Blues Dance Workshops w/ Gwen & Zach

Name: Blues Dance Workshops w/ Gwen & Zach
Start: 2025-03-02T12:30:00-08:00
End: 2025-03-02T18:00:00-08:00
Location: Lowdown Ballroom

Schedule

Sun Mar 02 2025 at 12:30 pm to 06:00 pm

UTC-08:00

Location

Lowdown Ballroom | Seattle, WA

We're so excited to announce a single-day workshop series taught by the impeccable Gwen Bone and inimitable Zach Brass here in Seattle! Zach and Gwen bring years of blues dance knowledge and experience to the helm, and have a wonderful teaching dynamic that promotes curiosity, self-awareness and self-expression, imparting knowledge that is contextual and culturally informed, and supportively challenges students across a range of experiences and skill levels. If you're looking to learn more about blues dancing, this is an opportunity you do not want to miss out on!
This series is brought to you as a joint venture between Savoy Blues Underground, What The Blues & Seattle Blues Dance Collective.
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Location: Lowdown Ballroom
Date: Sun March 2 12:30pm - 6pm
Schedule:
12:30pm - doors
12:45pm - workshop #1 Yours, Mine, and Ours (90 mins)
2:15pm - break #1
2:30pm - workshop #2 This not That (90 mins)
4:00pm - break #2
4:15pm - workshop #3 Community Jammin (90 mins)
5:45pm - wrap up
Cost:
$100 ($75 FLASH SALE! for a limited time) - entire series
$40 - single workshop
$75 - entire series (with discount code obtained at attending Blues Underground or Hillman City Sway - see below)
* we want dance education to be accessible to all - please message us for financial assistance options
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Workshop Topics:
#1 Yours, Mine, and Ours
This class is all about crafting a partnership as you craft a dance as yourself. We’ll explore the different “spaces” you can occupy as a lead, as a follow, as a partnership, and as an individual. We'll push these spaces beyond the limits of what might happen in a normal social dance and (trust us) it'll get real weird and REAL fun.
#2 This not That
How can you take inspiration from anywhere and stay grounded in blues? This class provides a framework for reinforcing your blues aesthetic while borrowing inspiration from other dance styles. We’ll identify some common anti-patterns that we’ve seen on the blues dance floor and figure out bluesy substitutes.
#3 Community Jammin
After this class, you’ll NEVER utter the phrase ‘dance like nobody’s watching. Dive into the heart of live music where you'll explore the joy of dancing in the vibrant energy of a shared space. We'll guide you through enhancing your musicality, celebrating your individuality, and fostering a sense of connection with fellow dancers and non-dancers alike. Whether you're a solo dancer or prefer to groove with a partner, you'll gain confidence in participating in jam circles and fully immersing yourself in the communal dance experience.
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Instructors
Gwen Bone (she/her)
Gwen has been Blues dancing for over a decade with home scenes in Boston, Madison, New York City, and, currently, San Francisco. She grew up in a variety of dance and movement traditions and is passionate about crafting partnership and blues music. She loves to explore ways to fi nd rhythm and space for personal voice in her dance. Her dance voice and approach to practice has led to national acclaim at BluesShout, Blues Muse, Signifying Blues, Lindy Focus, Sweet Molasses Blues, Northstar Blues, and more. As a teacher, she encourages dancers to explore the partnership space, their authentic movement, and fi nd joy in movement.
Zach Brass (he/him)
It was a (most likely dark and stormy) night in 2011 when Zach Brass wandered into a group of people dancing and accidentally fell in love with it. Ever since then, he's spent over a decade putting his pure, unbridled enthusiasm into dancing and teaching both lindy hop and blues dancing. He's danced and taught all around the world, from Canada to Italy to the Middle East, but is passionate about developing the local scene in New York City. As a teacher, Zach is always looking to make sure everyone walking into a class for the first time not only learns, but also relaxes enough to have a great time. As he puts it, "Dancing ruined my life in the best way possible!"
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Blues Underground (BUG) and Hillman City Sway are Seattle's monthly blues dance events! Info for the upcoming ones:
HCS - Thu Feb 20, 8pm, Black & Tan Hall (https://www.blackandtanhall.com/events)
BUG - Fri Feb 21, 8:30pm, Dance Underground