Blues Baby Blues

[Andy McGregor]

Well, yes I do too, and as an demostration of period dancing it is very good - although I can't help seeing an old Felix the cat black and white cartoon playing whilst I watch some of the movement and hear the music!

I was expecting a large woman with a broom to come on at any moment and shout "Thomas, THOMAS!".

Why do they have to use that ancient music all the time and ignore newer music? It's a constant gripe of mine that music simply joins the list of music once it's published. It might spend some time on the best-sellers list when it's first published, but good music is still good music, new, old, very old, etc.

Good dancers can make anything look good. They can make climbing the stairs into an art form. It strikes me that you wouldn't learn blues as a dance virgin. But you would learn it if you were already a dancer and wanted to find a more free-form way of extracting every last drop of musicality from a song.

[straycat]

So yes, I reckon Blues competitions are about as unnatural as AT competitions.

Why 'unnatural'?

[straycat]

Why do they have to use that ancient music all the time and ignore newer music? It's a constant gripe of mine that music simply joins the list of music once it's published. It might spend some time on the best-sellers list when it's first published, but good music is still good music, new, old, very old, etc.

And that piece of music is very, very good - it has a richness and complexity that most modern songs don't come close to achieving, and that richness and complexity makes it wonderful to dance to.

If you want the same two dancing to something a bit more modern, (NICE routine...)

[straycat]

Yeah, there's something slightly 'ungainly' about it! Maybe its routed from my old ballet teacher drumming into me.. "you must finish your lines properly.... point your toes and stretch your fingers etc" and I think here, its the odd little skip and awkward lines, that ruin what otherwise is a lovely dance

.....

Its more what Rocky said, its when people are too overly expressive but don't have the natural ability to carry off the movements, even though they might be feeling it.

It's odd how my appreciation of things has changed over the years. The first time I went to see a contemporary dance, I had exactly the same issue with the unfinished lines... now, I'm a lot more comfortable with it. I love that particular piece of dancing.

I honestly think it can be a mistake to assume that they're moving like that because they can't carry off what they're trying to do (especially knowing the dancers concerned) - think of it as a deliberate choice. You might not like that choice - nowt wrong with that, but that doesn't detract from the skill of the dancers.

Social blues of this nature is first and foremost for the dancers, not for the onlookers - the focus is very much inward, on connection and movement, rather than lines and styling. The results can be a mixed bag, visually speaking, but will feel amazing when done well.

[straycat]

Good dancers can make anything look good. They can make climbing the stairs into an art form.

[David Bailey]

Why 'unnatural'?

Because an improvised dance based on internal feelings and connection does not do well visually, compared to a choreographed dance designed to be visually-appealing.

Which is why most AT clips are of show tango, not of the social tango which people actually dance.

[martingold]

[Lory]

The first time I went to see a contemporary dance, I had exactly the same issue with the unfinished lines...

You've just, very saliently, brought back a memory which filled me with very mixed feelings at the time

My daughter, who'd gained her place at school aged 11, for Ballet, Tap and Modern, was now performing in front of everyone, a contemporary piece, she'd choreographed herself. And this was the first time I'd seen it.

Suddenly, this familiar face appeared centre stage but where had all the grace and elegance gone, her smiley face and beautifully stretched and pointed toes?
I was faced with awkward rigidness, followed by sloppy floppyness and a sad, almost pained expression. And the title of this piece?... "Anorexia"

Oh joy of joys.... NOT!

But she'd gained the top marks of the year for THIS! And here I was (her proud Mum), hating every minute of it

I honestly think it can be a mistake to assume that they're moving like that because they can't carry off what they're trying to do (especially knowing the dancers concerned) - think of it as a deliberate choice.

Of course, you're completely right

You might not like that choice - nowt wrong with that, but that doesn't detract from the skill of the dancers.

Exactly!

Social blues of this nature is first and foremost for the dancers, not for the onlookers - the focus is very much inward, on connection and movement, rather than lines and styling. The results can be a mixed bag, visually speaking, but will feel amazing when done well.

And this is one of the reasons I think I don't care too much for competitions, or performances, which are really best appreciated when you're one of the partners!

[Whitebeard]

I think two new phrases might have entered the collective vocabulary of the MJ Blues countrywide community

"You alright Val?"

"Have you got your Blues face ......?"

[straycat]

Well - to get this slightly back on topic - we've now booked for Blues Baby Blues. I now know a little more detail than is on the website - it's all based around the Liverpool St area, and looks quite intensive, but I don't want to get too specific in case they need to change thing - but suffice t say, there's a lot of workshops, and a *lot* of social dancing (evening dances plus after-parties)

I think it's going to be an amazing event.

[Rocky]

Well - to get this slightly back on topic - we've now booked for Blues Baby Blues. I now know a little more detail than is on the website - it's all based around the Liverpool St area, and looks quite intensive, but I don't want to get too specific in case they need to change thing - but suffice t say, there's a lot of workshops, and a *lot* of social dancing (evening dances plus after-parties)

I think it's going to be an amazing event.

