I’ve discovered that one of the barometers to measure the quality of an event is to see how many videos, how high quality they are and how fast they’re posted after the event is over. On all counts, Lindyfest from a few weeks ago wins. It took a little while for me to sort through them all because they’re all really good. There's at least three videos of every performance and jam. I recommend going over to Jo Hoffberg's blog where she posted the Houston Swing Dance Society's own videos from the event. They had a a few camera's going and were able to pick up the performances from some cool angles.

In addition to Lindyfest and a few other events around the Houston area, HSDS was one of the primary sponsors of last year's mega-event, Frankie Manning's 95th Birthday Festival. The entire community owes them a huge debt of gratitude for the sacrifices the organization and its members made in order to make that event happen.

Here's a video of one of Frankie's last public appearances at last year's Lindyfest. It's amazing to see the energy he had even at that point.

Thanks to all these YouTube users for posting their videos. Check them out for more of the good stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ryanrahn http://www.youtube.com/user/HSDSswing http://www.youtube.com/user/ryankw619 http://www.youtube.com/user/aek82 http://www.youtube.com/user/Midorable http://www.youtube.com/user/karlfike

Instructor Jam

The McNamara Alumni Dancers

These kids were awesome.

The Houston Hepcats

Jo Hoffberg & Kevin St. Laurent

Great performance even when you don't consider how sick Jo was before this event.

Frida Segerdahl & Skye Humphries

I blogged a bit about this performance last week, but I also wanted to point out the audience participation at 1:52 on this video. Guess we know who has seen the ILHC registration for ILHC is open? Well, it is. ;) video of this performance before. Did I mention that

Max Pitruzella & Annie Trudeau

Silver Shadow Ladies

Reprising their moody Herrang piece from last summer with a few changes.

The Silver Shadows

I never get tired of watching this tribute. Lots of love and energy here.

Weekly Video Highlights: Lindyfest 2010 with Bonus Footage