Shown at Frankie95, here’s the official global Shim Sham video.

Dancers from around the world dance a Shim Sham as a tribute to Frankie Manning on his 95th birthday. The video was edited by Akemi Kinukawa and was screened during the Frankie95 celebration held in New York City over the 2009 Memorial Day weekend. It features over 5,000 dancers from 22 countries in four and a half minutes of pure joy. Click the HQ button to watch in high quality.

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Our Northern Lights team routine at Frankie95. Choreography by Joshua Welter and Mélanie Huot-Lavoie. The song is (If I Had) Rhythm in my Nursery Rhymes by Wingy Minone.

Thanks Patrick for uploading it! Visit http://frankie95.com for the official DVD and event information.

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Stefan Durham and Bethany Powell perform a wonderful piece to Stuff Smith’s version of “I Hope Gabriel Likes My Music” at Frankie95.

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The life of the professional swing dance instructor isn’t all luxury flights to exotic locals like Cleveland to teach and dance all night. There is also what we call “corporate gigs,” which often involve some passive aggressive PR rep, usually named something like Mercedes, who hires us to entertain large parties. The only reason we take these gigs is because they usually pay well and often involve a free dinner of some meat wrapped in bacon. However, more often than not, they lead to the kind of experiences we had at a recent gig.

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The casting company needed a greaser and a poodle skirt girl for a Country Club 1950s-themed party, and Jeff Booth was out of town. The gig came to us, and I set aside my t-shirt, blue jeans and loafers. They wanted Kate, however, to send them a picture of her outfit. It was an actual period 50s attire, something you would have seen in the actual 50s, minus a poodle on the skirt. This would not do. They wanted Kate to drive the hour down to DC, pick up a poodle skirt from their poodle skirt warehouse, and drive back. They’d reimburse her $25 for the two and a half hours it would take. She instead went out and bought a poodle to put on her skirt. She showed them the outfit, and, no, they’d really REALLY encourage getting one of their poodle skirts. They would ship it Fed Ex.

She ended up persuading them that her outfit was fine, but it took several emails and a headache to do so. We suspected some form of middle-aged demon was behind this. Read more »

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Bobby “Extremely” White is currently in the middle of P90X, a 90-day work-out regimen that’s growing in popularity with swing dance instructors. Each week, he reviews one of the programs 12 exercises, and gives an update on how it’s going and where it hurts.

DAY 63

At the writing of this post, I had begun my final month of P90X, which starts off with a First Month workout week, followed by a Second Month work out week, and then repeats that, ending with a final recovery week.

I started off the third month reaching two big personal goals: I did a complete Ab-Ripper X workout without taking any breaks, and I did a really good, complete Plyo workout without taking any breaks.

For the Ab-Ripper goal, I was afraid that it would be awhile before I could do it all without breaks, because my back could never last through the little Bermuda triangle of Scissors/Hip Raise/Hip Pop, which takes place in the middle of the workout. But I did it, and though my form got a little sloppy towards the end of some of the work outs, and though it hurt a LOT finishing up the Hip Hops, I stuck with it. I never expected to get through it all, but, late one night, tired of taking breaks, I just tried to keep going. It somehow worked. Read more »

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Ninjammerz perform “Jitters” on Saturday night at the Frankie Manning 95th birthday celebration in New York city. The dancers are Max Pitruzzella, Annie Trudeau, Dax Hock, Alice Mei, Thomas Blacharz and Claudia Joyal-Laplante. Visit http://frankie95.com for the official DVD and event information.

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Harlem Hot Shots performance on Saturday night at the Frankie Manning 95th birthday celebration in New York City. Visit http://frankie95.com for the official DVD and event information.

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Silver Shadows pay tribute to Frankie Manning at his 95th birthday celebration on May 23, 2009 in New York City. The dancers are Skye Humphries, Friday Segerdahl, Todd Yannacone, Naomi Uyama, Peter Strom, Ramona Staffeld, Andy Reid and Nina Gilkenson. Visit http://frankie95.com for the official DVD and event information.

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Andrew Thigpen (Atlanta, GA), creator of the Lindy Calendar, gives us a review of the Canadian Swing Championships (CSC 2009) this past weekend.

He’ll be our guest emcee and will also be teaching with dance partner Karen Turman at the Cat’s Corner 11th anniversary in Montreal on Halloween weekend Oct.30 - Nov.1st, 2009. Thanks Andrew!

Filed Under: Dancer Interviews, Event Reviews | by Alain Wong | Comments (2)

Bobby “Extremely” White is currently in the middle of P90X, a 90-day work-out regimen that’s growing popularity with swing dance instructors. Each week, he reviews one of the programs 12 exercises, and gives an update on how it’s going and where it hurts.

Since I have finished the first three weeks of my second month, this week is a “recovery week,” which, if you remember, is only called a recovery week to trick you into actually pushing play on the Core Synergistics workout. We’ll talk about that workout today.

Day 1: Core Synergistics , Day 2: Yoga, Day 3: Stretch, Day 4: Yoga, Day 5: Core Synergistics, Day 6: Kempo (a martial-art type cardio workout), and Day 7: Lying in the fetal position, whimpering (rest day).

DAY 56

While in my second month of P90X, I was at Boston Tea Party, where a group of fellow p90Xers spent probably a half hour at the midnight breakfast buffet talking about p90x and boring onlookers. Among the group were Nick Williams, Mickey Pedroza, Dave and Kim, and myself. We discussed the women in the video we think Tony wants to make out with, the exercises we love or hate, the recovery drink, and techniques for working out.

Though it had to be totally the most inane conversation for anyone else in the area to be a part of, it got me really pumped up to workout the next day, and to vent about all the things I’ve been thinking and feeling throughout this process. I was inspired by those who had done the program, and hope, in turn, I said something that inspired those in the group who were just starting. It reminded me of how great it is to share something like this with someone. P90X involves things I’m beginning to love, things I hate, things I’m proud of, things I’m new to, things I can’t understand. It’s changing me, both physically and mentally. And somehow, cracking silly workout jokes with friends is reflective of a great feeling of community. I work out alone, in a small room, where all my struggles and personal battles take place. But I’m not alone. And that gives me strength to go back and struggle more. Read more »

Filed Under: Dance Advice, Trends | by Robert White | Comments