The Festival
The Big Blues is the first international blues dance festival in Greece and aims to consolidate and become a meeting point of blues lovers from all around the world, for their summer vacation!
We invite you to Chania (Crete) to share in our love during six hours of quality lessons across three levels from four great international teachers.
Enjoy relaxed dances in picturesque locations, music from six special international musicians in three nights of Blues Parties and side events connecting us with territory!
The Big Blues is the first international Blues dance festival in Greece and aims to consolidate and become a meeting point of Blues lovers from all around the world, for their summer vacation!
We invite you to Chania (Crete) to share our love during six hours of quality lessons across two levels from four great international teachers.
Enjoy relaxed dances in picturesque locations with music from special musicians and DJs in four nights and three days of parties and side events connecting us with the surroundings!
TEACHERS
Shawan
Adamo & Vicci
Edmilson
Born and raised on the islands of SãoTomé and Príncipe, Edmilson Botelho has always been immersed in music, drawing inspiration from the vibrant rhythms of African traditional dances such as Usôa, Puíta, Funaná, Cadence, Kizomba, Semba, Kuduro, and many other African styles, as well as POP dance. His dance journey began at the age of 17 when he moved to Porto, Portugal, and discovered his passion for Lindy Hop and Blues Dance.
His dedication to the art of dance eventually led him to become one of the partners at Hop Dance Studio in Porto, where he shares his love for movement and rhythm with others.
As a passionate dancer and teacher, Edmilson embodies the spirit of dance, finding joy in every step and rhythm. With his captivating energy and charismatic personality, he creates an atmosphere of fun and humility wherever he goes, inspiring others to feel the rhythm and express themselves through movement.
Annette
Flouer
The greatest students are formed by the greatest teachers:
learn from the best!
Adamo and Vicci started their blues dancing journey together in London, where they nurtured and grew the blues dance scene, setting up two weekly blue dance events – Sin City Blues and Stompin’ the Blues – plus Blues at The Ritzy, a monthly live music event. They created Europe's first blues dance performance troupe, The Down and Outs, and are co-organizers of Espanish Blues Festival in Madrid.
Adamo and Vicci have an incredible chemistry on the dance floor, bringing intensity, elegance and musicality to the dance.
Their passion for blues is evident in their inspiring classes, giving dynamic and energetic lessons with a focus on creativity, communication and connection within the partnership, developing a relationship with the music, and encouraging dancers to find their own blues voice.
Both trained teachers, Vicci and Adamo love to create new and intuitive ways to communicate technical concepts to their students. Their lessons are interactive and interdisciplinary involving drawing, discussions, giant elastic bands and even chopsticks!!!
They believe your body is a musical instrument and your dancing is the music you play, and will help you to discover the way your body moves in a whole new light.
By watching them dance, or joining their classes you will learn to really ‘feel’ the blues!
Adamo & Vicci
Annette lives in Heidelberg, Germany, and is one of Europe’s most prominent champions for blues dance.
As a teacher, dancer, DJ and organizer, she has been spreading her love for early Black American dances in general and blues dancing in particular for almost two decades, and is renowned Internationally for her expertise, dedication, energy, and kindliness.
Her infectious appreciation and passion for blues music, dancing and history shines in every step she takes and every lesson she teaches.
CLASSES
What is an advanced dancer?
A beginner dancer after a few years!
MUDDY
WATERS
You take regular blues dance classes or have attended blues dance workshops and festivals.
If you listen Two Blues song everyday…at least.
You are confident with your basics and have a pot of vocabulary that you play with on the social dance floor. You are here to take your dancing to the next level.
You want to expand your
vocabulary, refine your all important basics, and develop your musicality so you feel comfortable dancing to a range of tempos and different styles of blues music.
MUDDY
WATERS
You take regular blues dance classes or have attended blues dance workshops and festivals.
If you listen Two Blues song everyday…at least.
You are confident with your basics and have a pot of vocabulary that you play with on the social dance floor. You are here to take your dancing to the next level.
You want to expand your
vocabulary, refine your all important basics, and develop your musicality so you feel comfortable dancing to a range of tempos and different styles of blues music.
BIG BILL BROONZY
You take regular blues dance classes and attend blues dance workshops and festivals.
You are an experienced blues dancer and feel comfortable dancing to all tempos and different styles of blues music.
You listen 4 Blues songs everyday…at least!
You have strong lead/follow skills and understand the importance and role of each partner in blues dance.
You are here to take your dancing to the next level. You understand that great basics make great dancers and would happily spend classes on refining your technique and layering on top of it.
BIG BILL BROONZY
You take regular blues dance classes and attend blues dance workshops and festivals.
You are an experienced blues dancer and feel comfortable dancing to all tempos and different styles of blues music.
You listen 4 Blues songs everyday…at least!
You have strong lead/follow skills and understand the importance and role of each partner in blues dance.
You are here to take your dancing to the next level. You understand that great basics make great dancers and would happily spend classes on refining your technique and layering on top of it.
PARTIES & MUSICIANS
PARTIES & MUSICIANS
The Blues is danced in three:
You, me and the music!
