Standing for Something

I was talking to Marvelous Martha this afternoon and she sent me a link to a leadership video about having a belief. It got me thinking about an exercise that we did for the Yonge and Bloor community about what we stand for. It took us half a year but I believe that the Yonge & Bloor blues community is starting to find its own footing in the overall social dance scene in Toronto.

Just in case you missed it, this is what we stand for at Yonge & Bloor Blues:

#1 – Blues is a dance in its own right.
We believe that blues dancing is an art form all its own, which requires the same amount of study and practice as any other dance style. It is not just a dance done at the end of a lindy hop night nor is it done only at house parties.

#2 – Blues music for blues dances.
For blues dances, DJ’d or live music, we like to dance to blues music. There is a rich history of blues music including but not limited to jazz blues, delta blues, piedmont blues, and rhythm and blues.

#3 – Respect each other as dancers and individuals
On and off the dance floor we try to treat one another as we would like to be treated. Blues can be a very close and intimate dance, but only if both parties/dancers are comfortable with each other. Respect each other’s space and comfort level.

#4 – Build a community of dancers
We are a community with a shared passion – dance. If we focus on our shared passion, the fruits of a community naturally happen.

#5 – Pursue growth and encourage sharing of knowledge
We work as a community towards common goals – to learn and grow to become better dancers and to spread that knowledge to other people. We’ll try hard to provide opportunities for this to happen and we’d like you to try hard too.

To say that we came up with these beliefs naturally and easy would be a lie. We thought and debated about each point long and hard before committing to them. There were decisions made in drafting these beliefs that were not very popular with some of our existing community dance members in Toronto (and to some extent, still not, but it’s gotten significantly better).

In our community, we have some dancers whose personal preference about blues music is something that you might see at a lindy exchange, where the earlier part of the night is up-tempo swingin’ tunes before slowing it down later on, maybe after midnight. An all-blues music dance night is not for them and I understand and respect them for it. We all have our own personal preference for music and dancing and as any dance organizer knows all too painfully well, you can’t please everybody.

The change by introducing an all-night, blues-music-only dance in the community had its risks. We definitely received mixed reactions but all we could do was weather the initial knee-jerk reaction to change and keep pushing for something that we believed in. We wanted blues dancing to be it’s own dance in Toronto. Blues music for blues dancers.

Making a stand for something is not free from hassle; it does not mean we won’t alienate some lindy hoppers and we may even lose some dancers whom we don’t directly cater to in terms of musical or dance tastes. Not everyone will agree to our style of blues dancing and blues music, but that’s okay. Standing for what we believe in means that we are willing to lose a few people if it means we have others who LOVE blues dancing even more. They are also the ones constantly introducing new people to this dance and getting the word out. They are the ones really building the scene.

More to come later.

Previous entries:

• http://hamfats.ca/toronto/rebuilding-blues-part-2
• http://hamfats.ca/toronto/rebuilding-blues-part-1
• http://hamfats.ca/toronto/rebuilding-blues-part-0

Last year was the year that I started venturing out to blues exchanges and workshop weekends. Last year was also the year where I decided that “this dance” was a dance that I could really get into and it was worth the time to actually dedicate into learning. I have always liked dancing to blues music, whether at a house party or at a pub, but for me it was a local past time – something to learn to make my other dances better. What a difference a year makes.

When I was at BluesSHOUT! last year sitting and watching the competitions/social dancing/class demos, something so astonishing transpired before my eyes that the emotional affect fueled my motivation for the entire year. It was the concept that we too, the participants, can rise to that level of skill and technique.

I think for me, this is what differentiates blues dancing from a lot of other dances that I like doing. Blues, for better or worse, is not as technically impressive or artistically flawless as other dances. But it’s raw and it’s real. Everything I love about dancing.

Check out clips from last year’s BluesShout:

BluesShout 2009 – Ballroomin’ Finals

BluesShout 2009 – Juke Joint Finals

So what is so special about BluesShout? Heidi, in one line writes it perfectly:

BluesSHOUT! is meant not only to draw Blues dance closer to the roots of its past but to send it bursting into the future. – http://www.bluesshout.com/2010/history/index.shtml

BluesSHOUT! this year treated us blues dancers, organizers, and fans to an environment of growth, exploration and risk taking. The teachers, organizers, and general atmosphere of the event (at least for me) was about not only taking your dancing to the next level, but the community’s as well. And for that reason alone is why we dedicate countless hours of our lives practicing and debating, why we become so emotionally attached to our local blues scenes and why it propels us to support our favorite competitors with genuine goodwill.

So thank you BluesSHOUT!, for inspiring us.

