New to blues dance? Experienced dancers trying to level up your dancing?

• Blues Foundations classes: These happen every week at 8:15 p.m., prior to the dance. These are appropriate for all levels, from total beginner on up.
• Beyond Beginner classes: These take the form of occasional three to six week series classes and one-off lessons that dive deeper into specific blues dance styles and topics. Some of these classes require previous experience.

Blues Foundations Classes: Every Thursday

8:15pm every Thursday
Back Room, Glen Echo Park

Beginner-friendly, all-levels lessons every week. No reservation, prior dance experience, or partner are required! Wearing smooth-soled shoes that slide easily will help you dance comfortably and protect our wooden floors.

Instructors and topics rotate, so each class teaches something a little different. Several instructors also offer private lessons.

$10 covers admission to the class plus the dance at 9.

Beyond Beginner Classes

These occasional classes with resident and traveling instructors take you beyond blues foundations into special topics. Some experience may be required.

Improve Your Connection Class Series

November 7, 14, & 21, 2024
8pm
Spanish Ballroom, Glen Echo Park
$36 for three sessions, $20 drop-in (please bring cash if dropping in!)
Register for November series class

Each week Dr. Jesse and a different teaching partner will lead a self-contained workshop on a specific facet of blues connection, discussing that facet as it relates to our own bodies, to the music, and to our partner.

Prerequisite: you should have attended at least 2 months of beginner blues lessons, or be comfortable with another lead/partner dance form (although leading and following in blues is different, and we’ll talk about that!), before attending these workshops.

Drop-ins allowed at $20 per workshop (please, for the love of everything and starting classes on time, bring cash).

11/7 Week 1: Lag: – Dr. Jesse & Tall Jesse
As deep a dive into lag as we can do in an hour. Cast aside anticipation! Take your sweet time responding to the music and your partner’s movement, and enjoy every moment of it.

11/14 Week 2: Dancing yourself in partnership – Dr. Jesse & Rachel Jawin
In Blues, the “lead” and “follow” roles are pretty equal. In this class we’ll work on being a dancer first, with the music as our primary partner, and discuss how that plays out in partnered connection.

11/21 Week 3: Body awareness, foreshadowing polycentrism and polyrhythms — Dr. Jesse & Dr. Rebecca RG
Polycentrism means having multiple centers of movement in your body. Polyrhythms are multiple different rhythms going at the same time. We’ll work towards these ideas by first improving our body awareness.

Note: the Spanish Ballroom is not heated, so dressing in layers is recommended.

Blues Family Tree Part I with Flouer Evelyn

December 5, 2024
7pm

Over many years, Flouer has developed a blues dance curriculum centered on teaching core movements through what she calls the “Family Tree.” The tree consists of six branches of related movements that help dancers understand how to link movements together, making their dancing more precise and creative. In this class, we’ll explore one or two of these branches, learning them first solo and then in partnership.

Blues Family Tree Part II takes place on December 8 (see below). You do not need to take Part I to join for Part II.

Workshop Afternoon with Flouer Evelyn

December 8, 2024
12:30-1:45pm and 2-3:15pm
Spanish Ballroom, Glen Echo Park

We’re excited to host two same-day weekend workshop sessions, 12:30-1:45pm and 2-3:15pm, with Flouer Evelyn (pronounced “flower”).

Blues Family Tree (Part 2)

(You do not need to take part 1 prior to taking this class!)
12:30-1:45pm

Over many years, Flouer has developed a blues dance curriculum centered on teaching core movements through what she calls the “Family Tree.” The tree consists of six branches of related movements that help dancers understand how to link movements together, making their dancing more precise and creative. In this class, we’ll explore one or two of these branches, learning them first solo and then in partnership.

Keep Up as We Speed it Up!

2-3:15pm

Once the party gets going and the music speeds up, we have to learn how to keep up! This is especially true for dancing to excellent live musicians. We’ll talk a lot about how faster doesn’t mean hectic, we can keep our “cool’ aesthetic, as well as loosen our joints to create more natural internal rhythms. We might throw in some Struttin’ or Boogie Woogie blues as well, to cover the different sounds we hear with faster blues music.