Are folks here familiar with the contemporary blues dance movement? It seems to be an outgrowth of the broader swing dancing movement. In any case, there's a group in NYC called Blues Dance New York, and I'm amused by their "Etiquette for Blues" checklist. I can guarantee you that the black folks who invented juke joints--the "shoddy confines," as Zora Neale Hurston called them--would be shaking their heads in amazement--especially the claim that "While there is a lot of contact between partners in blues dancing, it does not usually involve a frontal pelvic connection." What?!?!?!?
portland has a great blues dance scene.philly also has a pretty big blues and lindsey scene,but it is not as live music oriented as portland's.
i became aware of it as more and more swing dancers came to my shows.
blues dances are fun to play,however,they don't mean the same thing by "blues" as what we would call blues.they include traditional jazz and other music.a lot of piano.
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Last Edited by shakeylee on Mar 26, 2015 9:30 PM
That old film piece of Robert Nighthawk,"cheating and lying" has some of the most funky-do dancing by folks hanging out. twerking long before it was hip...and the slide guitar is in your face !!!Also that chick 2:00 min in with the hankie in her right hand is second line,New Orleans dancing...doit...
Last Edited by nowmon on Mar 28, 2015 9:23 AM
Interesting. Hadn't heard of it. Had a look through the page and looked at a couple of YouTubes. Yeah, I'd say you were right in that this is very similar to the resurgence of swing dancing that happened at the end of the 90's. Young, affluent, mostly white, "hip" folks trying to find the next throwback thing to do that makes them stand out from their friends. I'm not throwing stones here, I took a couple of swing dancing lessons back in 1998 or so, and went to swing shows and tried to dance. That was at the height of it, and I was in college. Who knows, this could take off, and all of a sudden blues bands will be in high demand! That would be a good thing. The appropriation of "blues dancing" by young, mostly white, mostly affluent city-dwelling hipsters as a "thing"? Well, that's something else all together.... ----------
nowmon, you have impeccable taste. I'd never seen this particular bit of footage, and I feel, after having seen it, that I should quit playing the blues right now. Why pretend?
Aw man. Now THAT'S a video about blues dancing!! Notice that there was plenty of crotch-on-crotch action too. That's the way it's supposed to be, not all filtered and gentrified. Damn.
BTW, I'm willing to bet that, in some way, this modern "Blues Dancing" phenomenon owes it's resurgence to this particular scene (especially starting at 2 minutes in):
