. If we must think about things in advanced terms then I'm with Stray. I think that while there are some moves etc that do lend themselves to looking good in blues dancing it is the techniques for building connection with your partner and the ability to draw inspiration from them and the music that marks the change to what others might think from the sidelines looks advanced. Personally though if it was me dancing it I'd probably not notice, because at the time I'd be lost in the connection...................
Agent 000
Licensed to Dance
... In Your Humble Opinion?
True .. is a form of Swing-based Blues ... but definitely not UK-style Blues.
.... which would be interesting if you've ever seen me teach Blues ...
I think that true blues ISN'T actually moves based ....
?????
with respect, I've been doing Blues for a fair old time and studied under N&N, Roger Chin, Simon Selmon and others ... and come to the opinion that the more I learn the less I know .... however, I think there is much to be developed in Blues AND taught .. its just that even with nearly 10 years teaching behind me I recognise my limitations. The best teachers have a true dance background and are able to convey techniques and shapes that I (as a amateur dance instructor) cannot. So I look for teaching models that enable me to teach better.
I find it heart warming that you have such a passion for Blues after only a relatively short time on the dance scene ... but maybe a more balanced and, dare I say, informed view may help you progress? Then again maybe you are intent on teaching your view to others?
i wish my body would move in some of the ways he can make his move
having just done lucky's micro blues masterclass at storm i can report it was the most intense lesson in connection i have ever had the pleasure to attend
the feeling of euphoria and exhaustion when you finaly get this is amazing
although i have never done meditation i would think its very similar
as with all blues it isnt about lead follow or moves
its about connection from the heart between two people and the music which starts by connecting your breath
as has been said several times on this forum its a conversation this surely starts with breath and the breath creates the momentum for the ultra small movements involved in micro blues
In my book no!
On the proviso that advanced means sophisticated and/or complex moves, blues, to my mind, is about doing less (physically). [Although it can get very intense .... due to strong intention]
Learning to do less is not advanced ... not in my book at any rate. As someone else has said ... it's more about listening (to music and each other) than anything technical.
Show or display blues is, of course, a different matter (and a different dance IMHO, and with every other dance) and so, a different (if linked) skill.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Bookmarks