Blues Dancing

So, the lady I'm seeing participates in an activity known as Blues Dancing. On Tuesday night I went with her to one of the many blues dancing events that happens regularly around Portland. What a blast.

Blues dancing is a slow to fast, more-or-less free form, partnered dance, set (usually) to blues music. I was told that it is what Swing and Lindy dancers do after midnight.

This video (shot in Portland) is a good example of the range in Blues Dancing. Watch the figures in the foreground as well as the dancers in the back.


Here is another. This one was shot in the very ballroom that I danced in on Tuesday


I've never done any sort of partner dancing before so was a little nervous about it beforehand. I found blues dancing to be especially easy for me, though. The movements are not defined by set steps, but rather the mood of the music and connection with the partner. There is certainly a recognizable aesthetic to Blues Dance, but it is an extremely loose form, open to a wide variety of interpretation, something that is shown well in the first video above. Several people were amazed that I had never done any sort of paired dancing before, let alone Blues. I figure that I did so well because Blues Dancing is pretty much exactly how I dance solo, but instead with a person. The major point of Blues is to feel the music and express it in a way with your body that your partner can pick up on. This task is fairly easy for me because of a) I know how to shake my booty to a beat, and b) my extensive martial arts training has, I believe, taught me how to interact with another individual in a very physical way.

This is perhaps a silly observation to anyone who has been involved with any sort of dance scene, but I really enjoyed this environment that allowed me to meet a lot of people in short micro-sessions. A simple, "care to dance?" and the next few minutes are spent (usually) quite enjoyably with a complete stranger. I had some amazingly intimate moments with people that I will likely not see again. I drew comparisons to speed dating and those strange cuddle puddle groups that meet solely for the purpose of human connection, though Blues Dancing seems a much more sane and productive sort of interaction than either of those.

The event I attended is every Tuesday night at Lenora's Room hosted by The Portland Blues & Jazz Dance Society. There is a crash course instruction for beginners starting at 8:30pm, Dancing starts at 9pm, it really gets going 'round 10pm until 1am. Six dollars at the door, free to first timers.


Song of the Day: Let's Dance (the Blues), David Bowie