Blues in the Ballrooms Workshop with Jamica Zion

Name: Blues in the Ballrooms Workshop with Jamica Zion
Start: 2024-10-31T18:30:00-07:00
End: 2024-10-31T20:30:00-07:00
Location: Russian Community Center of Seattle

Schedule

Thu Oct 31 2024 at 06:30 pm to 08:30 pm

UTC-07:00

Location

Russian Community Center of Seattle | Seattle, WA

Before Swing music and the Lindy Hop, we had the Blues. In this special two hour mini workshop, we’ll start with the Slow Drag– a dance that emerged in Southern Juke Joints which then traveled up to Northern and Western cities via The Great Migration. This dance remained a popular choice to Blues, early Jazz, and it is STILL done across the US! In ballrooms, dancers would travel around the room utilizing various walking dances while the couples in the middle engaged in “spot dances” (such as the Slow Drag). On the outside these dances might seem simple, but the challenging techniques become immediately apparent at the start of class. Students will leave this mini workshop with greater historical knowledge, a better understanding and embodiment of Black American dance culture and values, more practice in verbal and non-verbal consent, and the foundations to comfortably dance to slow music, in close embrace, and “Line of Dance”!
This special presentation is produced by Queer Swing Seattle in partnership with Swing It Seattle.