Blues Dance New York is proud and excited to host a special workshop with the incredible instructor Brenda Russell and the talented musician Dan Nash. This intensive offers the unique opportunity to learn from a dancer and a musician in tandem. Brenda and Dan are both passionate about developing the connection between the music and the dancers/audience, so if you’ve never had a class with live music before, this is the class for you!
Read more about Brenda and Dan below!
Cost for full 5-Day Intensive = $150.
A la carte prices are below:
| Date | Workshop #1 | Workshop #2 | Workshop #3 | Workshop #4 | Workshop #5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | |||||
| Location | Pearl Studios 500 8th Ave NY, NY 10018 | Pearl Studios 500 8th Ave NY, NY 10018 | TADA! Youth Theater 15 West 28th St, 3rd Fl NY, NY 10001 | TADA! Youth Theater 15 West 28th St, 3rd Fl NY, NY 10001 | TADA! Youth Theater 15 West 28th St, 3rd Fl NY, NY 10001 |
| Schedule | Workshop #1 - 7:00 - 9:00 PM Practice - 9:00 -10:00 PM | Workshop #2 - 7:00 - 9:00 PM Dance - 9:00 - 10:30 PM | Workshop #3 - 8:30 -10:00 PM Friday Night Blues - 10:00 PM - 1:00 AM | Workshop #4 - 6:00 -8:00 PM Practice - 8:00 -9:00 PM Dance - 9:00 -11:00 PM | Workshop #5 - 6:00 - 8:00 PM Practice - 8:00 - 9:30 PM |
| Description | Blues Idioms This workshop will explore how blues idioms differ for dancing and musically (e.g. Country & Delta vs Piedmont vs Classic era). | The Historic Development of Delta into Electric Chicago Blues, also ‘old style’ of ‘Acoustic’ Chicago Blues pre Electric Chicago Blues | Blues Grooves Using a sampling of music Dan plays, we will explore ideas for getting into the groove with the variety of feels you will encounter throughout the night. | Embodying The Blues We will explore the Blues that arises from within; discover what you have to contribute from your own authentic expression; receive what the music and other bodies offer you; and develop new possibilities in movement and connection. | Babies and Ancestors of Blues Classic Soul and Gospel roots and relations to the Blues |
Registration:
BRENDA RUSSELL
Brenda is fulfilling her childhood dream as a professional dancer and instructor. She studies African American street dances from the turn of the century to the present. Brenda travels around the world teaching and training with various coaches and historians. Her strength is breaking down the dances in a way that is accessible for anyone, even if they don’t have a dance background. She strives to help her students find the dancer with-in themselves, taking inspiration from dancers of the past. Brenda is working with the Blues dance community during this time of growth to develop curriculum and events that raise the community’s level of dancing. Her hope is to provide structure for duplicable material, while keeping the inherent character and nature of the dance. Read more about her work HERE.
DAN NASH
Hailing from London, UK, Dan Nash is one of the finest purveyors of traditional blues music on the circuit. His authentic interpretations of the blues standard songbook have continued to astound audiences from the deep south of Mississippi, New York City, the Carolinas to his native UK and throughout mainland Europe and Asia. with a versatile guitar style that can cover the whole blues genre from Ragtime to traditional Fingerpick to Delta Slide and Chicago Blues, Dan accompanies his music with a voice imbued with passion and soul. Dan performs often with a duo and his own band. However, his solo act is one which has endeared audiences in clubs, bars and the global blues dance community in the UK and Europe sine 2006. With the core of his performance driven by his vocals and echoed by his guitar, Dan’s performance is an intimate and intense experience between the artist and his audience. Learn more and listen HERE.