20:15 – 21:00 Community Practice Sessions
This block we are trying out something new. Every Tuesday that we are teaching at De Nieuwe Anita, our community members organise a donation-based practice session. Every week a special topic chosen by our talented dancers and you can chose to join every session separately, or just come to the social afterwards.
Suggested donation: € 5 to support the venue and dance school. A QR-code will be present by which you can make a donation.
What is the level of the practice sessions?
The community practice sessions are for those who are a bit more experienced dancers. You should have your basic footwork and groove in dancing. But it can be helpful for beginners as well to practice their basics. Bear in mind that practice sessions are structured a little differently from the lessons — although community members will be there to introduce the topic and offer some guidance, the emphasis is on learning, practicing and exploring together in a less formal setting!
Community practice session schedule
September 16 – Make your Blues swing
Don’t worry, we are not going to dance Lindy Hop. But swinging your body will add many good things to your Blues dancing.
Community member guiding this practice: Richard
September 23 – Role switching within a dance
Practice session on the topic of role switching. Do you also want to switch from being a lead to being a follow within a dance? Or as a follow want to start leading? Today we’ll inspire you with some cool switching moves and invite you to play with this during the practice.
Community members guiding this practice: : Federika & Vicky
September 30 – It’s your turn to turn!
This Tuesday, Sept 30, our Community Practice Session is all about turns! We use turns all the time in our dancing, but how confident are you that you can hit that turn just right? Let’s practice together!
We’ll focus on stretch, momentum, clean lines, and balance to help your turns become smoother and stronger.
Community members guiding this practice: Emma & Vicky
October 7
No practice session.
October 14 – Giving you a break
Breaks are an essential parts of Blues songs, and dancing to the breaks can lift your dance and musicality. In this session you will learn that, as well as hitting the breaks yourself, you can also help your partner interpret and enjoy the breaks, both as a leader and as a follower.
Community member guiding this practice: Giovanni
Due to sickness, Richard & Vicky will take over this session! Please join us!
October 21 – Midblock party
No practice session just an awesome social at De Nieuwe Anita. See our calendar.
October 28 – Momentum & Flow
What is momentum and how can we create it? How to keep the flow in our dance using the energy from our partner? Some cool exercises for both follows and leads to work on fundamental techniques at a higher level.
Community member guiding this practice: Richard
November 4
No practice session.
November 11 – Boundaries & Signals
Dancing the blues can be an experience full of connection and intimacy. It’s often one of the things we love most about it! Still, for new and experienced dancers alike, it can sometimes feel daunting to navigate which types of contact we’re comfortable with, how to communicate that to our partners, and how to be receptive to our partners’ signals. Would you like to feel more confident in receiving and responding to your partner’s (non-verbal) signals? Or do you want to feel more secure in your ability to indicate boundaries? Then this session is for you! It will give us all the chance to practice these sorts of skills in a fun and relaxed way.
Community member guiding this practice: Emma
November 18 – Giving you a break
Breaks are an essential parts of Blues songs, and dancing to the breaks can lift your dance and musicality. In this session you will learn that, as well as hitting the breaks yourself, you can also help your partner interpret and enjoy the breaks, both as a leader and as a follower.Community member guiding this practice: Giovanni
November 25 – 12-bar Blues
In this musicality practice we’ll discover the most common Blues structure: the 12-bar Blues. Through understanding how it is built, we’ll learn to play with it and how to use it to make your dancing much more interesting!
Community member guiding this practice: Richard & Paul
December 2
No practice session.
December 9 – The Dramatic Hand
For the final community practice session of the season, we have a deliciously festive treat for you: Ira’s legendary dramatic hand workshop. This is a community favourite. Explore how to feel and express the music in your whole body, inside out, all the way to (and especially in ;)) your fingertips! In short, playful practice for both your solo and partnered dance.
Community member guiding this practice: Ira
December 16
End of block party: No practice session just a party at De Nieuwe Anita. See our calendar.
Do you want to give a practice session?
Awesome, we are looking forward to your creativity. It can be practicing a cool move you saw in a video, or practice turning, or do a talk on musicality in blues. Don’t hesitate to talk to any of us at the social or reach out to us at thebluesjoint@gmail.com.