Sept: Boston Blues News

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Julie Brown

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Aug 31, 2014, 9:14:02 AM8/31/14

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Hey Dancers,

So much exciting stuff this month!

Ruth & Mike teach all the classes! Drag Blues at Union, All of the Connections at Tuesy, and Blues Union Beginner with Sarah Elise & them.
And a Ruth & Mike workshop Sept 20 & 21!
Amy K Tour Kickoff show!
Hart & Soul in Hartford, CT!
More fun stuff! read on below:

Stuff around town

September at Bluesy Tuesy - All of the Connections!

with Ruth Evelyn & Mike Grosser

Week 1: Dance Hugs

(Close Embrace)

Melt into beautiful close embrace with your partner. Explore new movements to blues, jazz, and some music styles that you would hear at a fusion event. Once you experience magical close embrace, you may never want to do anything else.

Week 2: Dancing Together Apart

(Breakaway)

We believe that a great dance starts with each person dancing, as well as leading and following. We’ll explore some solo movement and ways to make your own dancing feel stronger, freer and more creative. From there, we’ll play with ways to interact with your partner without touching. Explore riffing, mirroring, and call and response as dynamics to help you find playful, interesting, fabulous interactions with your partner or partners.

Week 3: The (Open) World of Closed Position

(Closed Position)

We’ll make your closed position connection feel secure and relaxed, then explore dynamic movement possibilities. What’s the difference between leading and following mirrored movement and parallel movement? How can you feel your partner’s rotation, in addition to seeing it? What are textures that each partner can add that will bring variety and musicality to the dance? We’ll delve into these questions and more.

Week 4: Open Possibilities

(Open Position)

Discover the joys and possibilities of open connection. We’ll find clear communication between leads and follows, explore momentum and stretch, and style it up with some great movement ideas.

September at Blues Union - Drag Blues

with Ruth Evelyn & Mike Grosser

Learning Drag Blues has never been this much fun! Dynamically mold your body with your partners’ as you learn stylized Drag Blues walks, lunges and turns. This dance has style and a “wow” factor. We'll also give you pivots, slides, skips, dips, and more to spice up your drag blues.

*If you’ve taken 6 months or more of blues classes at Blues Union or Bluesy Tuesy, you can take the intermediate classes at Blues Union. Alternately, you can do a blues interview with Jenn or Julie at the Blues Clinic.

Ruth & Mike Workshops in Boston!
Boston, MA - Sept 20 & 21

Ruth and Mike are excited to now call Boston home. We're celebrating a rare weekend of actually being in town with a blues workshop! We hope that you'll join us.

***The first 10 people to register get a free five-min. private lesson with Mike or Ruth at some point during the month of September***

All the info: https://www.facebook.com/events/347491122084016/ or on EventBrite(http://ruthandmikeseptember2014.eventbrite.com)

Summary below!

When?

Saturday afternoon, September 20th, time TBA

Sunday afternoon, September 21st, 1 - 5 pm

What?
SAT: Ruth and Mike

Class 1 - We Do It Both Ways (Switch Dancing)

Class 2 - Look Better, Feel Better (Body Mechanics)

Class 3 - Impress Them (Flash Moves and Tricks)

SUN: Mike (NOTE: this will be limited to 10 students)
Solo blues intensive for everyone
If you are new to solo blues dancing, Mike will help you develop confidence and have fun dancing blues without touching a partner. If you are experienced, this intensive will challenge you to take your solo blues to new levels. Topics will include but not be limited to hip and torso movement, body integration, tools for improvisation and musicality, and some of Mike's favorite moves.

How much?

We do sliding scale pricing because we want to make dance classes within reach for everyone. If you still can't afford the workshop, please let us know and we'll work something out. Specific prices here: https://www.facebook.com/events/347491122084016/

Help spread the love of blues, while earning free dances!

When you dance at a blues bar, music event, or other blues bomb (or if you teach at a local college), bring some blues business cards to hand out! If people come to dances with your card, you get in that night for free! Talk to Julie Brown or Jenn Martinez at Blues Union to get yourself some cards.

Live music where you can go dance!

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/28357446101/10152822549526102/?ref=notif&notif_t=group_activity

Saturday, Sept. 13: Amy Kucharik & Friends (With Benefits) Tour Kick-off Party @ Atwoods 10pm, $8 - 877 Cambridge St, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02141

Songwriter Rod Picott plays at 10 and Amy’s band closes out the night. Last chance to catch us in Boston for a month; help send us off in style!

https://www.facebook.com/events/575655589210766/

Want to join us on the road? We’ll be playing with a rhythm section for dancers in St. Louis, Chicago, & Albany. More: https://www.facebook.com/events/437677659707971/

September 13, Something Shameless at The Middle East Corner!

Come hear live brass band/honk music late-night in Cambridge. Dancers welcome and encouraged to attend. 10:30pm doors, $5 cover.

Weekly/ongoing:

-Mondays at Toad to the White Owls

-Americana Mondays at PA's Lounge

-Friday at Atwood's to Tim Gearan

-Sundays late afternoons at Johnny D's blues jam

-Sunday evenings after 9, there’s a jam at the Cantab Lounge in Central Square.

-Sunday blues jam at Players sports bar in Rockland MA, 4- 8pm

-Sunday blues jam at Pete’s Grill in Quincy 9-12 on Sunday

*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.

Traveling for Dance

Hart & Soul!

Sept 5-7 - Hartford, CT

Come dance to suuuuuuuper awesome soul music, and take classes on dancing to soul with Damon Stone, Mikey Pedroza, Shawn Hershey, Julie Brown, and more! If you do nothing else, you should definitely come to the Saturday night dance, because the live soul band (West End Blend) is beyond awesome!

The Last Basement Blues

Sept 6, New York City, NY

Come to the Aug edition of NYC’s monthly blues workshops & dance! Workshops during the day with Jenny Sowden, blues dancing until late. With our very own Sarah Elise making a guest DJ appearance.

https://www.facebook.com/events/255043861367010/

If you want to make a weekend of it, here’s what else is going on that weekend in NYC:

Friday - Friday Night Blues (Blues Dance)

Saturday Afternoon - Basement Blues Workshop

Saturday - Basement Blues (Blues Dance)

Sunday Melting Pot! (Fusion Dance)

Bambloozled

Washington, DC - October 3-5

Bambloozled is Washington’s yearly blues workshop weekend. They’re known for having in-depth classes in an intensive format. They also have a beautiful venue at a historic ballroom in a National Park! And the live music is always great :)

http://capitalblues.org/bambloozled/

Blues Muse

Philadephia, PA - October 17-19

As a follow-focused event, Blues Muse is one-of-a-kind! This event focuses on equal partnership, follower voice, lead receptivity, and solo movement. Great classes, a Jack & Jill, and the unique “Jill” competition:

https://www.facebook.com/events/792545627430484/

The Blues Experiment

April 26-May 3 & May 3-10 - The beach, NC

Spend a week in a beautiful beach house, geeking out, working hard, and learning from and with your peers & top level instructors. Sound like paradise? It is! Consider applying to this year's Blues Experiment:

Applications open Sept 1st! http://thebluesexperiment.com

Looking for more chill, just hangin’ out exchanges?

North Star Blues

Minneapolis, MN - September 19-21

https://www.facebook.com/events/1474454712767356/

Gypsy House Party

Dallas, TX - Oct 24-26

http://www.gypsyhouseparty.com/

DJX Fusion Weekend

Philadelphia, PA - Nov 14-16

http://djexperiment.org/fusion-weekend

Other events to travel to: