“Blues dance” is an umbrella term for a family of partner and solo dances that developed alongside, and continue to be danced to, Blues music. The diversity in Blues music itself inspires the diversity in Blues movement styles, owing to the far-flung geography and long timeline of its development.
Blue’s origins are with African-American communities in the American South, which combined sub-Saharan African music and movement traditions with those of European immigrants. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Blues followed the Black American diaspora and continued to develop in cities all over the nation. Dancing the Blues is an emotional, often cathartic endeavor, meant to effuse both sorrow and joy, and permeated with coolness, even in the face of hardship and struggle.
Blind Mississippi Morris said “The blues is a feeling that most people can relate to. A feeling that hurts so bad, or sometimes feels so good that you can’t find words to it, so you put music to it.[…] you feel it, you hear it and that’s how you know!”
Because Blues dancing is relaxed, non-codified, and highly improvisational, it can appear free-form, but every variation of it is built on a strong foundation of values and aesthetics. Some of the core traits of the dance are:
- Lag
- Pulse
- Improvisation
- Asymmetry and broken lines
- Polyrhythmic and polycentric movement
- A conversational, equal partnership
- Connection to music, partner, and the ground
- Ephebism
- Coolness
On these values and aesthetics are built a dozen or more different styles, referred to as idioms. Idioms are historic and deeply tied to the music alongside which they developed, but they can also be mixed and matched, as modern Blues music has now become unanchored from geographic location and specific community. Here is a small sampling of idioms:
- Chicago Triple
- Texas Shuffle
- Struttin’
- Funky Butt
- Piedmont Triple
- Savoy Walk
- Stride
- Strut
- Mooch
- Fish Tail
The many idioms can be divided into two general types: those you would dance at a juke joint, and those you would dance in a Black ballroom.
Juke Joint Blues are the variants that developed in juke joints, roadhouses, rent parties, honky tonks and basements, where spaces were crowded and casual, and the music was rhythmically dominant, edgy, and played by small combos or solo acts. The dancing is characterized by more staccato movement, very little to no travel, a get-down posture, considerable hip and pelvic movement, and a lot of independence of movement between partners. The pulse is manifest in up/down, pendular, or sloshy hip movement.
Ballroom Blues are the variants that developed in ballrooms and dance halls, where spaces were more spacious and formal, and the music trended toward big bands playing interwoven melodic lines over smoother rhythms. The dancing is characterized as using considerable stretch and momentum, moving broadly around the floor, often in a line of dance, with a more upright posture and contra-body movement, with partners moving tightly in sync with one another. The pulse is manifest in the rhythm of walking.
Dancing the Blues is fun and connective and emotionally powerful, but if Blues isn’t already part of your culture, then dancing it also asks you for some awareness and work. Please visit our Participating With Cultural Respect page for resources.