Thursday Introductory Classes
We host a drop-in beginner-level class before every weekly dance at 8:15 p.m. in the Back Room at Glen Echo Park on Thursday nights. $8 covers admission both to the class and the dance after.
No dance experience or partner is required! Wearing smooth-soled shoes that slide easily will help you dance comfortably and protect our wooden floors.
Instructors and topics rotate, so each introductory class teaches you something a little different. Several of our instructors also offer private lessons for those who want to dig in deeper.
Series Lessons
We occasionally host special workshops and progressive class series for dancers with some experience in blues dance.
May Lesson Series: Dancing with a Stranger: Skills for Making Every Dance Special
Dates: May 9, 16, 23, and 30, 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Location: Main Ballroom
Come prepare for the upcoming blues weekend! In this series, we won’t focus on just one aspect of blues dance like partnering, connection, or musicality. Instead, we’ll discuss how to incorporate all these concepts (and more) to build a complete dance with a stranger, from the start of the music to the final dip.
Participants should have at least 2 months (including at least 4 classes) of blues dance experience.
Instructors: Rebecca R.G. and Jesse Metcalf-Burton
Rebecca R.G. enjoys being silly and musical with her dance partners. Her primary teaching experience is as a math professor, so she thinks a lot about how to structure a lesson plan to help students feel safe to make mistakes, learn from each other, and meet their goals. Rebecca got serious about dance as an undergraduate and ended up minoring in it, focusing on modern dance. Her study of solo dancing helps her analyze movement and explain what’s going on in detail. While in undergrad, Rebecca tried contra and lindy and got hooked on partner dancing. Over the years she gradually moved over to blues, fusion, and West Coast Swing. Rebecca has taught lindy, blues, and fusion in Michigan, upstate New York, and the DC area.
Dr. Jesse (she/her) has been blues dancing for a decade or two while also gaining experience with many other styles of dance and forms of movement. Her teaching focuses on making dances feel good, and helping dancers gain awareness of their movement so they can do things on purpose. Dr. Jesse has taught blues dance classes in Maryland, Michigan, and California.
Registration: https://glenechopark.org/classes (search for Semester: Spring 2024 and Subject: Dance-blues)
Full series cost: $48 + Glen Echo registration fee
Drop-in cost: $20 – please show up at least 10 minutes early if dropping in, so we can take care of your paymetn before the class start time.
COVID policy: Same as main dance
Past Classes
March Lesson Series: Solo Blues
Dates: March 7, 14, 21, and 28, 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Location: Main Ballroom (cold in the winter – please dress warmly!)
Class Name: Solo Blues
This class will be an in-depth study of groundedness and groove. We’ll work on body awareness and isolations, expressing different rhythms with different body parts, improvisation (aka stealing ideas from other people!), and how to look like you’re doing blues instead of something else while doing all of the above. We’ll also dance solo with other people! While this class has no hard prerequisites, you will have a much better experience if you already have some familiarity with blues dance and blues music.
Instructors: Rebecca R.G. and Jesse Metcalf-Burton
Rebecca R.G. enjoys being silly and musical with her dance partners. Her primary teaching experience is as a math professor, so she thinks a lot about how to structure a lesson plan to help students feel safe to make mistakes, learn from each other, and meet their goals. Rebecca got serious about dance as an undergraduate and ended up minoring in it, focusing on modern dance. Her study of solo dancing helps her analyze movement and explain what’s going on in detail. While in undergrad, Rebecca tried contra and lindy and got hooked on partner dancing. Over the years she gradually moved over to blues, fusion, and West Coast Swing. Rebecca has taught lindy, blues, and fusion in Michigan, upstate New York, and the DC area.
Dr. Jesse (she/her) has been blues dancing for a decade or two while also gaining experience with many other styles of dance and forms of movement. Her teaching focuses on making dances feel good, and helping dancers gain awareness of their movement so they can do things on purpose. Dr. Jesse has taught blues dance classes in Maryland, Michigan, and California.
Registration: https://reg126.imperisoft.com/…/Search/Registration.aspx (search for Semester: Spring 2024 and Subject: Dance-blues)
Full series cost: $48 + Glen Echo registration fee
Drop-in cost: $20 – NOTE: We STRONGLY recommend you come to the first week if you plan to take any subsequent classes.
