East Side Blues 2016 will take place on 19 & 20 November to offer Malaysians another incredible opportunity to learn, grow, and expand their knowledge of blues dancing. The dance workshop is organised by Blues Dancing KL and will be taught by international instructors from South Korea, Youngdon Kwon and his wife, Dawa Jung.
Blues dancing is a style of partner dance that originally began in African American communities during the early 1900s. It is a street dance, often associated with swing dance, but more intimate and danced to blues music ranging from lyrical Nora Jones ballads to down and dirty Muddy Waters juke.
From absolute beginners to experienced dancers, everyone is welcomed to participate at RM280 per person. Those who participate in the workshop will get to attend a Blues social for free on the night of 19 November where they will get the chance to dance with the instructors.
Registration is required prior to attending the workshop. Details of the workshop is as follows:
Date: Saturday, Sunday, 19 & 20 November 2016
Time: 11AM – 3:30PM
Venue: The Gardens Theatre Dance Studio, Level 5, The Gardens North Tower, Mid Valley City.
Price: RM280 per person (Pre-registration is required at bit.ly/ESB2016 or check out fb.com/BluesDancingKL for more info)
Youngdon has been teaching traditional (vintage) blues since 2008. He is also known as the organiser of Bluesweet (The first blues workshop in Asia which was started in 2010). He started his dancing life with a Lindy Hop background in 2005. But when he first experienced blues dancing in the U.S. (2007), he immediately fell in love with the blues music, dance and its culture. He visits the U.S. every year to get inspiration and works hard to spread blues dance in Asia. He was the finalist of many blues events in the U.S. and won 1st place in the Open Jack and Jill 2014 at BluesShout.
Dawa has been dancing blues since 2010. She has taught blues with Youngdon since 2012 and has experienced numerous blues events in the U.S. In 2013 at Bluesweet, she was the main instructor alongside world best instructors Damon Stone, Heide Fite, and Dexter Santos. She competed at BluesShout and became the finalist and placed 3rd in the Open Jack and Jill 2014 at BluesShout. Most recently, Dawa was the Finalist for the Open Jack & Jill and Open Strictly categories at BluesShout 2015.