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All About Blues Dancing

Blues Dance is a category of dance native to the African-American communities. It has at present gained popularity, following the re-emergence of the Lindy Hop. The dance category comprises different dances like the ‘Fish Tail’, ‘Slow Drag’, ‘Cake walk’ and a few others. A few dances are aesthetically presented while others are wild. The dance tempo varies from the slow paced to the ultra fast, keeping in tune with the music. Also there are different styles of the dance like rural and urban corresponding to the type of music. The dance is basically a one-step or two-step movement that can be improvised to suit any music. Music plays an important role in this dance form and it drives and influences the dance movements.

What is Blues dance without the Blues Music. The dance has evolved in response to this music. Blues music is actually very emotional and soulful, often associated with depression and melancholy moods. The music originated among the African-American slave communities in a ‘call-response’ structure, where the basic emotions were communicated in prose-like form, with not much of melody to it. Later the same form evolved with a few strains of instrumental music added to the original vocals.

The dance was popular only among the african-americans due to the native characteristics and strong emotions they portrayed. Blues dance and music served as recreation for the slave workers, who also used the form to mimic or ridicule their masters, apart from using it expressing their woes.

Since the dance form is focussed on expression of a gamut of human emotions, it is essential for the learner to connect to both the music and the partner. At a superficial level though, the dance may just seem to reflect raw emotion, but there’s more subtelity, grace and involvement when the music and dance compliment each other. With time, the partners are able to understand and improvise their response to the music.

In the present times, both Blues Dance and music have evolved a lot, still retaining most of their native music and rhythym. It draws a few features from other contemporary dances, and provides a blend of jazz, tango and swing dance. Due to these improvisations, the dance is slowly getting to be accepted as a social dance. There are a lot of classes conducted worldwide and people are eager to know more about Blues Dance. This form of dance is bound to make one more attentive, responsive and creative.