Masks required: Yes
February Lesson Series: Ballroomin’
Dates: February 1, 8, 15, and 22, 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Location: Main Ballroom (cold in the winter – please dress warmly!)
Class Name: Ballroomin’
Ballroomin’ is a subcategory of blues dance often characterized by traveling, momentum, flowy moves, and fancy turns. This series will cover the fundamental dance positions of close embrace and promenade, then go into the specifics of several idiom dances.
Prerequisites: Students should be familiar with the concept of “pulse” within the blues aesthetic, and be comfortable maintaining pulse for an entire song.
Instructors: Jesse Metcalf-Burton and Jesse Barber
Dr. Jesse (she/her) has been blues dancing for a decade or two while also gaining experience with many other styles of dance and forms of movement. Her teaching focuses on making dances feel good, and helping dancers gain awareness of their movement so they can do things on purpose. Dr. Jesse has taught blues dance classes in Maryland, Michigan, and California.
Jesse Barber first started dancing blues in 2017, and truly fell in love with the dance after attending Steel City Blues the following year. After moving to Buffalo for grad school, Jesse discovered that there was no blues scene to be found. Having nowhere to get his blues fix, he started a scene himself and started sharing his love. Mid Panini, he landed in the DC area and has been itching to bring his passion and knowledge of blues dancing to others again. Jesse enjoys the comfort, style, and freedom inherent to the blues, but holds a special place in his heart for a good comfy close embrace. If you want to find Jesse on the dance floor, it’s easy: just look up!
Registration: https://reg126.imperisoft.com/…/Search/Registration.aspx (search for Semester: Winter 2023-2024 and Subject: Dance-blues)
Full series cost: $48 + Glen Echo registration fee
Drop-in cost (first class only!): $20
December 2023 Class Series: Lead/Follow Technique
Dates: December 7, 14, 21, and 28, 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Location: Main Ballroom
Class Name: Lead/Follow Technique in Blues
In this series, we will explore what “leading” and “following” mean in blues. We’ll do technical drills to get at the subtleties of the physical partner connection, investigate strategies for playing with the conversational aspects of the dance, and encourage participants to discuss and analyze their own dancing. Students should have attended at least 4 beginner blues dance lessons or have experience in other partnered social dances that involve leading and following.
Instructors: Jesse Metcalf-Burton and Rebecca RG
Dr. Jesse (she/her) has been blues dancing for a decade or two while also gaining experience with many other styles of dance and forms of movement. Her teaching focuses on making dances feel good, and helping dancers gain awareness of their movement so they can do things on purpose. Dr. Jesse has taught blues dance classes in Maryland, Michigan, and California.
Rebecca R.G. enjoys being silly and musical with her dance partners. Her primary teaching experience is as a math professor, so she thinks a lot about how to structure a lesson plan to help students feel safe to make mistakes, learn from each other, and meet their goals. Rebecca got serious about dance as an undergraduate and ended up minoring in it, focusing on modern dance. Her study of solo dancing helps her analyze movement and explain what’s going on in detail. While in undergrad, Rebecca tried contra and lindy and got hooked on partner dancing. Over the years she gradually moved over to blues, fusion, and West Coast Swing. Rebecca has taught lindy, blues, and fusion in Michigan, upstate New York, and the DC area.
Full Series Cost: $48 + Glen Echo registration fee – registration link: https://reg126.imperisoft.com/…/Search/Registration.aspx (search for Semester: Winter 2023-2024 and Subject: Dance-blues)
Drop-In Cost (first class only!): $20
More Information: Facebook event page
Dips and Drags in Ballroomin’ with Krystal and Adam Wilkerson
Capital Blues is proud to host Krystal and Adam Wilkerson for a special blues dance lesson.
Date: Thursday, November 30, 2023, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Location: Glen Echo Main Ballroom
Registration: $20 at the door (no online registration) – includes admission to the dance that evening
Topic: Dips and Drags in Ballroomin’
Want to add some pizazz to your Ballroomin’? Come learn dips and drags with us! We’ll work together to explore safe weight-sharing techniques, and use those to create and execute fun flash in our ballroomin blues. From there, we’ll dive into the classic drag step danced to all sorts of jazz music in a blues context!
Note – previous close embrace experience required.
