WORKSHOPS

Workshops

Dance Awakening 2010

Romanian Couple Dance called Irvartita din Calata

with Marsha Chevalier and Howie Franklin

From the lovely fertile valleys of Transylvania, the Romanian couple dance Invârtita din Calata is one of the most beautiful dances of the entire Eastern European repertoire. The Hungarians call this dance Kalotaszegi Román Forgatós, and it is a favorite of Romanian and Hungarian dancers all over the world. The Invârtita is a slow, romantic dance with intimate exchanges between the partners and spicy syncopations.

Hungarian (and Romanian) couple dancing is similar to Swing in the give-and-take between partners. We will teach you some basic figures from which you can build your own freestyle combinations to express “your” dance. There is no need to come with a partner since we will rotate partners throughout the workshop. You may choose either the leader or follower role.

The Instructors:

Howie Franklin, first introduced to Hungarian couple dances in 1979, has danced with the Eszterlánc Hungarian Dance Ensemble and was the founding director of the Barátság Hungarian Dance Camp at Mendocino Woodlands. He continues to learn new dances and refresh old ones at a weekly class in Menlo Park.

Marsha Chevalier first saw Hungarian dancing at the Mendocino Folklore Camp in 1997 and fell in love with the dance form. When she met Howie, she was overjoyed to discover that he was a Hungarian dancer. With Howie’s encouragement and the help of instructional videos, she is now a sought-after partner at Hungarian dance parties.

Blues Dancing

with Phillip Garrison and Dee Brown.

Whenever I tell people I’ve been doing a lot of blues dancing, I usually get some sort of positive, yet vague response, followed by the “look” … which invariably means – “that sounds interesting, but what exactly is blues dancing?”

Blues dancing is as old as blues music, and originated in the (mostly black) blues clubs circa 1915-1919. It, like most dance forms, evolved significantly over the years. See the Wikipedia Blues Dance article if you’re nterested in the history.

But, go to a blues dance, and you’ll see as many different styles of dance as there are dancers – everything from very simple, vintage steps, to swing dance moves, to dramatic dips and lifts, or a combination thereof with a dose of general craziness and silliness. Check out the video links below.

So what is “blues dance”? The best definition I’ve come up with: it’s improvisational couple dancing to, and inspired by, blues music. It can be sensual, sexy, or silly … simple or flashy. The common elements of good blues dancing are:

Good connection

Listening to, and interpreting the music.

Strong leading and following skills. There is no “basic” step, or fixed rhythm, so the leader needs to communicate clearly, yet smoothly what’s happening next. Likewise, the follower must “listen” for the lead and not anticipate. I feel that my leading skills (and ability to dance to a wide range of music) have improved dramatically since starting blues dancing, and that’s probably true for followers as well.

Lots of room for followers to influence the dance, be creative, and express themselves. Good “leaders” learn to “listen to” their follows and let them do their thing and influence the dance, so the dance is very interactive.

Our blues dance workshop will be geared toward the campers: mostly experienced contra dancers, many of whom have at least some other couple-dance experience.

We’ll

Teach some of the basic blues dance steps and styling

Teach both “open” position and “close embrace”. For close embrace, we’ll show you how to make this feel comfortable, how to walk/do other moves while in close embrace, and also for followers to “set” how close they want to dance with someone.

Work on some of the leading and following skills that are important in blues dancing (and help in every form of couple dance!).

Encourage creativity and silliness among everyone else’s dancing.

Dance a lot, and have fun!

Depending on time and interest, explore variants such as “micro-blues”.

Some videos demonstrating a range of blues dance styles:

Damon and Heidi – vintage style and steps

Dave and Ursula – very modern, improvisational style

Barry Douglas and Chris – old guys can be hot!

Lots more videos are on YouTube!