Powerhouse Blues
Philadelphia, PA
This Jawn is My Jam
February 22nd - 24th, 2019
An Idiom focused dance weekend with added flavor.
Come out for a weekend with live music, community, and blues history!
Thank you for joining us, please let us know how you think the weekend went by taking our survey below!
COZY HOUSE PARTY
Date: Friday, February 22nd
Time: 7:30p - 1:00a
Location: 320 S. 46th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19143
Cost: $5 to $10 sliding scale or a potluck style food item to share! Included in the Dance Pass or the Full Pass
Open the weekend with food and friends! Come dance to DJ'd music and share food potluck style. Dumplings (turkey and veggie) will be the main course Be aware that some folks have food allergies and restrictions, so we should label our dishes with ingredients and allergens.
DJs
ODYSSEUS BAILER
DJ
Odysseus is a seasoned DJ based out of NYC. He has been DJing for over 5yrs. Along with DJing swing and blues music locally and in the Tri-State area, he has been dancing Swing for about 19yrs and Blues for about 9yrs. He also DJed Sweet Molasses Blues in Boston over the summer where he kept the dance floor grooving with Traditional Blues, Jazz Blues, and Soul music. Thank you once again and lets have some fun!
ALEXIS McKENNA
DJ
Alexis McKenna is a DJ from Philadelphia who loves nothing more than to get the fusion and blues crowds on their feet. Once she started dancing she was hooked and a few years later started DJing fusion and then blues. Enthralled with music from a young age, she remembers growing up on everything from The Beatles and Led Zeppelin to Reba McEntire and Carolina Beach Music. Now she lives for getting dancers dancing with everything from covers of old jazz standards and older jukin’ blues songs that rarely grace the speakers to original local blues bands, and everything in between.
Along with being the current DJ Coordinator for Powerhouse Blues in Philadelphia where she enjoys keeping Philly’s blues scene traditional and committed to learning blues music history, Alexis has DJ’d at Friday Night Blues in NYC where she keeps the crowds moving until all hours of the night and of course on her home turf at Powerhouse Blues.
CLASSES
Date: Saturday, February 23rd
Time: 1:00p - 4:30p
Location: Harmony Studio, 902 Washington Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Cost: $15 per class, $45 for all 3, $40 for Class Pass, Classes are included in the Full Pass
Take classes in our two level tracks with our guest and local instructors! These three classes will focus on blues idiom dances.
Classes start at 1:00p with Chicago Triple!
Fundamentals of Chicago Triple
with Sarah and Genevieve
Come learn the basics of what makes Chicago Triple the delightful, rhythmic dance it is! Born out of the Windy City and danced to Chicago style blues, Chicago Triple is defined by its triple rhythm and its relaxed connection. We’ll dig deep into getting comfortable with triples and the rhythmic variations that make this dance so much fun!
Chicago Triple Footwork and Connection
with Ross and Miryam
Done to Chicago style blues music, Chicago triple is a rhythmic and dynamic dance primarily using a triple step. Deliberate crossing of the feet create moments of stretch and release. Each partner’s choices can further morph the dance and the connection. Expect to be challenged both in the footwork and in how you connect to your partner in this class.
Our second classes at 2:10pm will focus on Savoy Walk!
Fundamentals of Savoy Walk
with Miryam and Genevieve
Named for the Savoy Ballroom in New York City, the Savoy Walk is a ballroomin’ blues idiom. This class will help you learn how to use the Savoy’s basic quick-quick-slow rhythm to move in line-of-dance. We’ll talk about connection and quality of movement, and explore how we can embody this graceful dance.
Savoy Walk Connected Floorcraft
with Sarah and Ross
Born out of the Savoy Ballroom in New York City, the Savoy Walk is defined by it’s quick-quick-slow rhythm and moments of flash to show what you’ve got. How do we best connect to travel in this dance with ease and grace? What about pivoting to avoid the other couple on the floor? This class will look at connecting comfortably to generate powerful, subtlety, and musical movement and rotation across the dancefloor.
Our last two classes are electives and will begin at 3:20pm!
Follower Manipulation using Tone Matching
with Sarah and Genevieve
Partnership is akin to a conversation--there’s give and take, call and response. It can be subtle, it can be loud, and it’s unique dance to dance! Join us as we focus on keying into your partnership, and explore how to use tone to add more to the conversation.
We Do The Feet Stuff
with Ross
Ross is known for his independent footwork. Rolling through and around the foot, impacting the floor with different parts of the foot, and keeping stability throughout are all topics this class will explore, as well as letting the work in the feet come up the body to effect the rest of the movement, or isolating to just the lower legs.
