Da Blues

I love blues music…those sweetly sad melodies slicked over a sexy, slow beat…whew. Gets me every time. Gary and I usually do a slinky style of west coast swing to that kind of music, but it never quite fit. Not…bluesy enough.

If you’ve read our recent posts, you will know we fell in love with Zydeco dancing. We’ve incorporated a few of the moves into our other dances, but to learn any new dance Gary and I have found we do need someone to get us started. After that we’re cool, but those first few steps having an instructor around really makes the difference. Sadly, the nearest Zydeco lessons would be way south of Indiana and with gas prices and budget to adhere to this summer that just wasn’t in our plans.

But we were feeling itchy for something new. Something different. And we found it. Yep, there’s a specific dance that has arisen to do to slow bluesy tunes, called simply enough, blues dancing. Some people call it American tango; of course, purists in the tango community call this sacrilege.

Oooooooooh. Rebels. We like them even more.

Blues dancing does, in fact, incorporate lots of Argentina tango moves. And some batacha. And some lindy. WCS. It is very inventive and improvisational. And very VERY smooth and sexy. Best of all, the Midwest is a veritable cauldron of the blues scene, so we found a place close to us (Cincinnati) that will teach us.

So we’re off to learn this new dance style at the end of the month from one of the best blues dancers around, Mike Legett. Here she is. Yes, Mike is a girl. And there’s no doubt of that when you watch this video. We can’t wait!!!!