SATURDAY
1:00pm-2:00pm: Shoutin' the Blues all levels
The Ring shout is the oldest known African-American performance tradition surviving on the North American continent. Performed for religious worship, this fusion of dance and song connected the rich cultural heritage of the slaves' African villages to 17th-century southern plantations or Congo Square in New Orleans; later to smoke-filled southern juke joints and urban honky-tonks, dance halls, and Jazz Age night spots. We'll practice this form of dance and learn to transfer this spirit to more modern forms of blues dance.

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2:05pm-3:05pm: Ain't Got Nothin' but the Blues all levels
Either as an intro to Blues or a refresher for the more experienced dancer, this class introduces both vintage and contemporary forms of the basic Blues step and adds some flash with slides, dips, and turns. You'll also learn techniques to vary these basic moves so that you can expand your repertoire and keep your Blues dancing full of interesting variations.

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3:10pm-4:10pm: Singin' the Blues all levels
OK, we won't really be singing, but this class is about using the structure of the music to inform your dance. You'll learn about the use of scale, tension and release, call and response, melody and rhythm to make your blues dancing more musical and add your own personality to the dance.

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4:15pm-5:15pm: Breakin' Away all levels
There's more to Blues dancing than just closed position with your partner. As long as there has been blues music, there have been people dancing to it even when they didn't have a partner. This class will help you learn to move your own body to Blues, rather than just moving (or being moved by) someone else's. You'll learn how to improvise visual lead-follow, call and response, and complementary solo movement.

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SUNDAY
1:00pm-2:00pm: Preachin' the Blues all levels
This fun-filled class will give you a whole new repertoire of moves for your solo and partner dancing, while at the same time getting you in touch with the joyous soul of the dance. We'll be dancing to lots of great gospel music in this class and learning how to modify our movements to fit the music better.

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2:05pm-3:05pm: Stone Soup Blues Intermediate
Tired of the same ol' same ol' when you're dancing? Want to exercise those creativity muscles? We'll explore ways to use tension, communication with your partner, and variations of movement to keep the Blues aesthetic in your dancing and make your creativity soar.

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3:10pm-4:10pm: Stompin' the Blues Intermediate/Advanced
You'll learn to hear different rhythms and syncopations in Blues music and to use this in your dancing by adding variations to your basic steps. You'll also learn to add your own rhythms to the music to take you from "just doing moves" to really dancing as a part of the music.

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4:15pm-5:15pm: Chi of Blues (never step in the same chi twice…) all levels
You may have taken our Chi class before, but we promise, you'll get something new from it every time. This class will take you to a new level of communication with your partner and a new way of thinking about leading, following, and dancing. And we promise…you'll never step in the same chi twice. .

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Note: Material in the Satruday workshop is appropriate for those who have never danced Blues as well as those who have been dancing for years. The Sunday workshop is appropriate for the student who has either taken all of the Saturday classes or who has at least 9 months experience Blues dancing.