Details
Join us 12-4pm on both Saturday and Sunday (August 9th and 10th) for a Deep Dive Dance Workshop on Texas Shuffle with internationally renown instructors Julie Brown, Kenneth Shipp, Kelsy Stone, and Damon Stone. Explore Blues dance aesthetics and partnership dynamics and, while developing your personal style and creativity on the dance floor.
What's Texas Shuffle?
Texas Shuffle is a Blues dance style that developed along with (and is well suited to) early West Coast Blues music played by Texas musicians in California. ("What's that dance you're doing?" "Oh, we're just shuffling to that Texas music!") Even though they were Texas musicians, the sound they developed became a highly distinctive West Coast sound, especially as wider record distribution happened out of Los Angeles.
The dance style involves lots of sliding and shuffling feet, and although the music may be fast, the techniques used create an easy-going and laid back feeling dance that can easily be sprinkled with hot and fast footwork. Dancers alternate between stretch and compression to implement turns and other moves. (Check out the Demo Videos below!)
Demo Videos
Damon and Kelsy:
Kenneth Shipp:
Julie Brown (Not Texas Shuffle, but Hawt Daymn):
Cost
$80-120 sliding scale pre-registered
$120 cash at the door for the weekend
$60 for Saturday Only (No drop-ins on Sunday).
If cost is an issue, please reach out at
aW5mbyB8IGJheXNob3JlYmx1ZXMgISBjb20= before August 1st (No one turned away for lack of funds!)
Covid Precautions:
KN95, KF94, N95 or higher rated masks required (well fitting, no vents) for duration of the class. We will not be checking vaccination record, but we highly encourage you have your booster shots. If you feel sick or like you might be getting sick, please do not attend. If you have had COVID recently, do not attend unless you are testing negative and 10 days have passed since your first symptoms or positive test. If you cannot attend, please reach out and we'd be more than happy to offer you a full refund upon request. We also encourage you to take a test prior to showing up to class if you do feel well just to double check, but tests are not required as efficacy is not as high of a spread prevention method as masking up.
Not sure what level to sign up for?
Beginner track will focus on learning the dance and getting as many reps in as possible so that you can get the movement in your body.
Intermediate Track will focus on the finer details and technique.
If you want to dance more and practice a lot during class, sign up for the Beginner Track. If you have lots of questions and enjoy spending more time talking and listening to theory about body mechanics (and potentially a lot less time dancing and practicing during class), sign up for intermediate.
Either way, we'll be learning the same moves and concepts! It just depends on your learning style and where you are in your dance journey for the specific dance style known as Texas Shuffle.
Want to make a full dance weekend out of it??
Workshop does not include any socials, BUT this specific weekend just happens to be full of incredible local events!
Friday: Live Blues Music at the Starry Plough.
- Cover: $12-15. Taster lesson at 7pm, Music 8-11pm
- 3101 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA 94705
-
https://thestarryplough.com/event/blues-night-13/the-starry-plough-pub/
Saturday: Eli's Mile High Benefit Show.
- Cover: $20. Music 7pm-Midnight.
- 3629 Martin Luther King Jr Way, Oakland, CA 94609
- Join Margie Turner and Bobby Young for a benefit concert to raise funds to help keep the oldest continuously operating Blues club in Oakland stay open! (Also the food here is really good!)
-
https://www.elismilehighclub.com/events/big-blast-blues-benefit
Sunday: Golden Gate Blues Society at the Turf Club.
- Cover $5 cash. Music 4-8pm
- 22519 Main St, Hayward, CA 94541
-
https://tggbs.org/calendar
About Julie Brown
Julie Brown (any/all pronouns) is a Boston-based blues dance teacher, DJ, choreographer, competitor, organizer, and enthusiastic student. She has been participating in blues dance since 2004 and has since gone on to teach blues dancing around the globe and won many national competitions.
As a teacher, Julie aims to help students connect with and understand blues dance’s deep roots, find their own voice, and connect to themselves & others authentically, joyfully, and respectfully. Julie has taught blues dancing in Austin, Boston, San Francisco, Seoul, London, Chicago, Zurich, and many places in between. They are grateful to have won or placed in many solo & partnered blues competitions, including at bluesSHOUT!, Blues Muse, Mile High Blues, Steel City Blues, Northstar Blues, and more.
Julie is continually reconnecting to their love of solo blues dancing, working on Chicago-style Stepping, headstands, & leading blues, as well as continuing to learn about blues history and its connections to later and present-day Black social dances & music.
For dance videos, pictures, and more info, check out
https://www.julie-brown-blues-dance.com/
About Kenneth Shipp
Kenneth Shipp hails from St. Louis, MO as an instructor who grew up dancing hip-hop and DJing breaking comps before jumping into blues. He has spent the past few years passionately studying the family of blues idioms, incorporating his nerdy personality along the way. Kenneth’s life experiences inform his dancing and teaching style so that students walk away with a better historical and contextual understanding. With every class and practice, he'll encourage you to approach social dancing with coolness, relaxation, or in other words “Chill The F$%& Out.” When he’s not dancing, you can likely find him ranting about the latest blockbuster movie, game, or nerd convention, or desperately trying to dismantle toxic institutions.
About Kelsy Stone
Kelsy brings her lifetime of dance training, a passion for vernacular dance, and a sharp eye for technique to the Blues dance world. She has brought her joy and knowledge of Blues idiom dances to some of the most important and high-profile events in the USA and across five continents, including but not limited to: bluesSHOUT!, The Experiment, Muse, Hearken the Blues, and Seoul Blues Dance Festival-serving as faculty, mentor, competition coordinator, and judge.
Kelsy's critical eye and love of deep technique are tempered by her love of "dad jokes," getting lost in the music, and embracing of the ridiculous. She shows her appreciation of African American culture by speaking of the history of Blues idiom dance and taking her craft seriously, but never herself. She believes every mistake is an opportunity to learn, every class an opportunity to challenge, and every dance an opportunity to pay respect to those who came before.
About Damon Stone
Damon has been dancing his entire life, starting with vernacular Jazz/Blues first taught to him at the tender age of six by his grandmother. After nearly a decade of learning at the heels of his elders, he went on and eventually studied numerous dance forms until coming full circle in 1995 to focus primarily on the history and styles of partner dances as his family danced them with a special focus on the Southern Blues styles from the Mississippi Delta region. He has studied the development of vernacular Jazz/Blues dance across the United States learning from a number of the original dancers.
He is largely regarded as one of the foremost authorities on Blues idiom dance and has been interviewed as a dance historian in documentary, radio, and newspaper. Damon has been a featured instructor at camps, festivals, and workshops regionally and internationally.
Also check out other Workshops in Oakland, Entertainment events in Oakland, Music events in Oakland.
