The Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown finished up it’s final year in Minneapolis, MN this past weekend with a great set of bands and contests which set the bar for events to come.

As a quick teaser before the review of this year’s event check out some of the great footage that is already hitting YouTube. These two clips are courtesy of Andrew Thigpen.

If you have footage of ULHS 2008 toss up a comment with a link for everyone to see.

Filed Under: Event Reviews | by Carl Nelson | Comments

Continuing with our introduction to Dear Casey (taken from WhiteHeat Oct.27, 2006 and Feb.04, 2007)

Dear Casey

I’ve been mulling over what to ask you. I was going to start with something lame like “As a DJ, what should I do when people ask for real swing music like BBVD or Mambo #5 and I don’t carry it in my book?”

But instead I will ask about something that is of immediate concern to me. I’ve been dating again and have been out several times over the past two months with a lovely man named ‘J’. At our last date, J told me about his dream relationship, me, him and another woman who would be our caretaker. I soundly told him off and said I wasn’t interested, and wrote him a long email listing all his faults, and not expecting to hear back from him.

Today, he writes me and wants to get back together. What should I do?
oh and Casey - J’s idea of real swing music is Kenny G, he listens to the Smooth Jazz station.

Ms. Starr Read more »

Filed Under: Dance Advice | by Casey Schneider | Comments

This is the second part of a two-part feature with World Lindy Hop Champion and Balboa Mastermind Nick Williams. For this part, Williams, an avid “clip collector” and swing-dance historian, takes us on a brief You Tube tour of some of his favorite clips, and discusses how much of modern swing was shaped by Harlem, Hollywood, and a few jitterbugs practicing on a beach.

DAY AT THE RACES

NW. “A Day At The Races” is so significant because it’s the first time Lindy Hop from Harlem was performed in a major motion picture. If you notice the lack of aerials in the clip which is from the year 1937. It was the beginning stages of air steps in Lindy Hop. The focus is on dance and mini routines for the most part. Personally I’ve taken a lot of material and routines from this clip. I haven’t taken as much styling from this clip because it of the simplicity in this clip and the fact that I prefer how the dance developed in the next few years.

Referring to your styling comment, I’m always amazed, looking at this clip after becoming a studier of swing dance, how “raw” the dancing is, [not necessarily related to the somewhat ambiguous term "raw" style dancing.] There’s definitely a lot of refinement that happens between this and the Whitey’s dancing only a few years later.  I don’t think it’s bad dancing, it’s just fascinating to see. Read more »

Filed Under: Dance History, Dancer Interviews | by Robert White | Comments

We’re pleased to announce the international debut of “Dear Casey”. For those unfamiliar with her column, Casey Schneider has been responding to swing dancers in an advice column format for a couple of years now on White Heat, advising Seattle dancers on everything from social dancing etiquette to bringing the grit back into Blues dancing. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be publishing ten of her most *serious* posts to introduce you to her column. Send your questions to casey@lindybloggers.com

Dear Casey,

Is there any etiquette for birthday songs or jam circles, i.e. how long to let someone dance before jumping in or priority for who gets to jump in first?

Sincerely, Waiting to Jump

Excellent question! “Improper” behavior is one of my pet peeves in RE jams of any kind.

Yes, there’s etiquette and then there’s reality. For a birthday dance, I would say etiquette - and knowledge of this dance - dictates waiting for at least a phrase in slow to mid-tempo song, and possible two if the song is very fast. Now, reality dictates that not everyone will do this, and some people are so popular that you might need to cycle through more quickly to satiate the desire of all the non-birthday dancers. But in REAL reality, none of us are that cool, so give a person a phrase, people. It’s not hard. Read more »

Filed Under: Dance Advice | by Casey Schneider | Comments (2)

This is the first part of a two-part feature with World Lindy Hop Champion and Balboa Mastermind Nick Williams. For the second part, Williams, an avid “clip collector” and historian, will take us on a You Tube tour of some of his favorite clips.  First, though, we sat down with Nick over IM to talk about Lindy Hop, Balboa, and the unseen dangers of shooting a commercial.

I’m sitting here (metaphorically speaking) with Nick Williams, champion Swing Dancer.  Let’s do the obligatory ones first…how did you start swing dancing?

NW. I started when I went to college at USC.  My longtime friend knew of a student-run club that offered a 12 week swing course.  We joined and immediately got hooked.  This was in the beginning of 1998. I had seen the movies like “Swing Kids” but never really mad e the connection or realized there was an entire scene with such awesome dances to go along with it. Visalia, where I grew up, wasn’t exactly a hip and happening town, so I had to find these things out when I moved to LA for school.  So I knew very little about jazz at all.

