Boston Blues News: August
Julie Brown
Hey Boston blues dancers,
Here's what's up in the Boston blues dance scene this month:
- Blues residency with Megan Taylor Morrison all month!
- Basics + Solo Movement at Bluesy Tuesy with guest instructor Megan Morrison & Zach Brass!
- Rotation + Linear Momentum at Blues Union Intermediate+ with guest instructors Megan Morrison & John Kreiger-Joven!
- Second Sun Rising, monthly fusion dance, on Aug 14 with class & DJing from Marc Carpenter from California!
- Congratulations to a bunch of Boston dancers who made finals at events this month!
- Jan Marie & the Mean Reds play at Sally O-Brien's Aug 7th!
- Travel to dance in Austin, Philly, Durham, Toronto, Dallas, Albany, Minneapolis, and the Outer Banks!
Stuff around town
Blues residency with Megan Taylor Morrison
All month long in August, Megan Taylor Morrison from DC will teach our blues classes and be available for private lessons. As a dancer, Megan is known for her athletic grace. As a teacher, Megan brings creativity, humor, connection, and engagement to the classroom. She began teaching dances of the swing era in Seattle, Washington in 2005. She has since taught, performed, and competed in cities around the United States. She encourages students to keep the spirit of street dances alive by trying new things, making mistakes, and fostering community. Megan loves to share these dances because she believes in the power of movement to bring joy, play, and freedom to people's lives. When she is not teaching dance, she runs her full-time life coaching practice (www.megantaylormorrison.com) , as well as leads dance trips for her company Dance Adventures (www.danceadventures.org).
She can be contacted about private lessons at megantm...@gmail.com.
Megan will be teaching with John Krieger-Joven on Thursdays. He is also available for private lessons and can be contacted here: shau...@gmail.com
August at Bluesy Tuesy - Basics + Solo Movement
with guest instructor Megan Morrison and Zach Brass
In this series, we teach blues partner and solo dance basics. You will learn to transition between the two, as well as how to put solo flourishes into your partnered movement. Through this series, you'll have everything you need for a great night of dancing, including ways to add in some personal flair!
August at Blues Union - Rotation + Linear Momentum
with guest instructors Megan Morrison and John Krieger-Joven
In this class series, we will play with momentum and rotation to create different angles and shapes that make our dance more dynamic and visually appealing.
Second Sun Rising - Boston’s fusion monthly
Sunday, August 14, Extreme Dancesport, Cambridge, MA
From 7 to 8 p.m., Mark Carpenter from California will be teaching an all-levels lesson on electronica essentials, giving partner dancers tools to dance across electronica genres—touching on heavy dubstep, glitch, and chillstep. Mark will also DJ for social dancing from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. https://www.facebook.com/events/1045729648829143/
Earn free dances while spreading the love of blues!
When you dance at a blues bar, music event, or other blues bomb (or if you teach at a local college), bring some blues ambassador business cards to hand out! If people come to dances for their first time with your card, you get in that night for free! Talk to Andrew at Bluesy Tuesy or Julie Brown or Jenn Martinez at Blues Union to get yourself some cards.
Local Spotlight!
Congratulations to local dancers Claire Davis, Sarah Elise, Anna Read, Zach Brass, Joey Science, Annie Luo, Jenn Martinez, and Forrest Rogers-Marcovitz, who all made finals and/or placed in competitions this month at Nocturne Blues or Sweet Molasses Blues! Competing takes guts and doing well in them takes a combination of hard work & luck, so we want to recognize you. Way to go!
Live music where you can go dance!
Sunday, August 7: Jan Marie & the Mean Reds at Sally O’Brien’s
Sally O’Brien’s - 4:30/5pm lesson, 5pm dancing
Family-friendly show, with a small-but-existing dance floor, plus a crash-course lesson for your friends who want to learn to dance!
Amy Kucharik & Tiger Moan - available for gigs & house parties
If you loved hearing Amy Kucharik & Tiger Moan play on Friday night at Sweet Molasses, and you want to hear more, they’re available for house parties and other gigs! They can be contacted at 4string...@gmail.com or https://www.facebook.com/tigermoanband/
Stay up-to-date on where people are blues dancing to live music:
Join the Boston Blues Bombers group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/28357446101/
Weekly/ongoing:
-Mondays at Toad to the White Owls
-Friday at Atwood's to Tim Gearan
-Sunday blues jam at Johnny D’s has moved to: upstairs at the Causeway Restaurant & Bar at 65 Causeway St., Boston 6-9pm
-Sunday blues jam at Players sports bar in Rockland MA, 4-8pm
-Sunday blues jam at Pete’s Grill in Quincy 9pm-12am
*Dancers don’t always go to all of these every week; check Facebook (Boston Blues Bombers group) and ask around to see where folks will be.
