The Soapbox Archives:
To check if a venue is still around, I can click on a link or send email. However, calling someone and hoping they'll pick up the phone can be time-consuming. It can be a waste of a lot of time. Also, I think that my readers will want to look up some information on the Internet before calling someone on the phone. At least with email, I don't need to spend a lot of time glued to the phone.
If you run a dance business listed on this website, especially you offer only private lessons, and I don't know you personally, please give me an email address where I and your potential customers can reach you.
You'd think I'd learn by now: flash drives aren't meant to be used for storage for the long-term for files that need to be editted regularly. I carry the contents of this website on a flash drive (currently "Dave" from the Minions) so I can edit the files whenever and wherever I get a chance. However, these flash drives get so much wear and tear that they can't be expected to hold onto files correctly forever. I don't remember when I got the most recent one, but I'm going to need to transfer the files to a new flash drive because I'm getting errors in my files.
If you see weird typos on any of the pages, please let me know.
Someone had asked how I felt about listing "Blues Fusion". I thought the question was "What do I think of Blues Fusion?" The questions are similar but not quite the same. The writer had described Blues Fusion as "swing & blues connection and movement vocabulary" but "without either the pulse of blues or the syncopation of swing, and done to a fairly broad range of music."
That got me to thinking about West Coast Swing versus "East Coast Swing" and Lindy Hop. While there are some songs to which you can dance either West Coast swing or Lindy Hop, most of the available music will be appropriate for West Coast Swing or Lindy Hop, but not both. Many of the dance moves are the same, though the names of the moves will be different, depending on the teacher, and they're done to a different rhythm and with different emphasis. I started West Coast Swing listening to R&B. For instance, when I hear Marvin Gaye's "Gotta Give It Up", my body just screams to dance West Coast Swing. On the other hand, a good piano boogie woogie makes me look for someone with whom to dance Lindy Hop.
Someone had told me once that the Hustle great Arte Phillips had been on a crusade to get people to dance Hustle to non-traditional music. He encountered a lot of resistance. I believe the problem was that for most people, the music defines the dance. They're having enough trouble dancing to music appropriate for the song; it takes a serious evangelist to get people to dance to non-traditional music. That might explain the people I'v seen dancing West Coast Swing to John Denver music; I can't do that.
To me, the music defines the dance. It tells my body what to do on the dance floor. There *is* some music that works for different dances. Many times I'll hear a song for a Cha Cha and realize that I/you could also dance Hustle or West Coast Swing to it. It's all in the rhythm. Music is a form of communication and dancing is how you translate that music.
However, when you try to mix different dance forms and music, you're creating a new dance. Calling it "fusion" just muddles the issue. Dancing Lindy Hop without the swing rhythm isn't Lindy Hop; it's a different dance. It's not "Lindy Fusion". Call it a different name and let it try to thrive. To call any dance "something Fusion" is trying to attract customers by making them think they're getting something and giving them something else.
I have a hard enough time figuring out what Blues is; I would probably not understand Blues Fusion at all.
On the original question, "How do I feel about listing 'Blues Fusion'?"
I don't have an answer for that. I don't know anything about Blues Fusion. I don't have a clue about Blues either, though I will mark events as "Blues" when instructed. I need to watch the community and see how many people do this "Blues Fusion " dance.
Note that I don't feel I need to list every dance venue and there are a lot of dancing that I don't include in my calendars (see the list of other dances that don't get listed in the calendars).