DoSo dancing can be a social event or a performance. The key to the success of the DoSo String Band program is having regular dances. This gives the musicians the opportunity to practice improvising in a low-stress environment, and their peers get to enjoy the social interaction of dancing to live music. Naysayers told us that teens will not dance to live music. Watch what happens when we tell a high school audience they are free to take the dance floor in front of the band.
In the UK there is a group called Jazzcotech that organizes social dances in nightclubs with a backdrop of jazz music. David Mills brought a couple from Jazzcotech to give a demonstration to college and high school students in New Haven, CT.
DoSo Music is developing new types of line dances.
In this next video you will see a couple do a “pas de deux” in a dance groove we would label “dosuerto.” Jordan Frisbee and Emeline Rouchefeuille compete in a category known as “West Coast Swing.” — This performance is completely improvised.
If you show young people how to dance, will they follow your lead?
The answer is YES!
Wintergreen Grade School
photo by Mia Malafronte