Party Like It’s Mardi Gras!
- Datum: zaterdag 15 februari
- Tijd: 11:20-01:00
- Locatie: Cuartito Azul
- Adres: Schoterbosstraat 17
- Prijs: €10 - €12,50 - €15
Roffa discovers New Orleans!
Contrary to other places in the Netherlands, carnival season in Rotterdam is a sober affair (yes, there is the Rotterdam Summer Carnival). New Orleans has the biggest Mardi Gras (or Fat Tuesday) celebration in the USA with dressed up people, floats, street parades, drinking, dancing and food. So let’s party and get inspired by New Orleans music and culture and beat the dreary Dutch winter days of February!
How? With dance workshops with a focus on New Orleans music, eating together, and a great party with live music from the Oriental Jazz Band!
Registration
Registration is closed!
Party tickets: you can still get your party tickets at the door for €15.
Refund: Please, read our Refund Policy at the end of the page.
Single Registration only!
Some classes are partnered workshops. BUT! We have decided to skip partner registration as we want to offer freedom of choice and combinations. You can participate in every workshop you like, as many as you like and in whatever role you like!
There will be only place for a limited number of dancers per workshop. So sign up FAST!
Registration only per person, there is NO partner registration. Partners should both sign up fast if they want to join the workshops together.
Prices
Workshop: €10 per class
Dinner: free entrance if you bring a generous plate of food to share
Party: €12,50 online pre-sale, or €15 at the door
Give back!
When we party like it’s Mardi Gras we do celebrate music and culture of New Orleans. We need to realize that the sources of our inspiration comes from a special city with a rich music culture that is still alive thanks to its people. We want to give back and consider the culture that gives us joy. You can donate some extra €€€ on your registration and we will forward the total result of all registrations to the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic. This non-profit organisation is very important in the New Orleans music community because it provides affordable, comprehensive health care for musicians as we are aware health care in the USA is not the same as ours.
The mission of the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic:
To keep New Orleans’ musicians ALIVE by fostering a culture of self-care and providing primary care, mental health, social services and advocacy regardless of the patient’s ability to pay.
The New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic does this by providing cost-efficient access to comprehensive and preventive health care, wellness education, mental health services and social services.
Through partnerships with service providers and community organizations, the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic is able to provide meaningful programs and services to ensure the well-being of NOMC patients and members of the local music community- including but not limited to musicians, Mardi Gras Indians, Social Aid & Pleasure Club members, dancers, performers, artists, and culture workers.
More info: https://neworleansmusiciansclinic.org
Schedule
11:30-12:30: Workshop Peabody
13:00-14:00: Workshop Solo Jazz Parade
14:30-15:30: Workshop Nola Blues
16:00-17:00: Workshop Pocky A-Way Choreo
18:00-20:00: Poltuck dinner
21:00-01:00: Party, band starts 21:30
Location
Cuartito Azul,
Schoterbosstraat 17,
3032 CN Rotterdam
A 10 minute walk from Central Station (north side).
From Central Station: Take Tam 4 (direction Molenlaan) stop: Noordsingel or Tram 25 (direction Schiebroek), stop: Schiekade, walk 5 minutes via Teilingerstraat
Follow the Facebook event.
Let's dance!
New Orleans has so much to offer! We picked 4 tasters of an hour each: The Peabody, Solo Jazz Parade, Nola Blues and The Pocky A-Way Choreo.
You can sign up for as many taster classes as you like.
All Levels!
All workshops are level free and essentially taster classes, so no former experience of the dances is needed.
Try a new role!
Why not expand your dance experience? Since all classes are open to any level, you may like switching from your usual role as lead or follow and discover another role.
If you do multiple workshops, you can try out both, like lead in peabody, follow in blues or vice versa. You just sign up your role per class and have all the fun.
The Peabody
This is one of the most fun dances when the music gets fast. Many ragtime tunes of New Orleans jazz bands of the late 1910s and early 1920s are the perfect match for this dance.
The dance was called after William Frank Peabody (1873-1939). He was a large, good-natured bachelor who, despite his considerable weight, was light on his feet and who loved to dance. Because of his huge girth, however, William Peabody was unable to hold his partner directly in front of him, so he held her on his right side, in a sort of promenade hold known as the right-outside position.
The Peabody is essentially a brisk one-step dance with easy footwork and can be learned in a short time. It has fun variations, and invites lots of silliness and goofing about. The leader changes sides as he travels around the floor and adds promenades and simple turns as the dance progresses.
Your teachers: Natascha & Finn
Natascha’s dancing experiences include a wide range of different dances from Ballet, Flamenco, Hip Hop, Salsa to Balboa. As a genuine dance addict she is always looking for more dance knowledge to expand the happiness and induce creativity on the dance floor.
Finn started dancing because he loves the music. Balboa is his first choice in swing dancing. There is little room for error in Balboa: either it works or it doesn’t. But when it does, it is the best thing in the world. He also dances Lindy Hop, and dabbles in other styles.
Solo Jazz Parade
This solo jazz class is inspired by the music of roaring brass bands that lead the second line of dancing crowds at street parades. Let your dance improvisations be guided by syncopated rhythms of New Orleans brass bands. You will dance solo but are part of the collective that makes a parade.
A second-line parade could be described as a celebration of life and community. The “first line” is formed by a brass band, along with members of the organising club. The second line is for those that follow, friends, family and anyone else that wants to join in. The strutting and dancing crowd may be twirling umbrellas and wave handkerchiefs.
