March 4th, 2006 Blues Dance WorkShop: $15 Heidi Fite 4pm: Blues Fundamentals & Basic Moves 5pm: Blues Tension 6pm: Spirit of the Blues

Class Description Hour 1: Blues Fundamentals & Basic Moves Either as an intro to Blues or a refresher for the more experienced dancer, this class introduces both vintage and contemporary forms of the basic Blues step and adds some flash with slides, dips, and turns. You’ll also learn techniques to vary these basic moves so that you can expand your repertoire and keep your Blues dancing full of interesting variations. Hour 2: Blues Tension Stretch out your Blues! We'll explore ways to use tension and communication with your partner to stretch out your Blues in both closed and various extended and open positions. You’ll also learn how to keep the Blues aesthetic in your dancing.  Hour 3: Spirit of the Blues The Ring shout is the oldest known African-American performance tradition surviving on the North American continent. Performed for religious worship, this fusion of dance and song connected the rich cultural heritage of the slaves' African villages to 17th-century southern plantations or Congo Square in New Orleans ; later to smoke-filled southern juke joints and urban honky-tonks, dance halls, and Jazz Age night spots. We’ll practice this form of dance and learn to transfer this spirit to more modern forms of blues dance.

Heidi began dancing and teaching in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1999 and has been dancing, teaching, and performing ever since. She now lives in San Francisco, California, where she teaches classes, workshops, and private lessons. Heidi's expertise includes Lindy Hop and Blues dance and she enjoys helping students of all ages and ability levels improve their dancing. Admired for her clear explanation of fundamentals, Heidi brings to all her classes and workshops not only a focus on solid techniques, but more important, a love of dance and a dedication to the learning process. While living in St. Louis, Heidi founded FUSION swing dance, a not-for-profit cooperative group of teachers and dancers, dedicated to promoting vintage and modern social dance (especially Swing, Lindy Hop, and Blues) in the St. Louis area. Together with Charlie Fuller, she began to focus on Blues dance, playing a pivotal role in a recent resurgence of local and national interest through teaching Blues workshops and helping to organize Blues dance events such as the St. Louis Lindy Blues Exchange 2003-2005 and Cheap Thrills All Blues Weekend 2003-2005. Heidi has been a featured instructor at numerous workshops across the United States and Canada, including St. Louis, Missouri; Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal, Canada; Dallas, Texas; Williamsburg, Virginia; and San Francisco, California. To learn more about Heidi or the organizations she's involved with, or to see if she's teaching in a city near you, visit www.Blues-Dance.com.