Thoughts and news about swing dancing in Ottawa
Posted by byron on 05.31.10 5:28PM under General
Damon Stone, noted blues dancing expert, posted to Facebook an interesting answer to a common question about blues dancing: “What’s the difference between Jookin’ and Ballroomin?’” Both are styles or categories of blues dancing. The name Jookin’ comes from the “Juke joints,” the small shacks in the rural south where cheap liquor, musicians and dancers met, and where these styles of blues dancing were born. Ballroomin’ refers to blues styles that tended to be done in ballrooms, where other dances such as Lindy Hop were popular.
The post was good enough that I felt it should be shared beyond just Facebook. I’ve been asked this question many times in Ottawa and Damon’s answer has detailed insights about the differences in movement and interpretation.
Damon writes:
Keith Shapiro asked me what difference I saw and what I instructed the bluesSHOUT! judges to look for in these two styles of blues dance. I thought others may find the information interesting enough to spark conversation.
The difference in movement I see between the styles comes in three places:
1) Floor interaction
Jook – A rolling off the hips as the dancer drops into the floor and pushes themself out, and a preference for limited traveling.Ballrooming – A sinking into the floor and then pushing out as the dancer swings their free leg in the direction of movement from the hip with a preference for traveling across the floor.
2) Manner of movement
Jook – Deeply rhythmic, often staccato movements with sharp direction changes or strong hits with various parts of the body (often hips). Lines trend towards short and angular, bending or breaking to form new lines in a sharp movement.Ballrooming – Moderately rhythmic, a rolling movement with smooth changes in direction and a rolling movement of the torso (originating in the waist not the shoulders). Lines trend towards curves our elongated straight lines that dissolve into new and contrasting lines.
3) Music interaction
Jook – The melodic line of music is used primarily to shade the movement of the entire body giving the quality a different flavor than what was happening previously or to inspire new rhythmic movement entirely.Ballrooming – The melodic line serves as a second rhythmic line causing the dancers to step off the base rhythm and instead execute their steps to the rhythms they hear there. This is most often seen during the breakaway open-position movements.
About Damon Stone
Damon Stone has taught at all of the first three Blues Blast events in Ottawa, as well as at countless other blues events around the world. He’s also one of the founders and organizers of one of the top blues events in the world, Blues SHOUT! Read more about Damon on his Blues dance web site.
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