7th Avenue Blues

It's a Blues Party

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Blues
• Dance
• Dancing
• lindy
• tango
• portland

[Gonzoneca]

From what I can tell, and I've been dancing lindy for 12 years and tango for 4, people dance TO blues. That's different from "blues dancing," which I don't think really exists. If it does it's got a vocabulary of about three moves. I see it as a mix of sloppy tango, a few basic turns borrowed from swing and some jazz/modern hip isolations all done to blues music. Nothing wrong with this at all, but let's not pretend it has some distinguished history like the music itself does.

[PortlandBluesDancers]

@Gonzoneca It's a little unclear what Gonzeca is expressing disapproval of... if this is about the name "Blues Dancing" I certainly agree that it is a bit misleading. But what can you do? It's a cultural movement that has evolved and taken on a life of it's own in many cities and countries around the world. It's not as if there's a centralized "blues dancing senate" that can be petitioned to vote in a more precisely descriptive name.

It is what it is, I suppose. It's also really fun!

[kevin007515]

Hi PBDancers, is the dance itself slow, or is the video in slow motion?

[PortlandBluesDancers]

@kevin007515 Both!

[messyalex]

what's the name of the band whose song is being played in the background?

[PortlandBluesDancers]

All Comin' Down by Colin Lake

[dancemansal]

@brooklynsweb Perfect! Since you know so much more about NM, you might as well ask her, LOL You sure do make your Blues scene sound like some sort of mafia."resolved promptly!" ROTFLMAO THanks for the laugh my special friend. :^)

[flurryofwings]

@RunninAD so true, it's obvious in every persons face you watch. The connection of course.

[RunninAD]

@Gonzoneca I think it definitely has a history. Blues dancing was a huge movement between the 20's and 40's. It was looked down upon as unrefined but lived on in small cirlces. It was a counter culture and is easily the most soulful, personal dance I've done. Just, I've never felt so connected to another dancer.

[brooklynsweb]

@dancemansal Lol, I did not mean as in 'swimming with the fishes' sort of way... but I've already said too much... shhhh, friend. ;)

[MrCienistyUriel]

my dream

[roadrunner7000]

Hi Portland! Shout out from Olympia

[starsstuff]

'The Pulse' was the basic slow dance of our time and I'm 67. This dance has been around a LONG time and it has evolved beautifully in to an interpretive lead/follow dance that maximizes the feeling of the music, the movement, and the partnership.

[brooklynsweb]

@dancemansal I don't think I mentioned your yt-handle in my comment, you're not that special my friend. I was just making a general comment about how the blues community is tightly knit and does not tolerate any kind of disrespect of their members. We had a few issues 2 years ago, they were resolved promptly. And with respect to Ms. Miller, and I will say this as modestly as I can, —I might know just a little bit more about her than you do. =)

[dancemansal]

Although today the Blues dance scene can be considered a young scene, blues dancing itself has been around for a long time in seedy bars and anywhere there was late night dancing, rent parties etc...

Gonzoneca speaks volumes of truth. Re-read his posts and learn something otherwise don't post verbal diarrhea.

[dancemansal]

@brooklynsweb Re-read my post and don't word your creeper comments like you are directing them to me. I was quoting Norma Miller when asked what she thought about Blues Dancing today. If you know anything about Lindy Hop history you should know who Norma Miller is. Google Search her and educate yourself or you can buy her autobiography.