Hot Shots
The project started in 2017, in collaboration with 'Slow Town Blues', a local blues dance school and association in Turin, Italy. The band has participated since the first edition of 'The Big Blues' and continues playing in events in Italy and the rest of Europe. In 2021 the band found its actual formation with Samuele 'Chico' Di Nicolantonio on guitar, Alessio Boschiazzo on drums and the Tabasco brothers, Boris, singer/harmonica player and Marco on bass. Their repertoire goes from the blues classics to some blues rearrangements of contemporary pop and rock music. Originals played with a fresh and irresistible sound, making you dance all night long, from Buddy Guy to Ben Harper.
Boris (Andrea Bo’ Rasco) is a natural-born frontman and a passionate student of afroamerican music. His great technical skills with the harmonica and a fine musical sensitivity allowed him to spread his blues soul through the years, in many musical projects, such as Night Riders Blues Gang, Inside Outside and Fratelli Tabasco.
Blues Nite Revue
The Blues is danced in three:
You, me and the music!
Hot Shots
The project started in 2017, in collaboration with 'Slow Town Blues', a local blues dance school and association in Turin, Italy. The band has participated since the first edition of 'The Big Blues' and continues playing in events in Italy and the rest of Europe. In 2021 the band found its actual formation with Samuele 'Chico' Di Nicolantonio on guitar, Alessio Boschiazzo on drums and the Tabasco brothers, Boris, singer/harmonica player and Marco on bass. Their repertoire goes from the blues classics to some blues rearrangements of contemporary pop and rock music. Originals played with a fresh and irresistible sound, making you dance all night long, from Buddy Guy to Ben Harper.
Boris (Andrea Bo’ Rasco) is a natural-born frontman and a passionate student of afroamerican music. His great technical skills with the harmonica and a fine musical sensitivity allowed him to spread his blues soul through the years, in many musical projects, such as Night Riders Blues Gang, Inside Outside and Fratelli Tabasco.
Blues Nite Revue
The project started in 2017, in collaboration with 'Slow Town Blues', a local blues dance Community and association in Turin, Italy. The band has participated since the first edition of 'The Big Blues' and continues playing in events in Italy and the rest of Europe. In 2021 the band found its actual formation with Samuele 'Chico' Di Nicolantonio on guitar, Alessio Boschiazzo on drums and the Tabasco brothers, Boris, singer/harmonica player and Marco on bass. Their repertoire goes from the blues classics to some blues rearrangements of contemporary pop and rock music. Originals played with a fresh and irresistible sound, making you dance all night long, from Buddy Guy to Ben Harper.
Boris (Andrea Bo’ Rasco) is a natural-born frontman and a passionate student of afroamerican music. His great technical skills with the harmonica and a fine musical sensitivity allowed him to spread his blues soul through the years, in many musical projects, such as Night Riders Blues Gang, Inside Outside and Fratelli Tabasco.
Blues Nite Revue
Blues Nite Revue is a musical duo born from a deep passion for the Blues. Composed of Angelo Castiglione (Hohner Artist), on vocals and harmonica, and Marco Naffis (IBC Winner), on resonator guitar, the duo is not only a fusion of sounds, but also of cultures and musical traditions. Both are scholars and enthusiasts of the Blues, and their in-depth knowledge of the genre leads them to reinterpret it in an authentic and personal way.
Together, Angelo and Marco have created a unique fusion of sounds and stories, conveying their passion and research through every performance. Their music is a journey into the heart of the Blues, telling not only the story of the genre, but also that of two artists who, despite coming from distant backgrounds, are united by the same passion for music and tradition. Their approach is deliberately acoustic: no amplifiers, no effects, to authentically capture the soul of each song.
Francesca English
Born in New York from Jamaican father and Italian mother, she has lived in Turin since the age of three.
In 2010 she began a recording career that would lead her to publish records and perform throughout Italy. She learned the trade by accumulating great experiences but suffered from the superficiality of the music market. For this reason she refused talent shows and in 2020 she interrupted the course she had undertaken to explore new paths in complete freedom.
In search of a way of making music that is human-scale and that respects the natural times of art, she does not produce records and does not publish on Spotify.
She dedicates herself completely to live performances.
From drunken singing at the piola to musical composition for theaters.
Black vocal cords played by an Italian heart.
The Newton Family
The sons of British bluesman Kit, the Newton brothers were passionate about music from their early years of their lives. In ’99 they created their first project, “Pacific Blues Band,” in which they played with their father, which later became “The Newton Family”.
No technical exhibitionism, which though they could afford, but a repertoire offered by those who all their lives have felt it on them to those who, listening, will indulge in it.
Blues as it should be, not physiological: suffered, sincere, loved and hoped for; rich in contaminations.
Tom Newton- harmonica & vocals
Ben Newton- guitar & percussion
ACTIVITIES
We want to honor all of your five senses:
1. Sight: Fantastic panoramas
2. Touch: Unique connections
3. Taste: Typical Greek cuisine and drinks
4. Hearing: Wonderful Blues music
5. Smell: The scents of Greek nature
All together? Don't be shy...
Swinging ZOO asd
Via Goito 11, 10125
Torino Italy
C.F. 97835960010
The Big Blues
