Blues Breakthroughs
A 30-day online course to demystify Blues music conquer it in your WCS dancing
with Myles & Tessa starting Sept 1
Wanna dance better WCS to Blues?
If ANY of these apply to you...
We get you! You're not alone!
Blues is the most significant musical origin for West Coast Swing music, but in order to make it feel authentic in your body, you need to learn its purpose, its story, its layers of expression, and the freedom it provided.
It’s hard to get all this from sporadic workshops, so we’ve compiled it all into a convenient and thorough package for you, so you can get major improvement in just 30 days!
Blues Breakthroughs
A 30-day mini-course to demystify Blues and conquer it in your WCS dancing.
with Myles & Tessa starting Sept 1
Get the Blues skills you've been craving
Feeling much more comfortable and confident dancing to swung rhythm and Blues songs
Being able to adapt your style and implement classic footwork variations appropriate for Blues
Starting to appreciate Blues music, its historical significance and influence on West Coast Swing
What's involved? What's inside?
What’s a mini-course? It’s not a workshop. It’s not an instructional video. This hybrid learning format is a short, multi-media, interactive, self-guided course you'll going through with over 100 like-minded dancers, and with extra guidance and support from Myles & Tessa during the month of September!
This is actually a sample of one of the monthly “themes” from inside of our exclusive Momentum membership for Swing Literacy alumni. Play the 45-second video for a sneak preview!
And you have access to this for a full year!
Includes one month access to:
Our exclusive membership for Swing Literacy alumni
So, besides the amazing self-guided course material you can access immediately Sept 1 and progress through at your own pace, for 30 days in September, you’ll also get access to:
If you DON’T like Blues music, consider:
This mini-course was intended to help dancers like you improve the way they connect with and dance to Blues songs, regardless of your opinion of Blues.
You need these skills because when you attend authentic dance parties and competitions, you will hear Blues songs played, but it’s no fun to have to suffer through them - learn how to conquer them! Mastering this domain gives you power in versatility.
It is VERY possible you have not yet developed a taste for Blues music because you have mostly been exposed to bad Blues WCS songs. (This is common - it’s not just you!). There are many different styles of Blues, and like anything else, they range in quality. (You wouldn’t dismiss all Pop music just because you don’t like Justin Bieber, right?)
Let this mini-course help you at least understand the different types of Blues songs and how to move better to them so that you don't have to suffer. But we think you'll end up starting to appreciate how you can access more musical movement in Blues!
Blues is an entire world of music and dancing skills; Myles and Tessa populate this world with detailed and cheerful explanations of dance movement and musicality. Their course helped me to ingrain so many details in my body and my brain and made dancing blues so delightful. -
~Michael Borin
I've been in Myles' and Tessa's Momentum coaching program for about a year, and it's been some of the most helpful/successful WCS training I've ever done thanks to their well-planned structure and organization, targeted drills, and clear WCS skill framework to build off of!
For September, they're making a public version of one of the theme months (in Momentum, we get a different theme each month), so if you're curious about what makes M&T's online content different (because compared to all the other WCS learning I've ever done, both in person and online, it is really different!), this might be a good chance to try it out and see what their structure and approach is like. Plus you get to learn how to enjoy and dance to Blues better!
~Sarah Remple
My understanding of blues music was blown out of the water. It was so fun to get nerdy and learn about 12-bar blues. I learned how to break down the music so I could understand what I was hearing. Myles and Tessa made learning Blues easy and fun. -Dana Terhune
~Dana Terhune
Blues Breakthroughs
A 30-day mini-course to demystify Blues and conquer it in your WCS dancing.
with Myles & Tessa starting Sept 1
About Myles & Tessa
Partners for 22 years, Myles & Tessa have dominated the Showcase division and compete at the highest level in improvised competition. They also teach workshops, train teachers, judge and perform on the global circuit.
Tessa has been professionally practicing physical education, movement analysis, and pedagogy for the past 30 years, in the context of multiple sports and dance styles, with degrees in both Kinesiology and Education.
Myles has a lifetime of dance background, including classical solo dance training, Ballroom, Salsa, Theatre Arts, and 6 UCWDC World Championship titles. along with being classically trained and studying the inner workings of over 40 different dances.
They are creators of a teaching methodology called Swing Literacy which uses the science of learning to help dancers learn WCS faster and train smarter. They specialize in training dance teachers to do use it too, and tour globally delivering this system.
How to learn to dominate your Blues
Growing up as a jazz musician, I have always appreciated good Blues music. But when I first was exposed to WCS, the Blues I heard played at dance parties was NOT inspiring and actually prevented me from giving WCS a chance at first.
But once I heard *good* Blues WCS songs, this obstacle was removed and my WCS journey accelerated.
I saw role models jam amazing footwork that matched the rhythms I heard in the richly layered music, and I worked to release and refine my legs and feet so that I could access that degree of freedom of musicality.
I saw dancers manipulating their pattern timing to get that juicy delay that the musicians were striving to play, which made the dance come alive - like the dancers were part of the band!
But I had two advantages: 1. I already understood Blues music rhythm & structure, and 2. I grew up in North America, where Swing rhythm and Blues music was common and not foreign.
If you don't have those advantages, it's totally understandable that you might find the Blues songs played for WCS to be frustrating. And if you have limited exposure to *good* Blues, I can totally see how it would be annoying or boring when the DJ plays a Blues song.
But Blues has a permanent place in WCS history, and actually in the roots of ALL contemporary music. By not just listening to it, but actually learning about it and studying it, you can demystify it, appreciate the value of it, and train your ear to hear the gold mine of musicality it offers.
Now, to *feel* better dancing to Blues, you need to build very specific skills - some are fundamentals that you might have skipped over, and some are Blues-specific skills that you have to intentionally seek out because they tend to get de-prioritized in classes and workshops. This applies at any level - even AllStars and Champions.