Are you serious? The website has no times, no locations - no specifics at all in fact and you know a bit more but don't want to say in case it they need to change things??

Seriously, in this market they don't deserve to sell any tickets at all...

[Andy McGregor]

Seriously, in this market they don't deserve to sell any tickets at all...

I think it's the kind of market that will respond to the mystery of being undefined. Blues dancers are already doing a dance that isn't defined. An equally undefined location seems to fit rather well.

If it was ballroom dancing, where everything is described exactly, they really would like to know where they will be dancing, what the floor is like, the brand of tea, choccies, biccies, etc.

One thing I can tell you about the venue. Parking will be a nightmare!


p.s. And I know that the ladies will all have their "ValFace" practiced and rehearsed

p.p.s. I'm hoping that "ValFace" will make it into the OED

[straycat]

Are you serious? The website has no times, no locations - no specifics at all in fact and you know a bit more but don't want to say in case it they need to change things??

Seriously, in this market they don't deserve to sell any tickets at all...

I know the people concerned, the market they're aiming at, the calibre of events they've put on in the past, the calibre of the teachers, the proposed schedule for the event, and some of the DJs that will be there. Knowing that, I have complete confidence, and I'm very much looking forward to it.

I just don't want to jump the gun with information that they have yet to release publicly.

[straycat]

A little more information is now available

[David Bailey]

Is Blues having a bit of a resurgence at the moment? It seems to be returning to popularity recently?

[Chef]

Is Blues having a bit of a resurgence at the moment? It seems to be returning to popularity recently?

That is a hard one to tell. It doesn't seem to have gone away and come back again but our understanding of it on the forum looks like it has broken into two sub groups.

If you are thinking of the lindy hop based blues as I learnt from people like Nigel Anderson and Nina Daines (and a number of US blues dancers that visited) then I would say that that style exited my MJ world firstly when Francos Jivetime at Camber and Bognor disappeared and then the Beach Boogie week stopped running on the isle of Wight. It was still going in the Lindy Hop world (around London, by bluesrevolution.co.uk). It is not really picking up that much it is just us nostalgic old farts are trying to recapture that "Zone" feeling that we had to blues music that snarled and growled in the dark basement at Camber when Franco was there.

If on the other hand your idea of blues dancing is what you learnt from Rocky and Val or Howard and Nicola then it would seem that there has been a huge growth in opportunities to dance in that style with things like the Utopia freestyles which have expanded geographically a lot over the past few years. In my own area there are a lot of Ceroc freestyles that also have a second "blues" room. Although my local franchisee ran a "red hot and Blue" freestyle on two sucessive months and then seems to have pulled the plug on future events despite the event looking sold out and me having a great night out. So it seems that sometime while these events may be a critical success they may not be a commercial success.

Over tha last 5ish years Ceroc has expanded dramatically into the weekender scene and brought along what they firstly called a swing and blues room and very quickly called a Chill Out Zone (COZ) to avoid confusion and allow a much broader range of slower, more expressive music to be played there.

So I really think that the situation is that the Ceroc style of blues and Chill Out Zones have expanded rapidly over the recent years while the Lindy Hop style of Blues has disappeared from the MJ radar with the decrease of Francos presence and a number of other operators who provided that style.

Is the Lindy Hop style of blues making a comeback or are we just getting better at internet searching?

Too soon to tell.

[straycat]

If you are thinking of the lindy hop based blues as I learnt from people like Nigel Anderson and Nina Daines (and a number of US blues dancers that visited) then I would say that that style exited my MJ world firstly when Francos Jivetime at Camber and Bognor disappeared and then the Beach Boogie week stopped running on the isle of Wight. It was still going in the Lindy Hop world (around London, by bluesrevolution.co.uk). It is not really picking up that much it is just us nostalgic old farts are trying to recapture that "Zone" feeling that we had to blues music that snarled and growled in the dark basement at Camber when Franco was there.

Actually - I would say that US-style blues is growing in a few places - for example there's now weekly classes in Edinburgh, our own monthly classes / blues dances in Newcastle which are building up a nice following, more pure Blues events beginning to emerge (Blues Baby Blues, the recent Edinburgh Bluez Cruise, The Crave over in Galway in December, to name but three)

These probably don't register that much on the MJ radar, as you say, but I can definitely see an increasing interest. With some of the top overseas teachers coming over on a fairly regular basis, bringing over techniques and ideas that the US crowd & others are developing, I see it as an exciting time for the scene.

[Lory]

And this is one of the reasons I think I don't care too much for competitions, or performances, which are really best appreciated when you're one of the partners!

I've come across the perfect example..

To me, they look like a bunch of weirdo's all that's missing is the Halloween costumes!

!

[djtrev]

I've come across the perfect example..

To me, they look like a bunch of weirdo's all that's missing is the Halloween costumes!

!

What a fabulous track.

[straycat]

I've come across the perfect example..

To me, they look like a bunch of weirdo's all that's missing is the Halloween costumes!

Thanks for linking to this - I'd not seen it before. Some great dancing - I really like this clip.

What a fabulous track.

That too
Any idea what it is?