(Special shout out goes to BluesBlast for bringing some of that north of the border :)

Inspiration is a magical thing, a productivity multiplier, a motivator. But it won’t wait for you. Inspiration is a now thing. If it grabs you, grab it right back and put it to work.

Stop what you are doing right now and watch this clip. Don’t worry, I’ll wait until you’re finished watching. ;-)

So if you did not know, this is a clip of the “spotlights” for the BluesShout 2010 Ballroomin’ division. It’s kind of a big deal. Ballroomin’ competitions are usually danced to new orleans style or big band jazz bands playing blues tunes. In this particular competition, you are able to choose your own partner but the song played is not known until you are actually on the dance floor.

Watching this live and then watching it on video gives me the CHILLS. My mind races with possibilities and ideas of how to “incorporate” what each of those dance couples bring to the competition into my own dancing. At the end of the day, that is the reason why I spend the moolah and time to get to events like BluesShout – to be INSPIRED and continue on with my own dancing.

Hey, check this out…

deeply humbled and honored to be considered on this list

WHAT THE???

I was just a sliver away from being in that clip? What no way! Seeing that list was probably one of the highlights of my weekend. I know that I personally do not have enough blues experience to be anywhere near the level that those dance couples are but I’m learning and sweatin’ away. Slowly but surely! To be acknowledged by my peers and instructors to be even remotely close to that top echelon group of blues dancers makes my heart FAT. <3 <3 <3.

Special kudos goes out to my wonderful dance partner Shannon Woods whom I met through a discussion thread for those needing competition partners. This weekend was the first time we have ever danced together and honestly it could not have gone any better.

Wow what a great first class for our (Kathleen and I) first progressive beginner blues series! I can’t even describe how pumped up I am about having dancers come out and support blues dancing in Toronto.

So how did we do it? Honestly… it’s easier than you think.

1. just lots and lots of hard work. Eep…
2. relentless scene building non stop even with hurdles and naysayers in your path.

I’ll have a more detailed blog post to come within the next few weeks, I’m just super excited right now and had to post up something! :D

When you are organizing dance events, it’s important to keep things fresh as much as possible not just for yourself but also for the tireless volunteers to help out to make that dance event successful. Here are a few quick things that we did for the Yonge & Bloor Blues dance event, “Jelly Roll Blues” to keep things fresh.

New Blood – DJs and Volunteers

We got a new upcoming and blues DJ here in Toronto and his name is DJ Hong Kong John Wong! He’s super stoked about starting to DJ and honestly that enthusiasm is contagious. Of course we also have the ever talented and fellow hamfats blogger, Kevin “Fats” Temple, who comes every month from Kingston and spins some good oldies and newsies. Check out his previous blog post about ending a dance. With the cultivating of exciting blues djs, we are ensuring that future dances constantly changes and evolves musically and never gets stale.

We are also getting interested new blues dancers who want to help out and volunteer for the dance. Big win.

Sweets and Other Nick-Nacks

Jelly beans and jelly punch for the Jelly Roll Blues dance. Get it? We thought it was pretty clever ;) They were definitely a big hit and provided a nice place to hang out and chat when not dancing.

Facebook Advertisements

In order to spread the word about our dance, we started thinking of creative ways to promote our event on facebook. Here is one of our ads:

Not Stress about the Little Things (but it’s all about the little things)

The eventual goal of the monthly dance event is to have it run so smoothly that even if myself, Jaclyn, or Kevin Sue were not around, it should still be able to run without any difficulties. Part of that involves not worrying about every little detail but instead entrust and empower each organizer and volunteer to make decisions that affect the dance.

Pictures + Taggin’

People love seeing dance photos of themselves. We conscientiously tried to take as many photos as we could during the dance so that we would have something to share and talk about afterward.

Content

Having lots and lots of content available for your group members and potential dancers keeps people interested in the dance, the culture, and community of your dance event.

Quick update about the Yonge & Bloor Blues event on friday. So it went relatively smoothly and we had eighty plus dancers show up throughout the night. Wowee! The attendees number is very promising because at least we know there is interest and momentum to continue having monthly blues dances at the studio. Truth be told, we never really planned on having this event recurring every month but I think the rewards of spreading the blues goodness to new or existing dancers outweighs the organizing and continual promoting (facebook spamming?) of the event.

As always, the blues dance would not have been possible without Kevin Sue Chue Lam’s muscles to carry stuff and Jaclyn’s due diligence in paperwork. Thanks guys! :) Also thanks to all the DJs who spun some mad hot blues (Joe, Kevin “Fats” Temple, and Adi “Pimp Walkin” Ze).

