Blues Dancing

Blues dancing developed historically with blues music, and has evolved together with the music into the contemporary dance we love.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, historians think couples did not dance close together. They theorized that it was because close dancing was thought to be immoral in many traditional African societies. The origins of blues dance and music sailed over to the US on the slave ships. Dance moves have been passed down through the generations, with each generation adding its own style, until it evolved into the modern dance we are familiar with today.

Some of the first published blues songs were written by W.C. Handy. When he was at a dance in about 1905 in Cleveland Mississippi, he noticed some early blues music and dancers. Handy was asked to "play some of our native music". Although baffled by the request, he and his band played an "old-time Southern melody," after which he was asked if the band could play a few more songs. This is one of the stories of how blues dancing started