Classes - EXAMPLE

This is an example of some of the classes we had at our last Fusion Exchange.

Note: Class schedule is subject to change. Please check back frequently.

	FRIDAY - January 9		SATURDAY - January 10			SUNDAY - January 11
Room	Ballroom A	Auditorium	Ballroom A	Ballroom B	Auditorium	Ballroom A	Auditorium
10:00am	Beginner's Fusion Andrew Sutton	Blues Tapestry Chris Ransdell	BREAKFAST (Served in Main Ballroom)
10:30am			Classic Blues Bill Borgida	Unique Tango Movements Pt. 2 Krebs		BRUNCH (Served in Main Ballroom)
11:00am
11:30am	Ballroomin' Bash Lucky & Lessa	West Coast Swing Brenda CK	LUNCH (Served in Main Ballroom)			Mo'mentum Lucky & Lessa	Shaping & Isolation Brenda CK
12:00pm
12:30pm			Tangoed Up in Blues Pt 1 Mihai Banulescu	Lindy Blues Fusion Bill Borgida
1:00pm	LUNCH (Served in Main Ballroom)
1:30pm						Musicality & Technique Andrew Sutton	Instructor's Choice Dustin Henwood & Ally Yancy
2:00pm	Argentine Tango Fundamentals Alex Krebs	Blues Waltz Bill Borgida
2:30pm			Hip Hop n' Blues Lucky and Lessa	Westie Blues Fusion & Open Connection Trina Siebert and Jason Isbell	Using Your Core Karissa Lightsmith
3:00pm
3:30pm						Tangoed Up in Blues Pt 2 Mihai Banulescu	Nightclub 2-Step Trina Siebert and Jason Isbell
4:00pm	Unique Tango Movements Pt. 1 Alex Krebs	Soul Josh McLaughlin
4:30pm			Blues Body/ Tango Body Mihai Banulescu	Micro Blues Pt 1 Ben Long	Partnering & Team Building Jeremy Lightsmith
5:00pm
5:30pm						Instructor's Choice Andrew Sutton	Micro Blues Pt 2 Ben Long
6:00pm
6:30pm				Brenda CK's Special Class
7:00pm
7:30pm

All classes are subject to change.

Special Bonus Class

Brenda CK's Special Class

Take an intense mini-private lesson with Brenda Collins. Get 5-10 minutes of super-specialized private instruction and watch other dancers of different levels have the same experience. You'll take home personalized, tangible things to work on that will exponentially improve your dancing. Plus you will get to watch others and see things that relate to your dancing in someone else. All for a small additional fee. If you are participating "a la carte" it is $25 to watch and $35 to participate. If you already have a PFX All Access pass, it is only $15 to watch, $25 to participate. Find out more...

PFX Class Descriptions

Argentine Tango Fundamentals — Alex Krebs

It is important in any dance to "feel" like a dancer in that genre. We'll cover the basics of tango: posture, walking, connection, and the embrace so that students can feel what the "tango body" is like and also use it in experimenting with fusing tango in other dance forms. Great for dancers completely new to tango.

Blues Waltz — Bill Borgida

What do you do when one of those many "bluesy" waltzes come on? Do you just try to dance your usual blues dance? We'll show you how to adapt Blues to this wonderful time signature, and play with the sensual, playful nature of Bluesy Waltzes!

Ballroomin' Bash — Lucky Skillen & Lessa Thieme

"Ballroomin' Blues" is a style of blues inspired by the ballroom slow dancing done at the Savoy. In "Ballroomin' Bash" we will expand on the basics by adding some playful lifts and turns.

Blues Body, Tango Body: A Technique Workshop — Mihai Banulescu

How are posture, movement and connection different in blues and tango? What is similar, what is different and what is similar but on a different scale? This class is for dancers who are interested in body mechanics at a very detailed level. It is equally appropriate for blues dancers, tango dancers or beginners in both.

Blues Tapestry (not for beginners) — Chris Ransdell

Think you know blues connection; think again! In this class you will discover the newest form of connection to allow closed position blues aerials, rapid improvability, and graceful lifts. You will never connect the same again! This class requires a basic understand of movement and traditional connection. It is most relevant to Ballroomin' Blues. Our music choices will be mellow and very jazzy.

In this Ballroomin' Blues class you will discover Chris' own personal & unique form of connection which allows for closed position blues aerials, rapid improvability, and graceful lifts. This will add a whole new dimension to your dancing! This class requires a basic understanding of movement and traditional connection.

Classic Blues — Bill Borgida

The art of creative blues dancing is built upon sound basics and knowing the rules you can break. This class will take you through the foundation of Blues - what Bill calls "the art of the slow groove."

Experimental Lead/Follow — Dustin Henwood & Ally Yancey

This is a class for anyone that is inspired by innovative, impassioned, and experimental connection in the art of partner dancing. Dancing "outside the box" requires mental agility, boldness, creativity, and a willingness to leave one's comfort zone and explore solutions in the unknown world. In this class, we will explore distinct alternative connections by applying fundamental partner dancing technique to create several non-traditional lead/follow moves. One year of partner dancing or a shorter but more intense experience with dance is recommended for this class.