November 2023 Class Series: Beyond Beginner Blues Dance
Title: Beyond Beginner Blues Dance
Dates: Thursdays, November 2nd, 9th, and 16th, 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Location: Glen Echo Park Main Ballroom
Class Description: The goal of this class is to deepen dancers’ understanding of blues music and enhance their ability to connect to that music and to their partners. We will listen to many different types of blues music and talk about ways that dancers can identify patterns within the music, anticipate changes and opportunities to match the music, and interact with their partner in a meaningful way.
Instructors: Audrey Voorhees and Colin Hay
Audrey Voorhees is a Iowa-born swing, blues, salsa, and hip hop dancer who has helped establish scenes in Bangkok and Macedonian. A mix of local and international experiences shape her aesthetic and teaching style. Her intent is to foster courage and playfulness on the dance floor and cultivate vibrant communities wherever she is dancing.
Colin Hay started dancing swing and blues in college and shortly after started teaching beginner drop-in lessons for both styles. He has been in the Washington, D.C. dance scene for the past 10 years and helps to organize, teach, and DJ at local dances as well as regional dance events.
Cost: $15 registration fee + $36 (members) or $33 (non-members) – registration link: Glen Echo Park Class Registration
More Information: Facebook event page
Black Air Force Energy in Blues with Kelsy and Damon Stone (2023-11-02)
Capital Blues is proud to host Kelsy and Damon for a special blues dance lesson.
Date: Thursday, November 2, 2023, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Location: Glen Echo Main Ballroom
Registration: $20 at the door (no online registration) – includes admission to the dance that evening
Topic: Black Air Force Energy in Blues
Embracing the ipsative values of a culture not your own can be difficult but the benefits, especially when creating art, can be extraordinary. In this class we’ll focus on how to let go of non-Black interpretations of the values of technique, restraint, quietness, propriety, prettiness, and not taking up space and replace those with Black value interpretations of self-expression, coolness, joy, pride, intensity, and communal celebration.
September 2023 Class Series: Blues Aesthetic
Title: Beyond Beginner Blues: Blues aesthetic
Teachers: Rebecca R.G. and Jesse Barber (“Tall Jesse”)
Dates: Thursday Sept 7, 14, 21, 28 from 8-9pm
Location: Glen Echo Arcade Building Rooms 202 & 203
More Information: Facebook event page
Musicality workshop with special guest instructor Kenneth Shipp
June 15
7 p.m.
Spanish Ballroom at Glen Echo Park
$15 at the door.
This class will focus on listening to blues music and bringing what we hear to our dance movements. We’ll look at how to interact with and play off of classic blues rhythms and grooves. This will be a class you won’t want to miss!
Note that the intermediate lag class starts at 8 that same night, so it’s possible to take both classes.
Beyond Beginner Blues Dance: Lag
June 8, 15, 22, & 29 (Thursdays)
8 p.m.
Spanish Ballroom at Glen Echo Park
Instructors: Tall Jesse and Mae
Advance registration is recommended. $48 for four lessons. This covers admission to the dance afterward at 9!
Please note: the June 8 intermediate class has been canceled. Stay tuned for makeup details.
Lag is one of the core pillars of the blues aesthetic, which involves intentionally delaying movements from one’s one body, one’s partner, and the music. It is often described as dancing with the echoes of the music, or trailing in the empty spaces. Students will practice ways of engaging with this echo in order to create asymmetrical patterns, add weight and groundedness to their dancing, and communicate more truly with the spirit of blues.
This series will focus on connection, individual musicality, and relaxing into a comfortable relationship with blues. Dancers should be comfortable with the fundamentals of connection (tension, compression, weight transfer, relaxation), pulse (very important), and have spent a meaningful amount of time listening and dancing to blues music prior to the start of this class. Instructors will be assuming base level knowledge of traveling within a partnership, simple blues rhythms (step touch, triple step, straight time steps), and connection. This course will utilize all basic connection positions (open, closed, close embrace), as well as a variety of jazz idioms.
Jukin’ and Rhythms Workshop with instructor Dan Repsch
April 30, 2023
1 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.
Alma Dance Studio
12221 Parklawn Dr. #160
Rockville, MD 20852
Precise class descriptions coming soon. In the meantime, here’s the overview:
1 p.m. Class I (75 min)
2:15 p.m. Break (15 min)
2:30 p.m. Class II (75 min)
3:45 p.m. Practice time with DJ (30 min)
4:15 p.m. Workshop ends (time to hang out with new and old friends!)