Blues+Swing Dancing in Western MA!
Hogan Student Center, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA
Practice every Sunday - regular meetings of the blues & swing dancing group that meets every Sunday at 8pm. There will be a sign pointing out the exact room.
Traveling for Dance
Want a learning- and/or competition-focused event?
These events usually have multiple tracks or levels of classes during the day. At night, there’ll be tons of dancing and maybe one or more competitions or performances.
Lonestar Strut - a Struttin’-focused weekend
Austin, TX - Sept 30-Oct 2
This is a weekend focused on struttin’!!! Two tracks of classes on struttin’ each day, including audition-only classes for more experienced strutters. Live music from local Texas bands, playing a variety of blues styles including struttin’ music. Registration for classes is limited to 100 people, so register soooon!
http://www.austinbluesdance.com/lonestar-strut.html
Blues Muse
Philadelphia, PA - Oct 21-23
What makes a blues dance magical? A great song, an inspiring follow, and a receptive lead. Blues Muse is a workshop weekend dedicated to bringing out the muse in every follow, and teaching leads to appreciate and collaborate with their partner. This weekend includes two full days of instruction, a blues Jack & Jill competition, a Jill competition, special performances, and three nights of social dancing to nationally hailed blues DJs, complete with late-night dances.
http://www.lindyandblues.com/bluesmuse/
The Blues Experiment
Outer Banks, NC - weeks of April 16, April 23, and April 30th, 2017
Spend a week living, dancing, and playing in a luxurious oceanfront estate, learning and geeking out about blues dance with faculty and peers! The Blues Experiment is a week-long blues dance camp, with a faculty of top-tier blues professions, custom-created learning sessions, ample free time, and social dancing every night. It is a unique opportunity to spend a week being challenged and inspired by peers from around the world. It is the premiere workshop for dance geeks, by dance geeks (once described as a cross between MIT and Wonka’s factory, but for dance). And it may or may not be home to some fierce nighttime laser tag battles and an inflatable pink unicorn.
Applications open in September!
http://thebluesexperiment.com/
Looking for more chill, hangin’ out exchanges?
These events don’t have classes during the day; instead they have either dances or non-dancing events around the city that they’re hosted in. The evenings have tons of dancing again, and may or may not include competitions.
Tobacco Road Blues Exchange
Durham, NC - Aug 5-7
Durham has got a friendly and growing Blues & Fusion scene; this is another great exchange for hanging out in a park and dancing.
https://www.facebook.com/events/108459109556612/
DJX + Dance Alchemy Fusion Weekend
Toronto, August 5-7
Imagine all the awesomeness and fineness of a DJX event plus the kickass flavour of Toronto’s fusion dance scene. For those of us that have fallen in love with more than one style of dance (and music), this is our event!
https://www.picatic.com/DJX-DanceAlchemy
https://www.facebook.com/events/225919851090025/?active_tab=highlights
Albany Lindy & Blues & Swimming
Albany, NY, August 19-21
Come to Albany, NY for a weekend of lindy, blues, and swimming!
http://www.albanylindyandblues.com/
https://www.facebook.com/events/1683589758593408/
North Star Blues
Minneapolis, MN, Sept 16-18
Come hang out in Minneapolis, enjoy sweet bands and dancing at night, and chill dancing and hanging out during the day. Also featuring an awesome Saturday night house party!
http://www.northstarblues.com/
The DJ House Party
Dallas, TX - Oct 14-16
Want a party feel with an exchange-sized crowd? The DJ House Party is your event! Get your party on while dancing to blues, R&B, hip-hip, soul, pop, and more from DJs like Stephen Watkins, Dan Repsch, Julie Brown, Corey Wright, and Jerry Warwick. Brewery tour and King Spa trips during the day; board games, movies, and karaoke in the early evening; and plenty of dancing all night long.
https://www.facebook.com/events/871960189589065/
Other events to travel to:
-Check out http://bluescal.com/
The Boston Blues Scene is dedicated to creating a fun, welcoming, & safe environment for everyone:
If you have concerns or want to tell us something, our anonymous feedback form is here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6JBRRK6