A common cultural miscommunication that alienates Black people within our dance communities is the love of the past and time travel. I don’t mean Doctor Who time travel. What I mean is the the common idea that people who do these dances desire to go back in time. They say things like “I feel like […]
Dance communities and time travel Read More »
For years there has been an ongoing debate about the importance of dressing up at social dances. Understand that dressing up is a part of the culture if you are doing an African American vernacular dance. I’m going to explore why dressing up matters, how it shows up often in Black Culture as a means
Luckily I feel like this question is fading away but I’ve heard it’s floating around still, “why are there no Blues dance elders” The answer to me has always been obvious. White people never picked it up. Yeah, I said it. I bet many of you are confused. What does white people liking a thing
Why are There no Blues Elders in the Dance Community? Read More »
I’ll be frank. Organizing, sucks. If you haven’t done it and you think you are going to change everything, sit down. This is common knowledge. What’s not as often said is that Organizing sucks because of dancers. There. I said it. To quote a friend, “Organizing is cleaning your house and only to open your
If Lindy Hop is Pure Joy, What Are We? Part 3 Read More »
As a instructor one of my many, many jobs within my classes is to inspire. To, ignite a flame inside the student who having not taken my class may have simply found another hobby to pick up and not continue on to inspire others. I’ve been thinking about this role on and off for the
If Lindy Hop is Pure Joy, What Are We? Part Two Read More »
It’s 6 am, I’m slightly hung over and already thinking…. What IS it that Lindy hop has that Blues Dancing doesn’t? A few hours ago I sat at a party filled with Lindy hoppers, sweating and breathing hard in Boston in the middle of the night. Their faces were a glow with happiness and wonder
If Lindy Hop is Pure Joy, What Are We? Read More »
What is blues dancing? How do I explain blues dancing to people? Is it just doing whatever you want? So, it’s like free-style? As a professional blues dance instructor and ex-organizer, I get these questions all the time; and on Obsidian we have never taken the time to answer them. What is blues dancing? Blues
What is Blues Dancing?! Read More »
A few weeks ago, I was writing down some notes of ideas I want to do within my local dance scene to help us get past some issues we have been having. When I wrote them, we were going through a hard time, I was having a hard night and left early accidentally leaving it
Lindy vs Blues- a problem of disrespect Read More »
I HATE what safer spaces has turned into. A few years ago I started hearing about safer spaces and community when I moved to Colorado. I found it prevalent in the fusion scene and was intrigued by the idea. At the time, my understanding was of a movement to talk about the values we wanted at
Safer spaces don’t protect everyone Read More »