Charlley and Cynthia Fest

Charlley and Cynthia are coming to town(s)! Friday Lancaster blues and fusion, 6-9pm, dance to midnight, Saturday Philly Latvian Society Philly Bop, Philadelphia Strand, and Urban Ballroom 12-5:15 workshops (With Audrey and June), 7-11 adult cultural dance then blues. Sunday Chevy Chase 12-5 live Piedmont Blues with Archie’s barbershop, food, learning from Cynthia and Charlley, and general merriment. Sunday 7-11 DC First Sunday Fusion. Not with Charlley and Cynthia or on the first Sunday but still awesome. More details soon in comments So I don’t have a great name for this one, sorry. But when I talk to people about Cynthia being the best new (post Covid) teacher on the global scene, I’ve heard pushback from people who feel like comparison is wrong in general, but I’ve never heard anyone say “no, this other person is better”. It’s just always a clear agreement (or acceptance if I’m in Europe or something so they don’t know her). If you haven’t taken her classes, come and have her whip your technique into shape behind your back while your attention is on how great the music is and how much fun you’re having. Meanwhile Charlley is technically more old than new, but has grown to be unrecognizable (yes, he was very tall before). He kicks ass in both dance and music blues comps and makes people feel welcome and cared for immediately, which is great and why I hired him before. But Big City Blues in Belgium is now a Charlley Ward Fan Club event because when Charlley gets big, he gets BIG. From the first moment I became aware of him (calling out some bad history at Sweet Molasses a decade ago), I knew he could dominate a room. But now he can sweep the room up and carry it with him. Whether he’s storytelling, teaching, DJing, or playing, he’s the only person in our scene who really feels to me like a rock star. Ask people about the time he DJ’d Gravity at Muse and everyone ran over to him to make him stop because anyone else playing it would evoke bad Lindy late nights from the time before education; they realized by the time they’d gotten to him that he had the room in his hand and people were dancing quality blues to it. Charlley led lessons where he’s able to get big don’t tell you about the culture and dance, they sweep you up in it.