But it's harder to build these skills when they are mentioned or delivered only sporadically - a workshop here, a video there... Having to assemble your own Blues puzzle can be tedious, especially when you don't see immediate improvement so it's hard to get motivated to practice more.
It would be way more productive, effective, and fun to immerse yourself in a short Blues training program that:
This is exactly why we built the Blues Breakthroughs mini-course.
Register now
Blues Breakthroughs
$
150.00USD
Includes:
The tools you need to conquer your Blues kryptonite
Confidence in knowing exactly how to dance to any Blues song
Practical moves you can use with any partner (or solo) to Blues
Answers to so many Blues questions you've been searching for
1 year access to the Blues Breakthroughs mini-course
30 days access to the Momentum Facebook group
Feedback on your homework to make sure you are practicing correctly
Access to 4 Momentum coaching calls in September
Bonus: The complete Blues Grooves workshop
BONUS: 3 laser-focused, practical interviews with Blues experts
Vancouver dancers: Get 50% off this mini-course when you register for the Blues Focus mini-series at SwingSoul
How worth it is it?
Well, let's compare it to other ways you could be spending your time and dance funds for a month:
Weekly classes:
$50-$100 per month, but what is the likelihood that the teachers will offer Blues skills for the whole month? Or give homework? Or train your brain and ear how to analyze Swung rhythm and Blues phrasing?
Workshops at events:
IF you can find one that focuses on Blues: 1 hour, but really just 45min, usually focused on one technique and one chunk of choreo that (let's be honest) you are likely to forget as soon as you walk out the door. It's really just scratching the surface.
Private Lessons:
You might take a private lesson this month, at $100-$200. But usually, private lessons are more focused on your urgent technical needs unless you specifically ask for Blues help, and even then, it's only 45-60min with no follow up after you've had a chance to practice.
Intensive Workshop:
If you're lucky enough to have access to an intensive, and it happens to be focused on Blues, awesome! You might really get a chance to sink your teeth in and make some progress, right? But then afterward, it's hard to retain and maintain that improvement, plus there's no way to ask questions after the intensive is over.
So if you want to get real, lasting improvement, with feedback and guidance from coaches, a long-term comprehensive resource you can study on your own time, and a prescribed practice program targeting improvement to Blues songs, this is the best value you can get.
Bonus #1: Interviews with Blues experts
On top of all that, we're including 3 expert interviews that were recorded live,
exclusively for Momentum, on the topic of Blues Appreciation!
$75 FREE BONUS when you purchase Blues Breakthroughs
Brother Yusef
Blues Musician
Get the artist's perspective from one of WCS's favourite modern Blues musicians! Brother Yusef discusses the history and culture of the Blues, how it inspires him, and how he co-creates with dancers while he performs live.
Robert Royston
WCS Blues Champion
Robert dives in to strategizing how dancers can capitalize on the phrasing formula of Blues with mindful cataloguing, prediction, responsiveness and pattern preparation, with practical examples you can practice solo.
Ken Haebich
Music Professor
Ken answers all your burning questions about music theory - how to distinguish between rhythms and time signatures (Swing vs not), and how to predict phrase endings, all with live examples played on his upright bass.
Bonus #2: The Blues Grooves workshop
In this full hour recorded workshop, Myles and Tessa guide you through progressive footwork agility drills to build a collection of 10 small, practical, versatile footwork combos for Blues medium and fast Blues music that you can do solo or with a partner.
$35 FREE BONUS when you purchase Blues Breakthroughs
"It's hard to know where to start! The themes are fantastic, from the easy ways to identify where to start to the detailed progressions to the clear videos that break down each skill and movement. The website is superbly organized and easy to use. The coaching calls continue to surprise me by clarifying key parts of each theme. I can't say enough positive about Momentum."
“It is exactly what I was looking for and the missing piece in which I did not know existed. There are many amazing pro's helping us learn, however, getting this specialized , consistent, definitive and focused attention is something I hadn't experienced. There is nothing in my 9 years of dancing that has made such an impact! I am looking forward to taking the more personalized next step with Myles and Tessa's dance program. Forever Grateful.”
"I am a firm believer that you can not learn a dance without a consistent, progressive curriculum, that having classes at random, from different instructors and on different levels is disorienting, like picking crumbs from a table. You guys are brilliant, this is exactly what I needed and was waiting for. And, all your efforts to constantly add-on, adjust, upgrade are so much appreciated! Thank you!"
I have a sense of appreciation & wonder when I see your intentional excellence/sequencing in teaching and coaching! I'm in awe and great appreciation for your systematic approach, attention to details, setting expectations and a system to follow, asking questions.... It's such a great way to get us to focus and build upon what we have only just begun to learn!
Blues Breakthroughs
A 30-day mini-course to demystify Blues and conquer it in your WCS dancing.
with Myles & Tessa starting Sept 1
FAQ
What kind of Blues is this focusing on ?
Medium to fast Blues music with swung rhythm or straight time.
Do I need a partner?
Nope, but you’re going to want to arrange to practice with a partner 2-4x during the month.
How much time does it take?
Recommended 2 hours a week, but with plenty of material and drills for 8 hours a week
How is the course delivered?
You’ll get access to the whole course immediately, then we'll given you temporary access to the Momentum Facebook group on Sept 1. Then meet us for 4 coaching calls, live and recorded. We’ll send you the schedule upon registering.
What if I don’t finish by the end of the month?
Your access to the Momentum Facebook group and live calls will end, but you’ll still have access to the mini-course and the recordings for 1 year
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You are fully protected by our 30 day money back guarantee. If you are not satisfied with your purchase, for any reason at all, simply contact us within 30 days and we will promptly issue a refund.