These parades are an important part of the cultural identity of New Orleans Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs, which are African American benevolent organizations that developed in the 1800s when members were not allowed to participate equally in society. The clubs cared for its memebers by helping with health care, funeral expenses and other needs. The tradition of second-lining incorporates Western African influences that enslaved people kept alive, as well as elements of military brass bands.
Your teacher: Jeroen
Since he began dancing, Jeroen has rarely been absent when there is a party or dance event. The joy he finds in both individual and partnered dance is evident from the enthusiasm he emits on the dance floor, with his humorous and experimental style. In his classes he places a strong focus on rhythms and self-expression, filling them with energy and lots of fun. He loves seeing his students flourish by helping them find their own way of movement!
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Nola Blues
This workshop in partnered New Orleans Blues is for party people! Get ready for a high energy Blues style with a Spanish Tinge! “… if you can't manage to put tinges of Spanish in your tunes, you will never be able to get the right seasoning, I call it, for jazz.” So said ragtime and jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton from New Orleans. “Spanish” in his quote refers to latin, more importantly Cuban rhythms. You can find this ‘tinge’ in early jazz and blues, just think of the song St. Louis Blues (from 1914).
Blues Dance is a family of African American vernacular dances, danced to Blues music; dances within this family are linked by shared aesthetics and techniques rooted in Black American traditions and historical context.
Blues dance as a strong emphasis on connection with the partner, the music, and the community. It is an improvisational dance which places high value on rhythm and individual movement, and is primarily danced in partnership but also solo or in a group.
Your teachers: Isabel & Fion
Isabel & Fionn met in Delft in 2013, when Delft Blues was just starting up. It didn’t take long until they became completely addicted to the dance, and started contributing to the scene’s development by organising and teaching locally. They have been learning and teaching the Blues ever since, and are the instigators of Blues Dance Rotterdam.
Pocky A-Way Choreo
Pocky A-Way means "everything is alright"! It refers to the spirit of the Mardi Gras celebrations, in which the Mardi Gras Indians parade down the streets with their elaborate outfits, songs and dancing! This choreo has been developed by Leigh & Daire from Valencia. Within an hour you will learn this funky solo choreo. No partner needed!
The song is by the famous funkband The Meters from New Orleans. New Orleans may be mostly known for all the jazz, but it has been said the Afro American music style called funk started in New Orleans and James Brown got his inspiration from there. The sound of The Meters is defined by a combination of tight melodic grooves and syncopated New Orleans "second line" rhythms under highly charged guitar and keyboard riffing. "Hey Pocky A-Way" is covered by many artists and is a well played song around Mardi Gras time.
Your teachers: Isabel & Fion
The Meters "Hey Pocky A-Way":
Let's eat!
Join the potluck dinner and let's eat together! New Orleans is all about food and just like the music, the blend of many cultures that makes its rich in styles and flavours, be it gumbo, red beans & rice, jambalaya or king cake. Entrance is free if you bring a generous plate to share. Don't worry, it doesn't have to be New Olreans cuisine, just bring your favourite dish you like to share. Please list ingredients, allergies are no fun at all.
Let's party!
21:00-01:00 hrs
The thing that has to be: live music … coming to make that party happen: The Oriental Jazz Band!
The band plays the swinging music from New Orleans with a personal and unique twist. Influenced by a broad range of styles varying from Gospel and Country to Rhythm & Blues this group of musicians has developed into a bouncing collective that makes you want to move your feet.
Check them out at Spotify.
Photo: © Tim Collins
DJ Superheidi will serve you a tasty mix of jazz, blues & other dance music from New Orleans to keep you going!
There may be some suprises popping up during the night! Most of all… Laissez les bons temps rouler!
To fancy dress or not to fancy dress?
Feel free to dress as you wish and how feel like. You can come in your fanciest attire, some jeans & tees, put on a Venetian mask or dress up as an alligator. No obligations!
But since it’s Mardi Gras time and if you feel like dancing as your most festive self... woohoo, go for it! New Olreans is a very creative place. Tickle your imagination and think fun, bright, shiny, celebration, joyful, colourful, fantasy, beads, queens or kings, feathers, sprakles, rhinestones, rainbows, sequins. Mardi Gras colours are purple, green and gold (yellow).
More ideas shared via the facebook event. Still not sure? Drop us a mail.
Look for more inspiration at the special Mardi Gras YouTube list for lots of dancing, music, culture and history.
REFUND POLICY
We cannot refund your purchased registration for any reason. You can, however, re-sell your ticekts on your own behalf, just let us know by e-mail to whom you sold your tickets as soon as possible so we can update our registration. Questions about registrations? Mail to: roffaswing.reg ad gmail.com. We reserve the right to change the set-up of the event in case of unforseen circumstances.
Helaas kunnen we om verschillende praktische redenen geen geld-terug-garantie bieden bij annulering van jouw kant. Mocht je toch verhinderd zijn om te komen kun je je kaartjes wel verkopen aan een andere danser. Laat ons zo snel mogelijk per mail weten om wie het gaat zodat wij onze registratie kunnen bijwerken. Vragen over registraties? Mail naar: roffaswing.reg at gmail.com
Onvoorziene omstandigheden kan Roffaswing genoopt zijn de opzet van het evenement te veranderen.
Note: Registration only per person, there is NO partner registration. Partners should both sign up fast if they want to join the workshops together.
NB: Inschrijving kan alleen per persoon, je kunt niet met een partner inschrijven. Schrijf allebei z.s.m. in als je samen een workshop wilt doen.