Instructors
SARAH LOKAY
Guest Instructor
Sarah has always been on the move--from soccer and martial arts to a love of dance that came later in life. Sarah found blues dancing in 2010, and it has since captivated and held a dear place in her heart. Known for her passion and comfy close embrace connection, her focus on partnership and self expression creates the core of her dancing and forms the way she approaches practice and learning. Packing dry humor with clear analysis and visual breakdowns, her teaching aims to share the joy of movement, and to encourage strong, fun dances out on the floor. Sarah has competed in events such as the Northstar Blues 2018 Invitational Idiom Strictly, the bluesSHOUT! 2018 All Star M&M, and the Sweet Molasses 2017 M&M, and has performed choreography at both Sweet Molasses Blues and bluesSHOUT! as well. When she's not traveling for dance, she can be found organizing on the Bluetopia, bluesSHOUT!, and CUBE boards in Chicago, giving back to the events that helped shape her own love of dance.
ROSS BLYTHE
Guest Instructor
A favorite on the social floor for his rhythmic play and clear lead allowing for effortless follow expression, Ross inspires his partners and onlookers alike. His movement background in martial arts and sport fencing affords him a grounded strength and athletic balance, giving rise to precise, secure changes between shapes and directions. Ross was drawn to the blues idiom because of its emphasis on personal expression in relation to a partner and the breadth of tempo and style within blues music. As a teacher Ross builds layered classes to challenge all levels, balances technique with application, and chooses appropriate music to support each exercise. Met with overwhelming competitive success, Ross has placed 1st at a number of contests within the last three years: BluesSHOUT 2015 Open Strictly (Chicago, IL), Southbound Invitational MnM (2017), Snowbound Blues 2016 All-Star JnJ (Rochester NY), Austin Blues Party 2017 BYOP (Austin, TX), and Sweet Molasses Blues 2016 Advanced JnJ (Boston, MA).
MIRYAM COPPERSMITH
Local Instructor
Known for her bold musicality and playful riffing, Miryam was introduced to blues at an Oberlin College late night and fell in love. She has taught blues in Oberlin, New York, and now Philadelphia. Miryam loves to bring in all her dance training to create classes rich with body awareness, connection, and fun. Miryam organizes for Powerhouse Blues and Blues Muse and has competed at Steel City Blues, BluesGeek, and Nocturne Blues. When not blues dancing, Miryam might be... also dancing contemporary/contact improvisation/lindy hop/fusion, making performance work, writing for thINKingDANCE.net, or doing something else. miryamcoppersmith.com
GENEVIEVE SENECHAL
Local Instructor
A joy to watch on the dance floor Genevieve has been enamored with dance since she was 3. She has been dancing blues since 2011 and teaching since 2016. Her movement background in Winterguard, Tumbling, and Clowning show through in her playful rhythmic patterns and character play. Her commitment to learning both dance roles is exemplified in her conversational dances and her clear leading.
A cultivator of experiences, and a nurturer of communities, Genevieve is committed to sparking curiosity and helping people find their joy. vieve-design.com
MAIN DANCE
Date: Saturday, February 23rd
Time: 8:00p - 12:00am
Location: Harmony Studio, 902 Washington Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19147
Cost: $20 at the door or included in the Full and Dance Pass
Dance to live music and celebrate what we learned in classes! We will have a blast!
BAND
3 J BLUE
3 J Blue provides popular jazz, blues and classic hits for your events throughout Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and Maryland. The trio is one of the area's most experienced musical groups. They perform virtually every single weekend at restaurants and special events in the area. 3 J Blue is the perfect tasteful musical backdrop for cocktails and dinner, and even perhaps some after dinner dancing.
3 J Blue trio makes your function unforgettable by providing an extra element of excitement and uniqueness through quality live music. They have performed at such prestigious venues as: Union League of Philadelphia, Adelphia Restaurant (Pa.), Aberdeen Proving Ground Corporate Park (Md.), Vollmer Center (Baltimore), Delaware Museum of Natural History, Franklin and Marshall College, Independence Hall Visitors Center, and Philadelphia Convention Center (Pa), to name a few. Consisting of guitar, bass, and drums with vocals, they can't wait to play for This Jawn is My Jam!
HISTORY TALK
Date: Sunday, February 24th
Time: 2:00p - 3:00p
Location: The Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion, 2110 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19103
Cost: $10 at the door or included in the Full Pass
Learn about the history of the blues with our speaker Elijah Wald! He will be giving a lecture with sound and dance clips focused on the roots of Chicago Blues.
SPEAKER
