Is the name given to both a musical form and a music gerne that originated in African American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the USA at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work song, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads? The blues form, ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll is characterized by specific chord progressions, of which the twelve-bar blues chord progression is the most common. The blue notes that, for expressive purposes are sung or played flattened or gradually bent (minor 3rd to major 3rd) in relation to the pitch of the major scale, are also an important part of the sound.

The blues form is a cyclic musical form in which a repeating progression of chords mirrors the call and response scheme commonly found in African and African-American music. During the first decades of the 20th century blues music was not clearly defined in terms of a particular chord progression. With the popularity of early performers, such as Bessie Smith, use of the twelve-bar blues spread across the music industry during the 1920s and 30s Other chord progressions, such as 8-bar forms, are still considered blues; examples include "How Long Blues", "Trouble in Mind", and Big Bill Bronze’s "Key to the Highway". There are also 16-bar blues, as in Ray Charles's instrumental "Sweet 16 Bars" and in Herby Hancock's "Watermelon Man". Idiosyncratic numbers of bars are also encountered occasionally, as with the 9-bar progression in "Sitting on Top of the World" by Walter Vinson.

The blues is a genre very happy can be danced as a type of swing, with no fixed patterns of movement and focusing on sensuality, body contact and improvisation. Most blues dance moves are inspired by traditional blues music. Although the dance is usually performed with blues blues themes, it can be done with any music that has a slow rate of 4/4. I like it because it's relaxing and yet very moved.