So you just got a piece of feedback from an audition or class participant and you're wondering what to do with it? This is the class for you! We'll work on ways to bring your best self to class, through respectfully giving and processing feedback you receive from instructors and classmates, how to manage feelings afterwards, and how to set realistic goals for your next audition or step in your dance journey.

Saturday, 10:30a-11:45a

Level 1, Level 2, Level 3

The Piedmont region is home to a number of percussive dances and their influence left an indelible mark upon the partner dancing done to the Blues music of the region. In this class we'll look at developing the skills and ear to be able to add percussion from these dances to the mix of partnered movement to compliment and express the music.

Saturday, 12:05p-1:05p

All Levels

Close Embrace is a fundamental connection for every blues idiom dance. But it isn’t a static connection. There’s a wide variety of just how close an embrace can feel. In this class, we'll explore the variety of close embrace, and talk about personal expression, rolling connections, and how this connection changes from dance to dance.

Saturday, 2:35p-3:35p

Level 3, Close Embrace

This bring-your-own-partner class builds on the standard content to explore the deeper mechanics of the Texas Shuffle. Designed strictly for advanced partnerships, this deep dive dissects the precision required to embody the laid-back groove immortalized by the likes of Lowell Fulson. Prepare to challenge your skills in connection and rhythm, to gain a deeper appreciation for this dance.

Saturday, 3:50p-4:50p

Level 5, BYOP

In the before times, the Blues Scene (TM) decided it was time to buckle down and work on fundamentals rather than on finding the next hot trick, dip, or cool sequence. But sometimes it feels like we've overcorrected and have done away with Flash entirely. This class will be an exploration of how to bring back Flash through high level musicality and technical execution, through Stillness, Contrast, Texture, and Partnership.

Sunday, 11:00a-12:00p

Level 4, Level 5

What's follower voice and how do you find it? How do I ask for what I want and say no to the things I don't? What's backleading? Join Adam and Grey as they breakdown follower voice in blues and give you the skills to show up! Although this class focuses on follower voice, leaders you won't want to miss out as we'll show you the skills that will make everyone want to dance with you.

Sunday, 12:20p-1:20p

Level 1, Level 2

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Sunday, 12:20p-1:20p

Level 3, Stretch and Compression

In this intentionally cross-level class, we'll be using learning models from Black social dance contexts and trios (dancing with 3 people at once) as a way to explore becoming a better, more adaptable partner and leveling up together across skillsets. Comfort with both leading and following is encouraged but not required.

Sunday, 2:50p-3:50p

Level 3, Level 4, Level 5

Do I move you? I hope so! This class is on soul. What's soul? It's the chills up your arm listening to music. It's the tears pulled to your eyes watching something awe inspriing. It's the dancers facing off, as the tension builds and builds, as we ascend to another plane of collective experience! ... It's where Black art moves to a deeper experience. You know it when you feel it. The blues may be simple, but it sure ain't shallow. Let's learn ho to not just social dance but create art.

be music. be human. be together.

Sunday, 4:10p-5:10p

Level 3, Level 4, Level 5

If you want to take leveled classes you must come to auditions. This is a tool to help you assess what you should be focusing on in classes. You will dance with two instructors as a third observes and each will propose what level they think would be of most value to you. Level placement is influenced by class content and pre-requisites along with our goal class sizes.

Saturday, 10:30a-11:45a

Level 4, Level 5

In this class, we'll get into some juicy torso, spine, hip, rib, and core movement, through gutbucket, shake blues, and belly rubbin'. Expect to move your body a lot, and in the breaks in between, have some food for thought on the original contexts and social dynamics around gutbucket, shake blues, and belly rubbin'.

Saturday, 12:05p-1:05p

All Levels

Historically, blues dancing was often in the context of a party of some kind--but in many different types of places & vibes! For us today, (especially since the pandemic), we may have had trouble letting loose and finding our party vibes. In this class, we'll explore channeling the idea of a party to different types of blues music and different spaces, to see what it changes about our dancing, what it feels like to be in the space, and how we can get in touch with our party-selves together, in ways that are connected to and respecting the roots.

This class is geared towards all dancers, but may be particularly interesting for DJs as well.

Saturday, 2:35p-3:35p

Level 1, Level 2, All Levels

Level up your lead-follow and build your partnered moves with wraps, baskets, and cross-hand moves! In this class, we'll work on fun moves that require relaxed arms and leveled-up leading and following. We'll play music that leans towards Texas Shuffle / West Coast Blues, but these moves work well across blues dances (including ballroomin and freestyle-blues) and you don't need to know Texas Shuffle to take this class.

Saturday, 3:50p-4:50p

Level 3, Stretch and Compression

In this follower-focused class, we will explore intrabody lag. Prioritizing subtlety and nuance, the instructors will share their approaches comparing and contrasting similarities and differences. You will be guided through a deeper understanding of this crucial aesthetic within your own body and also learn how it affects partnership.

Sunday, 11:00a-12:00p

Level 4, Level 5

Say it with me: Close Embrace is not just for cozy dances. Not that there's anything wrong with snuggles, but sometimes letting the zoomies win is definitely the way to go. In fact, emphatically committing to Close Embrace is one of our favorite ways to dance to swoopy, dramatic Jazz-Blues music. This class is all about how to let the dramatic thoughts win without feeling like you need to rely on turns, dips, and tricks.

Sunday, 12:20p-1:20p

Level 3, Close Embrace

Some of the most iconic dance moves in the last 50 years can trace their origins to Sand Dancing, including Michael Jackson's Moonwalk. Sand Dance, Flat Footin', and Tap Dance all grew up together and alongside Blues and Jazz music, but today they don't get the love deserved, so let's watch some videos of Sand Dance and see what we can learn from this weird and wonderful style.

