Blue Note and JukeJoint.ninja - Elizabeth Kilrain

4 weeks ago

I cannot emphasise just how much I *love* this improvised teacher's demo from Penny&Lucas.

Both are so present in their partnership, supporting one another, connected but always actively listening to each other's voice, often expressing different parts of the music at the same time but still dancing together.

As a teacher's demo, it's not just about showing off the dancing couple's dance skills. It's about how well they can represent the many nuanced facets of *this* dance and its culture, well enough that their current and future students can come back to this demo later and say, "yes, the things they taught us, we saw them do throughout their dance."

Most importantly, this dance was *fundamentally* blues. Yes, if we have many dance styles in our repertoire, our movement and expression will take inspiration from many things, but stepping into each dance - especially as a teacher - is about immersing yourself in the language and cultural context of its aesthetic such that you don't look like you are "translating" but speaking as a native speaker.

They show:
✅ Earth-centred movement
✅ Relaxed postures
✅ Consistent pulse (yes, even in their moments of stillness)
✅ Lag - in each of their bodies, to each other, and to the music
✅ Polycentrism
✅ Asymmetry - both within each of their bodies and in partnership
✅ Polyrhythms
✅ Athleticism tempered by coolness
✅ Call & response in their partnership and to the music

This doesn't look like slow jazz, messy tango, or slowed down lindy hop. This is the blues. ... See MoreSee Less