Boston Blues News: January
Julie Brown
- Genre-Specific Musicality at Tuesy with Jan Marie!
- Struttin at Blues Union with Team Boroff!
- Blues House party on Jan 3rd!
- Blues Workshops with Ruth & Mike coming up in Feb!
- Lots of fun events to travel to in Greenville, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis & more!
Stuff around town
January at Bluesy Tuesy - Blues Styles & Genre-Specific Musicality
with Jan Marie
This month, each class will focus on a different style of blues music. We'll start with Delta blues the first week, move on the Chicago Blues in the second week, then continue the musical journey from there.
January at Blues Union - Struttin
with Joshua Boroff & Devona Cartier
Originally from Memphis, struttin is a fun, relaxed, close-embrace-based dance, with fun footwork for leaders and followers. Check out some examples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld053ErlYDY
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1581801728700722&pnref=story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0O25_Ci21o
This series will work your struttin technique, as well as take you beyond the basics.
*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.
Register now & get the month’s Blues Clinic for free! http://bluesunionboston.com/classes/register-for-classes/
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 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 Julie Brown or Jenn Martinez at Blues Union to get yourself some cards.
Blues house party - Saturday Jan 3
Lauren & Chris's house (see Facebook event)
Blues house party in Waltham!
https://www.facebook.com/events/1524775057806643/
Boston Blues workshop with Ruth & Mike - Feb 14 & 15
Fall in Love with the Blues! Ruth & Mike will teach a two-day workshop in Boston on Valentine's Day weekend. Stay tuned for class descriptions & more info!
https://www.facebook.com/events/541109365992803/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming
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/
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
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 one or more competitions or performances.
Winter Blues
Greenville, SC - Jan 30-Feb 1
Super-fun classes, and a warmer climate to visit during the winter :) Classes include a fundamentals track, and tons of other cool classes on style & inspiration, body care, scene building, dance pedagogy, and more. See them all here: http://greenvillewinterblues.com/schedule/
Rain City Blues
Seattle, WA - Feb 20-22
Ruth & Mike, Dan & Jenny, Julie & Tim, Andrew & Karen, Dexter! Seattle is cool! Classes should be posted in the next week or so. Check it out! http://www.raincityblues.com/
Steel City Blues
Pittsburgh, PA - March 6-8
Boston always sends a large group to this great workshop and party weekend. Plus, cheap flights! Registration is open now: http://steelcitybluesfestival.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.
LindyCON Beta
Minneapolis, MN - Jan 24-26
Do you like lindy hop, blues dance, TED talks, and board games? If so, you might want to check out this smaller exchange in Minnesota!
Other events to travel to:
-Check out http://bluescal.com/
Have ideas for us? Let us know how we’re doing!
Blues Union feedback link (you can also leave general blues ideas there too): http://bluesunionboston.com/home/feedback/