Full workshop registration price: $50
Advance online registration: https://capitalblues.org/exchange/jukin-and-rhythms-workshop-with-dan-repsch/
Pending space, registration for the full workshop and individual classes will also be available at the door.
Masks and proof of vaccination (including booster) or negative test required as per Capital Blues policies.
In consideration of those with fragrance sensitivities, please refrain from wearing or using scented products at this event.
About Dan: Dan is immersed in the music and the movement. As a teacher, his enthusiastic approach brings a focus on innovation, connection, and attention to your partner. As a veteran DJ, he’s played for events across 4 continents, DJing everything from international events to local dances on a weekly basis. He’s also organized both locally and for international events as their Head DJ, including BluesSHOUT! and The Balboa/Blues Experiment. In the end, Dan is most excited to work hard at improving the dance and to see his students break through their boundaries.
Beyond Beginner Blues Dance Series: Jukin’ Idioms March Class Series
March 9
March 16
March 23
March 30
About
About jukin’ idiom dances:
“Blues idioms” refer to specific styles of dancing that lie in the family of dances we call blues. These idioms are generally distinct from one another, and were created in response to regional styles of blues music.
Jukin’ blues is a grouping of idioms that were originally done in juke joints, local bars, and restaurants. Dancers in juke joints had only the spaces between tables, with maybe a small space in front of the band, and thus had to get creative with how they would express themselves. Jukin’ is often known for its hip variations, but includes many unique rhythms and footwork variations as well.
About the class:
In this 4-week jukin’ fundamentals series, Tall Jesse and Mae will introduce students to 5 different jukin’ idioms, a small taste of the breadth of blues dancing. All of these idioms will help to expand both partnered and solo dance vocabularies.
By the end of the class, students should have the ability to recognize when some jukin’ idioms would be fitting to play with and have the familiarity to pull them out comfortably on the social floor. Other important aspects of this course will practice students’ connection, pulse, groundedness, musicality, and much more.
Logistics
Dates and times:
March 9, 16, 13, and 30 at 8pm in the Spanish Ballroom at Glen Echo Park
Prerequisites:
For this series, students should have a basic familiarity with blues dancing — most importantly an understanding of what pulse is, alongside the ability to find and maintain pulse comfortably in various styles of blues music.
Safety:
Students must be vaccinated and wear masks as per the Capital Blues COVID policy. Classes will be held in the Spanish Ballroom.
Registration:
Payment for series classes (either the full series or individual classes) includes admission to the weekly dance at 9 in the Back Room.
The full series costs $63 ($48 plus Glen Echo Park’s non-refundable fee of $15 per student for each quarter term). Register here!
Drop-ins are welcome at $20/class. Glen Echo’s policy is that a person is only allowed to drop in for two classes per series, or else they must register for the full series.
Recent workshops:
Special Workshop with instructor Dan Repsch
Sunday, November 20, 2022
1-4 pm
Alma Dance Studio
12221 Parklawn Dr. #160
Rockville, MD 20852
$50 includes two 75-minute classes
Class 1: Flowing Jazzy Momentum
Movement ideas that combine travel and rotation to propel a partnership across the floor. It’s a whole class of satisfying woooooshy feels!
Class 2: Texturing Isolations
This is an isolations deep dive! We’ll create variety and richness in our movement by modifying specific elements in our isolations.
Policies
To protect the dance floor: no street shoes or dance shoes with pointed heels are allowed.
Masks are required at the event. We will have spares on hand in case you forget yours.
We will be requiring full covid vaccination (including at least one booster) OR a negative covid test taken within 8 hours of the event. You’ll need to show proof of vaccination or proof of a negative test result. See our full covid and safe spaces policies.
Blues Connection Class Series
Instructors: Jesse MB and Rebecca RG
October 6 – October 27, 2022
8:00 PM – 9:00PM EDT on Thursdays
Location:
On 10-06-2022, the location will be:
Arcade Building Glen Echo, MD 20812 United States Room 202 & 203
After 10-06-2022, the location will be in the Spanish Ballroom
Cost: $48.00. Tuition includes free admission to blues dance immediately following the class from 9-11:30pm.
Gain a better understanding of fundamental dance skills in the context of blues dance. Beyond just learning moves, we will explore why certain moves work and how to vary the lead and follow to create intentional variations. This class is appropriate for both newer and more experienced dancers. No partner required. Drop-ins welcome.