What is Blues Dancing?

There are many definitions of Blues Dancing and blues music. We are primarily interested in the forms of music and dance that are occurring in the social partnered dancing scene of today. This form of Blues has been exploding as a dance in its own right across North America and starting to hit the other continents.

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There is often the misconception that Blues is synonymous with a slow, ponderous, grinding of the pelvic region of both partners. We beg to differ. Blues may be a sensual dance, but it does not begin and end with the pelvic grind.

At Sara White’s Blues Nites we believe that the perfect Blues Nite is a coming together of four essential elements:

The music...

Blues is a music-led dance. And the music needs to feed the soul. The perfect Blues night will include a broad range of expressive, interpretative music that captivates, inspires and challenges you and your partner to complement the music and each other.

Damon has been dancing his entire life. Starting with vernacular jazz and blues he went on to Hip-Hop, and eventually studied over a dozen different dance styles until coming full circle, and has been focusing primarily on the history and styles of swing and blues since 1995.

He has taught dance extensively on both coasts, and studied the development of vernacular jazz and blues dance regionally and nationally, traveling to New York, Chicago, Memphis, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, St. Louis, and New Orleans. He has been interviewed as a jazz dance historian in documentary and for radio.

I'm often asked - What is Blues? 

As a Musician I would answer that Blues is a set of chord changes in a 12 or 16 bar pattern, differentiated with flattened 3rd's, 5th's & 7th's often used by players as a basis for improvisation.

The Dancer's answer is more complex. Blues is an elaborate fusion of ideas from every dance style, from the mambo of Dirty Dancing to the romanticism of Ballet. The tempo and space given by the music allows a freedom of interpretation and improvisation that is seldom found in partner dances.

was set up by former Blues champions and established Blues teachers, Howard and Nicola in conjunction with Ceroc Enterprises Ltd to provide regular and progressive Blues classes with freestyle in a unique and atmospheric environment.