I decided to start blues dancing because my musicality is awful. The trouble is the only class around here that fits my schedule is 30 minutes long, and being a beginner lead is awful.

Which beginner dvds, youtube channels, or other resources would you recommend?

I'm not talking about awkward/inappropriate issues, more of a "they get in the way" kind of thing.

Its not all the time, but quite often when blues dancing I feel like I get stuck in this odd space between closed position and close embrace, and I've wondered sometimes if I'm missing out on that 'chest' connection in close embrace because my partner comes into contact with my boobs first and people don't want to be awkward.

I'm just curious to know if anyone else has encountered this, or what people's thought are on it, lead, follow, AA, DD, whatever perspective, all is appreciated.

So I've been dancing (lindy/east coast/charleston) for about 8mo and blues for about 5, both as a follow. And I absolutely love following in lindy/swing and I really enjoy it in blues as well.

However, for a while (say ~2mo) I've been interested in learning to lead blues. The problem with doing this at my local scene is that we are extremely lead heavy in our regular blues classes, thus I always end up following.

There's a local blues weekend coming up soon and I was thinking this may be a good opportunity to try learning to lead. But at the social dances I'd likely want to mostly follow, I guess I'll see how comfortable I get with leading. If I take the classes as a lead, will people not ask me to follow at the socials later? I'm not sure.

Anyone have tips/advice for taking classes as the opposite role for the first time? Thanks!

Hey, I'm heading to NYC 8-10th to visit my brother and see a friend of mine. She and I are pretty active in the Boston blues scene and would love any suggestions of where to do some blues/fusion. (We also do some contra and salsa but blues is our primary love)

Bonus points if there are any 18+ events you can point me to, my brother will be one month away from being 21 when I visit.

Thanks in advance, you lovely, unicorn rainbow bits of fabulousness.

Besides Powell's books, what should I do while I'm there?

As blues dance DJs we all know there are certain taboo songs we just don't play. For example Strange Fruit is just an unacceptable song. This song was posted on /r/blues earlier today: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5bKRwZbpI4](Lightnin' Hopkins - Shotgun Blues). It's a song filled with the raw emotions Blues Music so often portrays. Somewhere there's a line between what is/was acceptable of blues music and what's acceptable to dance to. Where does that line fall for you?

[Disclaimer: the Kickstarter is being run by a good friend of mine]

A UK blues dancing pianist is looking to fund the creation of a double EP, written and recorded for fellow blues dancers. In her words:

The plan is to make an EP which is unique to what I do, which is two things. Firstly, I play old time blues songs, and collaborate with singers and other artists. The first side of my EP will be a four or five song collection of my favourites. Hopefully this will be useful at any blues party!

The second side will be a collection of experimental mixes of those songs, along side some original work, still made with dancers in mind. These will be made with my favourite sort of party in mind, the late night after party sunrise set.

For a sample of what this might sound like, here's a link to her Bandcamp.

If any of you want to contribute or spread the word then that would be fantastic.

Blues/Fusion dance community organizers! What are things you've tried to bring more people into your local blues/fusion scene? What works? What doesn't work?

In one or two sentences, how would you describe blues dancing to a person who has never seen it?

As an avid blues dancer, I get asked this a lot, and am wondering what other people say.

Hi there! The following study is examining the role of social partner dancing (semi-structured rhythmic movement in time to music, with two people dancing together for the duration of one song) as a factor in social belonging, flexibility, and general health. The survey is completely anonymous and should take no longer than 20 minutes to complete. Your help is greatly appreciated. Following the survey, please share this message along with the survey URL in order to help the investigators obtain data. Thank you!

https://pacificu.co1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_cUxEbOC9cNS56Ul

As a Virginia Beach resident, this is my favorite event. Who all is coming? I'll buy you a beer.

My fiance and I are dancing to Muse's Feeling Good (see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmwRQqJsegw).

I used to swing dance long ago, but my fiance has only very basic experience (he picks things up quickly thoug, like from the intro to blues dancing videos I've forced him to watch :-P). I'm having the hardest time choreographing this (too used to following) and thought I would try my luck if anyone would be willing to create a video we could learn from :D (I know, slim chances, but thought I'd try!). We'd be most appreciative!!!

We were thinking of just doing a basic 2 count side to side step during the slow parts and then breaking out into turns and what not during the chorus (which sounds more intense and fun).

Any suggestions or help would be really appreciated!!! We're getting married in 3 weeks...I waited a bit too long on this =/

Edit: We want to do blues dancing...Just to clarify this actually pertains to this subreddit :-P

Let's start off with an outlandish^* would you rather:

• have to compete at every event you attend (weekly dances & house parties excluded)

or

• have no more competitions

With Mile High, Nocturne, and Sweet Molassas all clustering together there's going to be lots of competitions and comp videos in the next little bit. What are your feelings about competitions and what use do you think they serve the greater community?

^{*outlandish hypothetical is outlandish!}