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)

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Filed Under: Dance History, Event Reviews | Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

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.

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Filed Under: Dance Community, Event Reviews | Wednesday, September 17th, 2008

When I heard that Tena (Morales), Nina (Gilkenson) and Sylvia (Sykes) were putting on an event in Washington D.C., there was no question of whether I would be attending.  I’ve been to events Tena has organized before and they are often some of the best run weekends.  Add Sylvia’s excellent career as head judge and Nina’s ability to bring people in with her joyful swivels and smile and you have the makings of an excellent event.

The International Lindy Hop Championships wrapped up late Sunday night to Peter Strom and Naomi Uyama’s soul jams when they began to take the floor apart from underneath us.  A fitting image for the whole event.  Attendees, whether competing or just there to dance, brought the energy to create a great event and it paid off.  The atmosphere was relatively relaxed on the social floor.  While competitors came prepared with solid performances and were received with great enthusiasm by the audience.

Saturday night jam, photo by Ryan Swift

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Filed Under: Event Reviews | Friday, August 29th, 2008

A comprehensive review of the International Lindy Hop Championships will be up shortly. In the meantime, watch Marty Klempner in a bright red zoot suit truckin’ skating his way into the semi-finals in the Solo Charleston contest on Friday night.

For those who were at Camp Jitterbug in Seattle this past May, you probably remember Marty doing the same thing there in the Solo Charleston contest. This time around, we get both Marty and the Big Apple!
Note - this year Camp Jitterbug will be held a week after Memorial Day weekend in order to accomodate Frankie Manning’s 95th anniversary in New York City.

Marty Klempner and the Big Apple, photo by Ryan Swift

Filed Under: Event Reviews | Wednesday, August 27th, 2008