Interview breakout session with Raul Malo at the 2023 Waterfront Blues Festival with Curtis Salgado, produced by Erika Olsen (Peter Dervin photo) If people feel a sense of inclusive joy when they hear the Mavericks' music, then I've done my job. —Raul Malo,...

Photos from Seabeck Dance Camp 2025 (NW Dance) The space theme for NW Dance's Seabeck Camp this past weekend was right up my alley. Friends with telescopes used to take me along to Red Rock Canyon in the California desert, where we'd marvel at planets, galaxies and...

Above: Jon Batiste, photo by Scott Newton (Austin City Limits) With so many ways to communicate at our disposal, we must not forget the transformative power of a live music experience and genuine human exchange. —Jon Batiste Good news: Attending live music shows can...

Each year, at one of my dances around Thanksgiving, we provide strips of paper on which dancers can write what they're grateful for. I'm always deeply moved by what's expressed, and throughout the night I read as many as possible to the crowd. This year people were...

“Indulgence in the turkey trot, the tango and other objectionable modern dances is as much a violation of the seventh commandment as adultery.” So bloviated Rev. Father Wm. A. Brothers, a clergyman from Montclair, NJ around the year 1913. (Library of Congress) The...

When you are dancing...for that two and a half minutes...it's a love affair, between you and your partner and the music. You feel the music, you feel your partner, she feels you and she feels the music. So there the three of you are together. You've got a triangle,...

"Take 100% responsibility for yourself" is a piece of advice in a Dance with Brandee article — about getting more of what you want on the dance floor — that stood out for me. Brandee lists this under tips for follows, but I think it goes equally well for...

There was a time that I, too, "used to turn my nose up at line dancing," as Celina Meador posted recently in the group Line Dancers on Facebook. Like Celina, however, I've not only learned to love line dancing but even started teaching it, spurred on...

It was delightful to see an article on the healing power of music in the main section of the Seattle Times this past Sunday, Scientists are all ears about using music to relieve pain (Christina Larson, AP). Turns out the evidence has been there a long time,...