kokopelle: (Cat - Bunny Love)
When I write poems like “Blues Again” I draw from personal experiences. Now that I (mostly) know how to dance Blues properly, I’ve quite fallen in love with the dance form. I’ve had moments with really special partners that gave me inspiration to share these thoughts in prose form.


Blues Again

You're my partner for a time
not enough to heal the wounds
just enough to sooth the hurt
we'll keep it close enough
sink to the ground as we move
find the groove to move the feet.

In this worldly in between
what is and what cannot be
you are the bridge to sanity
this may be what fates allow
a brief visit with a beauty
under the spell of the Blues.

Only God knows if my intents are good
a child lost in the hands of dance
where the Devil may have his time
divinity hear my heartfelt plea
if this is sin than damn my soul
I think it not because the need is pure.

The music is the intimates' muse
asking for the barriers to relent
guiding the separate to combine
please hold tight to me lovely one
now close in spirit as space relents
bodies' heat is spirit's same.

We may do this once a week
a pity given what we've found
connect absent for hours in between
I'll take this glimpse of affinity
dance the Blues with me
I’ll pray I won't be blue again.

© 2016, Sean Green. All Rights Reserved, 20160527.
kokopelle: (Cat - Bunny Love)
I finished my first Blues dance weekend. It was eye opening, allowing me to appreciate another form of social dancing. The poem “Blues Bodies” shares some of the vibe I've embraced.


Blues Bodies

Some people say we dance
a little to close for happenstance.
They would be so correct
as our spacing is quite exact.

We'll not dance separate,
our time here is too short.
To find another was the goal,
confirmed by proximity.

The rhythm becomes our source
for pacing only two can hear.
Pulsing is the consequence
of two bodies in the beat.

We lag as parts move separately,
with friction of bodies pressed.
We're held together by the heat
while our limbs find their place.

We'll ground together in the end,
joined in music's sweet embrace.
Our passion becomes as one
when Blues bodies close combine.

© 2016, Sean Green. All Rights Reserved, 20160202.
kokopelle: (Cat - Bunny Love)
One of first impressions of Blues dancing is the slower pace. The poem “Blue's Patience” speaks to this dynamic and the connections reaped.


Blue's Patience

Patience is the remedy
to the ills of life today.
Slow the dash of the dance
as the groove is the pace.

Serenity in slow beats,
two hearts thrumb close in our chests.
Do not rush connections made
when these strangers come to play.

This form of dance is the balm
to life's gaps between two souls.
Melancholy lyrics flow,
made glad when two people touch.

In the space of the Blues
connection is made with the core.
Hand held low, dip the hips,
grind the bodies to the sound.

© 2016, Sean Green. All Rights Reserved, 20160130.
kokopelle: (Cat - Bunny Love)
I was inspired to write “Slow Jazz Blues” while listening to the “Coffee Table Jazz” station on Spotify. It was all I could do given I couldn't actually dance with a partner at the time!


Slow Jazz Blues
Poem for Day 334 – 20151201

If they play that slow jazz
the songs with the bluesy beat
we'll dance hand to hand
we'll dance cheek to cheek.
I'd be with nobody else
my dance card completed now.
The rifts provide the beat
while we slowly move our feet.

The day was too long you see
the night is here for me.
I'll spend the minutes here
dancing the slow tunes with you.
I'm not in a hurry now
my rush is done and gone.
To dance is all I'm to do
now I'll pass the time with you.

We're strollin to the 12-bar blues
blow that trumpet to give the cues.
The drum snare will set the beat
of bodies moving as one complete.
We're not alone on the floor
the tune wraps all around.
Nudging the bodies to move in sync
simple pleasures found as we link.

Some may say get a room
I'd say don't be rude.
We're just dancers in a groove
drifting with those slow jazz moves.
We may seem to press the flesh
loose ourselves in the dance's grip
cause the music asks for close embrace
while we dance to the slow jazz blues.

© 2015, Sean Green. All Rights Reserved.
kokopelle: (Cat - Bunny Love)
Contra (contradancing) is a social experience, and more so than I realized! There is the aspect of having as many as 12-13 dance partners in one evening. The dance experience is shared with each partner for about ten minutes, and during that time a multitude of neighbor couples are interacted with, with the partner shared and other dancers interacted with in brief exchanges of contra moves.

Boy that sounds sociable, enough to make Austin Powers raise an eyebrow, but there is more. I was talking to dancers who do both contra and swing, and I was told that contra is more sociable, with an emphasis on eye contact. Why? The swing community quickly identifies incoming contra dancers because of their intense eye gazing. Dancers were told to “tone down the stares” because the swing dancers were not used to the eye contact intensity. Blues may have contra beat on the intimacy scale with the up close and personal personal dances, but contra has blues and other dance genres socially trumped when it comes to the eyeball beat-down.

There are other social delineations between the dance forms. I am told that the Swing / Lindy style has dancers “doing their own thing” even while the partners cooperate. Blues dancing, and many other forms, the interaction is between one couple. There is no constant influx of new neighbor couples. Square dance, in some ways the most close form of dancing, only has three neighbor couples in each square. A contra line (guessing!) has 10-12 neighbor couples encountered in a single dance.

Bottom line, I love contra for the social experience. As an introverted extrovert, I really need to be pulled out of my shell. I blossom once interacting, and the incredible social experience of contra is the nudge I need.

April 2020

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