Lessons will be Saturday afternoon and for the first time we will have TWO lesson tracks!
We're also excited to welcome back instructors Mike and Dan Legenthal!
For our second track, please welcome Brother Yusef and Grey Armstrong!
We're also excited to welcome back instructors Mike and Dan Legenthal!
For our second track, please welcome Brother Yusef and Grey Armstrong!
INSTRUCTORS
Mike LegenthalMike grew up in a musical house full of musicians, and was always in one choir or another up through college- but studying blues and swing music at the Augusta Heritage Festival for a half-decade changed her relationship with music. As both a singer and a dancer, she seeks to be distinctive and creative, and to drive towards the heart of blues aesthetic and culture. She focuses on rhythm, improvisation, and composition, and immerses herself in musical, playful, dynamic partnership. As an instructor, she offers both detailed technical descriptions and imaginative metaphors, to reach a wide range of minds. She is clever and respectful, and hopes to leave her students engaged in critical nuanced critical thought. Mike’s current projects include being a member and choreographer in the B-Sides, helping to run The Blues Experiment and Blues Muse, and researching blues-idiom movement through video, in the hopes of expanding the community’s knowledge base.
|
Dan LegenthalDan Legenthal lives in Boston, MA where he spends his days pretending to be a mild-mannered business person. However, at night he turns into a dancing machine. In a former life, Dan studied classical guitar at a conservatory, but now he uses those skills to learn and grow as a dancer. When off the social floor, Dan teaches and performs around the world at events like Lindy Focus (USA), Korea Blues Camp (South Korea), and Swingin’ the Blues (Australia).
|
Brother YusefBrother Yusef has been described as a master solo guitarist, as well as a uniquely passionate vocalist. His performances are as raw, honest and real as the genre has ever aspired to be. Honed over thirty years, he calls his multifaceted style, fattback blues for it’s a rich mix of Delta , Chicago and Texas blues alongside a hard driving Louisiana stomp. Fattback Blues combines "traditional" fingerpicking and slide guitar playing with the contemporary feel of urban blues, rock and funk. He uses his right hand thumb to beat out a percussive bass-line and shuffle, while the index finger plays rhythm and lead lines, creating a full band sound with a solo guitar.
Born in Bakersfield California and later moving with his family to Southern California, Yusef picked up the guitar at 19 experimenting jazz, reggae, and R&B. He would find himself at a musical crossroads in 1989 while paying his last respects to his grandfather at his childhood church. A soloist at the funeral played a hymn on guitar that connected him to his grandfather, elders and ancestors in the Blues. Brother Yusef approaches the blues from a musical, spiritual and social context. He is quoted as saying, “for African Americans blues has been about survival, healing and freedom ”. |
Grey ArmstrongGrey found blues dancing long ago when dancing with his grandfather as a child. At university he found others doing a dance similar to what he knew, and clung to the familiar music. Grey is internationally known for innovative classes, deep cultural context, an intuitive learning style and leaving students with a lingering feeling they have been changed beyond just dance. He loves to challenge students physically but also intellectually and emotionally, with his experience based teaching.
Personally he is striving towards elevating his technical skills and playfulness while dancing and brings that into his classes hoping to lead by example and show that we can always be learning. Grey writes ObsidianTea.com, a site with helpful resources. Combine all this with his skill as a dancer, being known for musicality and performance, Grey has cultivated unique respect as an All star division competitor in the USA. |
Photos of Mike and Dan Legenthal by Devon Rowland Photography. Photo of Brother Yusef by Ben Hejkal Photography. Photo of Grey Armstrong by Grey Armstrong.
LESSON TRACKS
Big Damn Brass Tacks // Mike & Dan Legenthal
This track is for people who want to focus on their blues dance fundamentals. Whether that's beginners just starting out with blues or experienced dancers looking to refine their basics, take this track if you want to work on blues dance and musicality in a more typical dance class format.
Bigger Bluer Background // Brother Yusef & Grey Armstrong
This track is for people who are comfortable enough in their dancing that they want to delve more into the music and its cultural background. While there will be plenty of dance content, take this track if you want a broader understanding of blues even if it doesn't immediately apply to specific dance movements.
Sacre Blues
Located in Columbus, Ohio, our goal is to provide blues dancing lessons and events for
anyone interested, and to foster a local community of blues dancers.
anyone interested, and to foster a local community of blues dancers.
Headers and dance photos on this site by Mike Will Art.