Was there a particular moment when you decided that what you wanted to do for a living was be an incredible swing dancer? Or did it just happen slowly?

NW. Well, I had been going out dancing with my USC friends and never realized there was a “swing scene.” There were so many clubs at that time that had swing nights in LA it was easy to get lost into it. Eventually I realized there was a scene with top dancers and friends that knew each other from club to club. Although I never thought I could be as good as they were. Read more »

Filed Under: Dance Advice, Dancer Interviews, Upcoming Events | by Robert White | Comments (8)

Southern Belle Swing Bash is hosted in Atlanta, GA and is organized by Gina Helfrich and Jaya Dorf.  Similar to the Girl Jam’s hosted throughout the U.S., Southern Belle is a follower-focused event, and is actually the longest running follower-focused event in the U.S. (their tagline – perhaps the world).

This year brought together three exceptional teachers; Ramona Staffeld (NYC), Evita Arce (NYC), and Gina Helfrich (Atlanta).  Tracks were broken into three levels; intermediate, advanced and masters with numbers ranging from fifteen couples in the masters track to forty or fifty in the intermediate and advanced tracks.  The teachers rotated throughout the various tracks teaching both solo and partnered classes.

Guest leads Nathan Bugh (NYC), Patrick Manigault (Atlanta) and myself, Carl Nelson (NYC), accompanied the instructors.  Teni Lopez-Cardenas (Denver) was the special guest follower for the weekend. Read more »

Filed Under: Event Reviews | by Carl Nelson | Comments (12)

Bal Jam (4 stars – out of 5) by Abigail Browning

This year marked the third semiannual Bal Jam, the premier Balboa dance weekend sans workshops.  Run by Bobby White and Kate Hedin, but hosted by the Philly Bal dancers, notably Jenn Scricco, this year proved to be a marked success.  A well-organized event, the strongest ingredients in this Bal Jam weekend were the music, the venues, the caliber of dancers and the addition of the “Afternoon Dance Colloquium.”

Watch David Rehm and Kate Hedin dancing in a milk crate. (video by Kevin J. Voss)

Read more »

Filed Under: Dance History, Event Reviews | by Abigail Browning | Comments (3)

This past spring, I had the chance to work on a choreography with Max Pitruzzella, an Italian from France now living in Montreal. He’s well-known for wowing crowds with his acrobatic routines with partner Annie Trudeau, but that’s not what comes to mind first when I think of him. Actually, what comes to mind first is one word, and that word is “Badass”. Whether he’s wearing it on a cap, a t-shirt or adding it to the soundtrack of a performance, he has used that term so often that you can’t help but repeat it or revile it.

Here’s the routine that Max and I danced at the Canadian Swing Championships this year.

Filed Under: Dancer Interviews | by Alain Wong | Comments (5)

Joanna Lucero is a dancer and performer living Atlanta, GA.  She performed as part of a benefit gala for a local preservation society and here is her review of the event.  It is great to see these sorts of organizations keeping the dance alive and honoring old timers who helped bring us the dance. -Carl

On September 6th, I and many other Southeast lindy hoppers took part in the Atlanta Jazz Dance Preservation Society’s first annual benefit gala and performance showcase. The AJDPS is the brainchild of Atlanta lindy hoppers Michelle Postles and Nima Farsinejad.
“The Atlanta Jazz Dance Preservation Society is a non-profit, educational organization dedicated to the preservation of historic jazz dance forms of the early 1900’s through the promotion of performance, live music, dance events, educational community programs and historical archiving.” Last week’s gala honored special guest and jazz legend, Dawn Hampton.

Sosh and Joanna doing a candlestick

Each performance was preceded by a brief introduction by the evening’s MC, Jesse Gearhart, regarding the dance style to be presented, or the composer whose music we were about to hear. There were many styles of jazz dance presented; Black Bottom, 20’s Charleston, Breakaway, Tap, Blues, and of course, Lindy Hop. Some performances were tributes to some of the famed dancers of the past, such as Josephine Baker, Al Minns, Leon James, the Nicholas brothers, and Honi Coles, and some performances were recreations of vintage dance clips well known in the lindy hop community such as “After Seben”, “Day at the Races”, the “Tranky Doo”, and the “Big Apple”. Lastly, there were also many original choreographies performed.

Read more »

Filed Under: Dance Community, Event Reviews | by Carl Nelson | Comments (1)