Michelle Lamb and Shawn Hershey are offering a Tango and Blues workshop before the fusion social at Melting Pot in May!
Registration Link: https://forms.gle/Kdv7vxSRsan87evt5
Website Link: https://fusiondancenyc.com/tango-and-blues-may12/
Melting Pot May Event Link: https://facebook.com/events/s/may-melting-pot-fusion-with-sp/573928214548024/
Find out more…
What will the workshop be like?
Shawn & Michelle will keep material fluid & flexible to match where you are at. You will get your own special blend of:
–> Connection: Flow, Stretch, Alignment, etc…)
–> Toys from Tango & Blues: Colgadas, Volgadas, Body Movement, Turns, Spins
–> Solo Movement: With increased awareness of our bodies comes more opportunity and deeper connection
.–> Ways “To Be” as it Relates to Dance: Dance is more than just movement and a game separate than life. We can learn to live from dance and we can learn to dance from life. Life is Art. Art is Life.
Who are our instructors?
We are so excited to have Shawn Hershey and Michelle Lamb teach us their own special blend of world class Blues and Tango dancing. It’s a rare combination to have such highly skilled Internationally sought after instructors in BOTH forms of dance.
Shawn is a top level blues and lindy instructor who has taught all over the world. Michelle is a world-renowned tango teacher with a background in classical dance. Not only are they fabulous teachers with great technique, but their love of dance and teaching shine through everything they do.
Why do Michelle and Shawn love dancing together?
Through many hours on the dance floor together, they have a deep appreciation for the other’s dancing and their partnership together. They share a pure joy of playfulness, humor, and detailed connection. Individually, they’ve both worked hard on their solo and partner mechanics which has created the ability to communicate across multiple dimensions of partner dancing. It makes magic.
More about the instructors
Michelle Lamb took her first dance steps at the age of 6 at the world renowned San Francisco School of Ballet. Her dance experience has been broad and eclectic including touring and performing with famous musical artists like Liza Minelli and Aretha Franklin in prestigious venues such as The Royal Albert Hall in London and off-Broadway theaters in New York City as well as that of assistant to the choreographer of the Miss Universe Pageant live telecast.
Michelle has toured the world extensively to teach and perform Argentine Tango and performed onstage with Orquesta Color Tango, the award winning Pedro Girardo Orquestras and choreographed for the classical composer and award winner Joseph Summer. She is currently living in NY, teaching tango and the Gyrotonic Expansion System.
Shawn Hershey came from an extensive music background, studying classical trumpet performance at the Eastman School of Music, so when he started lindy hopping in 1999 with the Lindybaby studio, he quickly got hooked! He has studied extensively at camps and workshops with nationally renowned instructors, and in 2002, started teaching swing and lindy hop in Boston around with various partners. Shawn also began teaching and performing lindy hop internationally with his sister, Betina Hershey.
Shawn’s style is a blend of traditional blues, lindy hop, and tango. He strives for technical perfection, but values musicality and fun above all else! Shawn has won or placed in dozens of blues competitions throughout the years, most notably Enter the Blues, Mile High Blues, Emerald City Blues, Cheap Thrills, and BluesSHOUT! He started teaching blues in 2005, and has since traveled and taught at workshops and events around the US and Europe, including Blues Muse, Austin Blues Party, Down Home Blues, the Fusion Exchange, and BluesSHOUT! Shawn has taught nationally and internationally with Amanda Gruhl, Julie Brown, Mike Legett, Heidi Fite, Joy Arico, Jenny Sowden, and others.
Before moving to NYC, Shawn taught with a collective of Boston dance instructors at New School Swing in Charlestown, MA. Along with Josh Fialkoff, he runs a successful swing and blues band, The Fried Bananas.
Shawn has more recently pursued Balboa social dancing and competition and has placed and won many competitions including 1st place with Yurina Shin in the amateur balboa strictly competition.
Why put Blues and Tango together?
The movements & techniques in blues and tango have a lot of similarities that connect across multiple layers of music, but there are movements that are specific to just one style that can help you strengthen and diversify your abilities on the dance floor.
To Shawn and Michelle, it’s ultimately about the melding of music and movement, two bodies moving in relationship. After training and training, there is magic that happens when the fundamentals become about connecting and meeting each other. It is a joyful experience to turn on the music, let go of attachment, and let our minds and bodies enter a state of flow. In the most connected of moments, you might even lose track of which dance you are doing.
