The blues dance scene in Auckland is on the up and up.
Since Rebecca Stewart and Conor Young have reinvigorated their class programme post Covid, this sensual and soulful precursor to the swing dance genre has been attracting learners to weekly classes at Pt Chev Sailing Club – a great local venue where a breather on the deck sees the sunset colour the sky warm shades of rose.
Sliding doors provide air flow to cool bodies that are often, but not compulsorily in close contact.
Sure there is a certain degree of inhibition that needs to be left at the door and the close embrace can be a challenge to some, but it is certainly what delivers the sublime, lilting, movement-as-one, that echoes the distinctive rhythms of 1930s jazz and blues.
Telling stories of love and longing, loss and sadness, the music reaches across cultures, though it has its origins in the enslaved communities of North America.
In the course of the last century the dance has evolved from where it began in small smoky juke joints in the South where white eyes didn’t see the grounded, down-low and earthy moves.
As Black communities migrated from the rural south to industrial cities of the North and the blues developed into a bigger band sound in clubs like Harlem’s Savoy, the “ballroomin” style emerged. Space on the dancefloor enabled dancers to play with more expansive moves in response to the jazz sound.
So the genre has its differentiated techniques - drag blues is long, slow and extended movement, electric Chicago blues, a more jigging up tempo version, one-step strut blues, is fast and furious, and more recent fusion styles integrate elegant tango-esque qualities into the technique.
Generally they are all less aerobic than Lindy Hop, pulsing, rather than bouncing to the beat. There is no doubt that you have to let your hips go, but the real thrill is when the pulse reverberates through the entire body in S shaped swirls of movement. There is a global community of blues dancers and almost anywhere you travel; in France, Greece, or Korea you will find a class or a club where you can feel the groove.
Rebecca started her blues career dancing and teaching in Dunedin and was a founding tutor together with Sibby Dillon at the Karitane Blues Retreat – a weekend workshop featuring international tutors. Rebecca has workshopped with some of the leading blues dancers in the world and brings this wide appreciation of the dance form and its history to her teaching.
She recognises that understanding the social context and the background of the culture and development of the dance is an important and enriching part of the experience saying, “I am a guest in this dance, created and nurtured in the States by the African-American community and because of this I find the dance invites me to reflect a lot on my role in making sure that when sharing what I know, I'm honouring the creators and custodians of blues dance.”
Now Auckland based, she teaches with Conor aka Coco, who began his professional dancing life as a contemporary dance artist and brings a technical awareness to his teaching. Together they have created a warm, encouraging and safe space to discover this partner dance form within your comfort zone.
The Auckland Blues Dance Mini Festival 28 to 30 July – three days of teaching by Melbourne dance stars Shob and Andy for beginner to advanced level dancers, with evening dancing and live music – is a mid-winter opportunity to fine tune technique or discover the dance form for the first time.
Also on offer will be a virtual Q and A on the blues and its place in Black culture with Kenneth Shipp, a blues dance specialist from the US.
So to gear up proper for the weekend, there are two more block courses of four weeks in May and June, Tuesdays 7am-9.15pm. Get along, let loose to the sound of the blues and get your groove on. (Cait McLennan Whyte)
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