Here is a great facebook message I came across right after the dance:

Vitor Campos: Vibing to Blues Dance… so good!!! puuure musicality awesomeness. =D I want more!

WARNING DANCE CLASS PLUG COMING BELOW:

There were some questions about where to take some blues dance classes. As always, I teach (with Kathleen Molto) a beginner drop-in blues class on MONDAYS 8:30pm for Bees Knees Dance at the Yonge & Bloor Dance Studio 765B Yonge Street (above Starbucks). We mainly focus on the fundamental techniques of the dance while giving you some movements to try out on the dance floor. It’s a pretty chill class. ;)

A Couple Pictures

One of the ways to “legitimize” the blues scene that is rapidly growing in Toronto is to have blues-centric dances as opposed to having “blues” music (and I use that loosely) at end of a swing night. Luckily for us, Toronto is going buck-wild like a prodigy child about blues dancing and there is a bunch of opportunities for dancing! (Please Note: these photos were not taken in Toronto)

Yonge & Bloor Blues

Although we do not have a regular schedule yet (for example the first friday of the month), we are having our second event this upcoming Friday. We had a GREAT turn out for the first event and like I said in my previous blog post, it’s mostly new people which is encouraging in developing an actual blues scene.

• Friday March 5 – Yonge & Bloor Blues featuring DJ’s Kevin Temple (Kingston), Joe Lim (Waterloo), and Adi Ze (Toronto). 765B Yonge Street (above Starbucks).

After our successful first blues dance event, “The Mooche”, Yonge & Bloor Blues presents our second event on March 05, 2010. Going back to the roots, “The Juke Joint”, will focus on of what makes blues dancing great: more hot blues DJs playing great tracks and more great feeling blues dancing with new and experienced dancers.

Dovercourt House Blues

Friday Night Live Band Blues at the Dovercourt House. There are some upcoming great blues bands that will be playing for us dancers at the Dovercourt House. I am especially excited about the Douglas Watson R & B Review (I heard them last year in Ottawa, great stuff).

• Friday March 12 – Tyler Yarema Trio (vocals, keyboard, drums, upright bass)! Dovercourt House.
• Friday March 26 – Johnny Max Band! Dovercourt House.
• Saturday April 10 – Douglas Watson R & B Review!

Friday Night Live Band Blues & Swing happens most second, fourth and fifth Fridays at Dovercourt House starting in March, and featuring excellent live bands and blues dance lessons! Friday Night Yonge and Bloor Blues starting in March happens most first and third Fridays featuring an excellent blues dance class and a DJ’d Dance!

Sunday “Swing and Blues” at the Imperial Pub

It’s a bit on the low turnout side (don’t shoot me I’m just writing what I saw) but there is DJ’d blues and swing music every Sunday night at the Imperial Pub @ 54 Dundas St. E. Free cover = win win.

There’s a new weekly dance in town! Every Sunday night come out to The Imperial Pub and Library to dance to the best DJ’d blues and swing music in Toronto. Brought to you by The Swing and Tap Academy of Toronto, the inaugural night of “Swing and Blues Sundays” is this Sunday, January 10th, 2010! Cheap drinks, great music, good food and best of all – the dance is FREE!

Had a great turn out at the first Yonge and Bloor Blues event and you could say it was a bit of success. We had about sixty to seventy people throughout the course of the event. This by itself is not a lot of people compared to our local lindy hop saturday night dance (which tops over a hundred guests) but we were pleasantly surprised by the turn out.

What I was really most ecstatic about was the fact that the majority of people came out to Kevin and Brooke’s drop-in beginner blues class and stuck around for the dancing. New people being introduced to blues dancing from the beginning instead of being an after band dance at Dovercourt or at the pubs. Wowzee crazee?

A couple quick thoughts I had about the event though:

1. Organizing is hard work. Lots of work goes behind the scenes just to put on a very “simple social”.
2. Getting the right mood with the music selection is a lot harder than it seems (need to find/grow more blues DJs in our scene).
3. People will ask a lot of questions about blues dancing and about the event. Be prepared to spend time chatting with new dancers and doing a bit of educating.

Overall, I’m glad the first event was “successful”. However, success is a double edged sword. If the event had not gone well or if nobody showed up, we could have just dusted off our hands and said, “well at least we tried, time to move on to something else” (like dancing). Now we actually have to follow-up and host another one.

More to come later.

• http://hamfats.ca/toronto/rebuilding-blues-part-1
• http://hamfats.ca/toronto/rebuilding-blues-part-0

Toronto Blues Website

I started a blogroll (mainly for myself), to keep track of the new blues events/happenings going around in Toronto. Semi useful information and a few songs now and then.

Check it out: http://torontobluesdance.com