The meaning of the apple jack and other tales...

Hey Brunnie dancers,

Awesome classes last Monday nite! The Level 1 beginners class danced ...and I really mean DANCED...they got their groove on, rocked that rhythm and swung hard!

The routine kicked off in Level 2 and it's looking super sweet already! It's not too late to join in if you'd like to get in on the performance ball action - it's a great little tune by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band called "Blue Skies"....it makes you feel like you're in the deep south drinking mint juleps and dancing through New Orleans streets on the way to get some gumbo! It also has something a bit Great Gatsby about it.

Level 3 got tecchie, exploring a different way of leading & following....subtler, gentler, yet oh such a nice way to dance. More of that good stuff next week...less guff from us and more moving for you!

We had an excellent question last Monday about the origin of the jazz step 'apple jacks'. Well, naturally Google was my first stop but meaning was elusive! The best I could find was that in the olden days, people would make alcohol from apples using freezing as a distillation process and this process was called "jacking". One woman tells a story of how they would fill porcelain jugs with cider (fermented apple juice) and leave them in the barn to freeze. They'd then break the jugs and break up the ice to use the alcohol in mixed drinks and baking.

I'm not sure how the movement evolved though...perhaps they used the twisting motion to crush apples?? Break up the ice??? It's a bit of a mystery. I am going to check my jazz history books next and let you know what I find. Yours in dance nerdery right here! It has nothing to do with the US cereal Apple Jacks though, those bad boys came later.

I don't have any other tales to tell, I just put that in the heading as a teaser....

Next Monday: -

6.30pm Level 1, Beginners

7.30pm Performance Ball routine class (aimed at L2/L3 dancers)

8.30pm Level 3, Advanced

9.30pm Social Dancing

Cheers,

Shaz & Josh

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