Sunday, 2:50p-3:50p

All Levels

Working in the slot, we’ll tackle Blues music and dances that features the Hustle dance, Texas Shuffle moves, Country dance in-and-outs, and myriad of connections that work really well together traveling in a linear shape. Pre-requisites: knowing some general jukin

Sunday, 2:50p-3:50p

All Levels

Blues Idiom Dances are full of duality - hot and cold, athletic and relaxed, soft and strong... There's nothing wrong with gentle, comfy dances, but to really embody the values of Blues dance you've got to be able to use force without making it uncomfortable. This class is all about how to generate force *with* your partner to unlock opportunities for deeply musical, improvised dancing. We'll start with a technique deep dive of some familiar basics, and end with a flashy move that exemplifies these dualities.

Sunday, 4:10p-5:10p

Level 5

Let's listen and break down the rhythms present in blues music! From straight time to shuffled beats to latin rhythms, we'll listen and move to a variety of music and break down the instruments and rhythmic elements present in a variety of music.

Saturday, 12:05p-1:05p

All Levels

Ever heard a Blues song you would describe as Funky or Soulful? Makes you want to put on a stank face? We will work how your Trad Blues movements work well with the Soul and Funk Blues genres, and how to adapt them when the music switches from a Blues Root to being completely in the Soul or Funk era of music.

Saturday, 12:05p-1:05p

All Levels

Using stretch in Blues is a great way to generate energy and can feel amazing when both partners are engaging correctly. We'll go over safe ways to ask and create stretch with a partner and clean up the sticky spots to make your end points and moves built from stretch feel fantastic.

Saturday, 2:35p-3:35p

Level 3, Stretch and Compression

Whether you're brand new to Blues dancing or a grey-haired dance veteran, working on your Close Embrace is always a great idea. We'll start the class with a quick review of how Close Embrace works in Blues dances, then work on leveling up your technique and partnership.

Saturday, 3:50p-4:50p

Level 1, Level 2, Close Embrace

Want some new, 'hip' variations to add to your dancing? In this class, we'll explore expressive hip movement of women featured in historic jazz dance footage. We'll break down the movement qualities and experiment with incorporating them into our own dancing.

Sunday, 11:00a-12:00p

Level 1, Level 2, Level 3

Musicality and technique are not separate ideas to explore and keep isolated, they are interwined elements that require each other to work. Together, we will work on tying these ideas into cohesive dances, reinforcing the idea that poor musicality = poor technique and vice versa.

Sunday, 12:20p-1:20p

Level 4

Join us for a 1-hour all-levels lecture and demonstration class that will deepen your definitional understanding of the core language and concepts in Blues dancing. We will discuss the cultural history and improvisational nature of these vernacular dances, bridging historical roots with contemporary social practice.

Sunday, 2:50p-3:50p

All Levels

Let's play some Blues-based games where the points don't matter, but the impact on your dancing is very real. We'll issue a few challenges to break up your dance patterns and explore how to incorporate what you find, whether new inspiration or areas to work on, into your dancing and dance practices.

Sunday, 4:10p-5:10p

All Levels

Learning to improvise and "dance musically" is really, really hard, whether you're solo dancing or partner dancing. Unless you grew up within Blues culture, it's kind of like learning to make jokes and be funny in a brand new language, and the best way to get there is through immersion. In this class we'll teach you a short sequence and show you how to make it feel organic and musical to any song.

Saturday, 12:05p-1:05p

All Levels

Come to know the rhythmic heartbeat of Black American social dance in this class focused entirely on the art of the pulse. We will help you train your ear to dissect the specific, driving rhythms of different Blues sub-genres and translate them directly into your body. Expect to move past generic “bouncing” to an understanding how the pulse serves as the cultural and physical anchor of the dance, you will transform how you interpret music and connect with your partner.

Saturday, 2:35p-3:35p

Level 4, Level 5

We'll study following and leading across the spectrum from a strict lead-follow perspective to independent connected dancing. We'll blend the skills from this spectrum to inform artistic expression and to craft beautiful, conversational artwork with our dance.

Saturday, 3:50p-4:50p

Level 4, Level 5

Some of the most fun and creative movements from Blues dancing come from the concept of lag. During this class we’ll explore what it means to lag behind the beat, lag in partnership, and how you can have slow expressive movements while dancing.

Saturday, 3:50p-4:50p

Level 3, Lag

Phrasing! Are we still doing phrasing!? Le's dance through some move sequences in different partner orientations together! We'll even use these to make space for improvisation and work together to fill in the blanks using both the tools you already have and some new ones we'll bring along with!

Sunday, 11:00a-12:00p

Level 2, Level 3

While it's easy to be large and extravagant with your dancing, communicating the same ideas with subtlety and reservation is harder but can be just as impactful. In this class we'll examine different ways to make the "quiet" moments stand out.

Sunday, 12:20p-1:20p

Level 5

We all want to get better at observational learning! In this class, we’ll work with you to develop the skill of watch and learn through a LOT of practice. After breaking you in with an intense no-breakdown “See, then do” session, we’ll answer questions in the end of class about specific movements and how you can get better at learning by watching and repeating.

Sunday, 2:50p-3:50p

All Levels

Come explore the beautiful range of stories, themes, and moods that blues music conveys, and some ways we can express them! In this class, we'll listen to lots of different music, find different stories and feelings in blues, and explore tools we can use to connect to and express these in our solo dancing.

Sunday, 4:10p-5:10p

All Levels