Jazz Cafe (London)'s legendary jazz, funk & latin club night.
feat DJs Adrian Gibson & Jazz CoTech dancers

The Messin' Around club night has been running since 1996 and was conceived by JazzCotech Dancers' Perry Louis and Andy Hobdell with Adrian Gibson, The Jazz Café Promoter/DJ and now Freestyle Records main man. It is now the longest running club night ever featured in Jazz Café history and one of the longest running Saturday club nights in London - an accomplishment that will not easily be surpassed. On the music front, the session has always prided itself as being for those who appreciate good music and the Messin' Around DJs, both residents and the numerous guests over the years, have worked hard delving into vaults and dusty warehouses (stepping over the odd cockroach or two!) around the world to ensure that quality is maintained; they are truly inspirational - pushing the Messin' Around sound to new boundaries all the time.

JAZZ COTECH DANCERS BIOGRAPHY

JazzCotech Dancers from different part of the UK, brought together by Perry Louis, who founded the group in the early 90's. As individuals, JazzCotech Dancers are all Clubbers who have had no or very little Dance training. We are all from different social and cultural backgrounds with different takes on Jazz Dance and we are all very individual, in style as well as personality. What we have in common, however, is that we all love Jazz and we all love to dance to Jazz. Perry chooses the Dancers for those very reasons: individuality and that special something are a must to be a JazzCotech Dancer ' equally important is a strong passion for Jazz, JazzFunk, Funk or Soul music and the ability to 'let go' and lose yourself on a dance floor. All of that makes for a strong group unit and as a group, we are the most versatile and busiest Jazz Dance group in the UK at present, as well as the only one teaching, promoting and showcasing the art of UK Street-Fusion Jazz Dance.
JazzCotech Dancers have danced for and alongside all sorts of musical greats and have appeared at all major international Jazz and Music festivals; e.g. St Lucia, Montreux, Furano and North Sea Jazz Festivals, as well as Phoenix, Brecon and Glastonbury festivals. We have danced with numerous Jazz and Funk bands and have supported well-known artists such as James Brown, Maceo Parker, Jamiroquai, Incognito, Mark Murphy, Wynton Marsalis and Jon Hendricks, to name but a few.

Street Fusion Jazz Dance was born at a time when many clubs turned away from Disco, Funk and Jazz in order to "move with the times" and remain commercially viable. Jazz and Funk clubs were driven underground and could be found in only a few pockets throughout the UK. In these underground haunts, new, Jazzier rhythms with Funk, Brazilian, Latin and Afro Cuban influences were discovered. As a result, Jazz Dancers were enabled to create their very own style of Dance, which would challenge their ability to change with the new rhythms and "follow" the music. In addition, Dancers explored their acrobatic capabilities in so-called drop moves as well as a variety of floor work, often mistaken for Break Dance.
Street Jazz Fusion Dance is a breathtaking mix of fast, intricate footwork, graceful spins and acrobatic floor moves. Using the music's varying rhythm patterns, the Dance works on the Dancers' creativity, their understanding of the music and their own energy. As such, the style is deeply rooted in clubs ' unlike the theatre style Dance style, most people associate with Jazz Dance. Definitely no 'Jazz Hands' here and a lot of people have their whole understanding of Jazz Dance turned upside down when they experience our style for the first time. To witness Street Jazz Fusion is an attack on all senses.

Unfortunately, these days too many people think Jazz is old people music, lift music, easy listening, smooth stuff you relax or fall asleep or have dinner to. The stuff we dance and club to is a mix of high tempo Swing/Bebop, Afro Cuban, Brazilian, Latin and Funky Jazz. Most of it is high-octane and dates back to the late 60s and early 70s, expanding to the mid 80s, a time when Jazz Fusion was at its freshest and rawest and Musicians seemed to be at their freest and thus most experimental. Anyone who knows their Jazz will know that this genre isn't for the faint hearted. It's deep, complex, sometimes aggressive and dark ' definitely not Music you would dare fall asleep to.
The beauty of Street Fusion Jazz Dance is that it is totally flexible, lacking the rigidity of many other Dance styles. It is for this reason that it appeals to such a wide audience, especially young people. The words of 'wrong' and 'technically unclean', which we so often hear in Dance schools are replaced with 'individuality' and 'energy' and we firmly believe that anyone can get into dancing our style of Jazz.

More info at
http://www.jazzcotech.com/
http://www.myspace.com/messinaroundclub 

From 10pm in The Ballroom. Advance tickets £12 (stbf) from Tickets Scotland, Ripping, Underground Solushun, The Voodoo Rooms, online at www.ticketweb.co.uk or by phone on 0132 220 3234.