Monday, 14 February 2011

BLUES DANCE WORKSHOP

BLUES DANCE WORKSHOP
Vintage Dancing is very proud to present Justin Riley.
Justin is a fantastic Blues-Fusion dancer coming all the way from the west coast of the USA.
Justin will be here from the Thursday, 3rd of March till Tuesday, the 8th of March.
PLEASE READ IMPORTANT INFORMATION BELOW
...
Schedule:
Thursday, 3rd of March: Beginners Blues workshop, Part 1 of 2
Time: 7:30pm-9:00pm (9:00pm-10:00pm open practice)
(£25.00 per person, £45.00 per couple for full course parts 1 and 2)

Friday, 4th of March: Beginners Blues workshop, Part 2 of 2
This 2 part course will cover the fundamentals of blues dancing posture, frame, connection, and musicality. We will guide you through exercises to build your physical awareness in moving yourself and physical awareness in how to move your partner. Our main goal in this course is to lay down a strong foundation in the language of partner dancing. We will cover the basics in conversational movement and musicality and improvisation within a blues form. Building onto that we will explore the evolution of early blues music through dancing. We'll look at a few early American blues songs and discuss how we adapt our dancing to their styles. We will also focus on the art of anticipation. Most dancing tends to be about movement and action, and thus naturally speeds up. By moving extremely slowly, we will change the pace of our dancing, learn to be quiet in our bodies, and savor the anticipation of movement. A tool for experiencing partner connection and creating powerful movement dynamics.

Time: 7:30pm-9:00pm (9:00pm-10:00pm open practice)

Saturday, 5th of March: Mouthful O' Jam
Time: 7:30pm-8:15pm (Beginners Blues Dance Lesson with Justin and Gaia starts at 7:30pm)
8:15pm-2:00am music and dancing
Live Band!!!! The DIXIE TICKLERS
(£7 entry)

Sunday, 6th of March: Blues Dancing workshop (INT/ADV),
This is a dance class designed to introduce you to the fundamentals of partner dancing. For intermediate and advanced dancers, we'll be covering dance theory that you may not hear in the average blues dance class. Topics such as conversationality, and lead/follow trading will be built into the curriculum to help you develop a well-rounded approach to your dance. Whether or not you are a pro who leads or follows with the best of them, or still working out your partner connection, you'll get a chance to work on techniques that will enable you to enjoy dancing with dancers of all levels. this class will give a fresh perspective to your dancing.

Time: 3:00pm-6:00pm (6:00pm-11:00pm open practice for all levels, £3 entry) (£20 per person, £35 per couple for full Sunday workshop)

Monday, 7th of March: Blues Dances Workshop (INT/ADV)
In this class we will focus on the "lead neutral" frame. What is improvising? how is that different from straight lead/follow? Here we define an "Offer," look at giving and receiving offers, dropping offers, and how this affects the dance. From there we look at developing kinesthetic conversation by exchanging offers and responses. We will also work on stretching your vertical palette, explore forms of story-telling, paying attention to momentum and fluidity, and experimenting with creative contact points to expand the context of how you connect and fuse with your partner.

Time: 7:30pm-9:00pm (9:00pm-10:00pm open practice)
(£10 per person)


Tuesday, 8th of March: Private lessons available.

Private lessons are available with Justin, or Justin and Gaia during this week. Prices are on a sliding scale basis depending on factors such as time, location and amount of people in lesson etc. These can be agreed prior to the lesson by contacting Gaia at: vintagedancing@googlemail.com

IMPORTANT!: There are very limited spaces for these classes, a non-refundable deposit of 50% of course price per person is required to hold position in course via cash, cheque or PayPal. To sign-up for any of these courses or for further details please send an e-mail stating your interest with your full name to Gaia at the contact details below (Mouthful O' Jam event is open to anyone, there is no requirement to pre-book for this event).

A few words from Justin on his teaching style: Through the lens of natural movement, my classes are jam packed with tons of technique, with an eye on posture, alignment and natural body movement. You'll come away not only with new moves but an understanding of why we do things the way we do.

To see Justin dancing please view: Justin and Ruby

Also, check out this amazing Blues event in Portland OR, USA that Justin has organized:
Urban Blues Recess

Gaia:
T: 07882753215
E: vintagedancing@googlemail.com
Website: www.mouthfulojam.com
Blog: http://vintagedancing.blogspot.com/