Hip Hop n' Blues — Lucky Skillen & Lessa Thieme

This is a new concept of blues, currently developing in Brooklyn, NY, that combines hip hop techniques and blues fundamentals to create an innovative new style.

Instructor's Choice

This class will be catered to the participants of PFX and what Andrew thinks will give them the best ways to improve.

Lindy Blues Fusion — Bill Borgida

This class will show how Blues and Lindy are complementary dances, two ends of a continuim which blend and borrow from one another, always inspired by the music. Knowledge of Lindy Hop basics required (Swingout, Lindy circle).

Micro-Blues (Pt. I & II) - Ben Long

From the basics of breathing to advanced techniques such as micro-napping, learn how to establish powerful connections with minimalist movements. For those who have trouble keeping their eyes closed, bring a blindfold.

Mo'mentum — Lucky Skillen & Lessa Thieme

This class uses single axis elliptical movement to add unique flow to your dancing.

Musicality & Technique

Don't sacrifice your musicality for good technique AND don't sacrifice your good technique for musicality. In this class you will learn how to have technique AND musicality while you dance.

Nightclub Two-Step — Trina Siebert and Jason Isbell

In this class we'll go over the basic moves and technique behind nightclub two-step and explore how it relates to blues technically and how it differs from blues aesthetically. A significant portion of this class will focus on how music determines the look and feel of different social dances, and how to adjust your dancing to most accurately reflect the music. We'll also explore how you can utilize nightclub moves and technique to enhance your blues dancing.

Partnering/Team Building — Jeremy Lightsmith

This class will use games and exercises to bring your dancing to a whole new level. We will practice meeting our partners where they are before asking them to move to a new place. We will learn the power of saying "NO" and take responsibility for communicating with our partners. And we will learn how to accept offers and then extend them. This class will be fun, and it will be LOUD...

Soul Movement — Josh McLaughlin

This class will be focusing on getting down and groovy with the Soul music. We will be using our partner dancing skills and applying Soulful movements to our dancing. We will also work to expand our ideas of creating and maintaining connection.

Shaping and Isolations — Brenda CK

Brenda will lead you through movement exercises to help you master control of your body, then give specific examples of how to use these concepts to add style and depth to your dancing.

Tango For Blues/Swing Dancers — Mihai Banulescu

One conversation about creativity with tango instructor Alex Krebs has had more impact on me than anything else. He taught me that simply shifting weight, walking and turning, with changing rhythms and great attention paid to music, is in fact dancing tango. I did that almost exclusively for a year and have heard no complaints. Just in case students are less excited about these basics than I am (which often happens), I generally spice things up at the end of the class by teaching my favorite thing about tango, the volcada. I will address all tango technique tips from the perspective of a blues/swing dancer, establishing some direct comparisons.

Tangoed Up In Blues 1: Rule-Breaking And Transitions — Mihai Banulescu

While it is impossible to achieve a true fusion of two or more dance styles without mastering all of them, it is reasonable to multiply your options and stimulate creativity. In this class, we will see how breaking some fundamental rules in each dance is not so wrong when seen from the perspective of the other. We will also address how to mix and match the style and movement elements of both dances into a coherent unit through good transitions.

Tangoed Up In Blues 2: Seamless Fusion — Mihai Banulescu

This class is where we get to be a little crazy and perhaps stretch our technical and comfort levels. We will create an entirely new style movement inspired by both blues and tango. For example, we might combine the projection start of a tango step with the very grounded landing of a blues step. This class will go beyond breaking rules and into creating new ones.

Unique Tango Movements Pt. 1 — Alex Krebs

Every dance form has unique movements which help identify it. In this class we will explore certain movements that are unique to helping shape the form of Argentine Tango, including ochos, crosses, and the "same-foot-system." These unique movements are form a great basis of learning and are highly transferrable to blues dancing.

Unique Tango Movements Pt. 2 — Alex Krebs

This class will build upon the Unique Tango Movements class from Friday. It will revisit the "same-foot-system" and focus on paradas and barridas. This is a great way to build your Argentine Tango dance vocabularly and incorporate this movement form into your dance. (Friday's class is not a pre-requisite to Pt. 2.)

Using Your Core — Karissa Lightsmith

All movement, solo or partnered, is clearest and most controlled when it orignates from your core. In this class we will discover where your core is and how to let it guide and fuel your movements. We will practice how moving in this way will improve your dance communication and your personal quality of movement. Come synergize and power up your movements!

West Coast Swing — Brenda CK

Brenda and Brendan will start with fundamental West Coast Swing patterns to make the class friendly for all dancers, then create interesting variations as well as offer specific styling and technique tips for an authentic look and feel. If you already know WCS please come help the other dancers in the class, you might pick up a tip or two as well!

WCS/Blues: Open Connection Concepts & Swinging the Blues — Trina Siebert and Jason Isbell

West coast swing uses one-hand holds in open position a lot, and these create a lot of opportunities for music interpretation and other sorts of partner improvisation that also work great for blues. We'll cover some slick ways to move between closed and open positions, and give you some ideas for ways to play while maintaining your connection. Why does some blues music cry out for blues dancing, while other songs don't? We'll talk about and listen to a lot of music in this class, and also give you a chance to dance to different blues styles and feel how pulse, swung vs. straight rhythms, and musical phrasing can and should affect how you dance.