I have a soft spot for Naomi. Peter is ok. But one of the things that I’ve always appreciated about Naomi is the sense of class she brings to her dancing. It’s a big reason why I’ve come to believe that Lindy Hop can be used to legitimately express a much wider array of emotions than what most people typically associate with it (Raw, Bad ass, silliness, etc.) Her Frenesi routine is still one of my favorites.

I like this recent ILHC performance because it’s a simple yet very personal yet story. I know I took a shot at dance story telling in the comments section of the last post, but I’m not completely against it. I just don’t like being reminded of it while you’re doing it-if that makes sense.

Part of this particular story is that it’s been over a decade in the making. A lot has changed over the years. Some of which I miss and some not so much. While I generally like the musical direction of our scene, I do wish that not all of the Groove era stuff was tossed away. There’s some quality stuff there, especially from the album where they get this version of “I Could Write a Book.” which is still one of my favorite cd’s from the that time. There’s also a great version of “I Can’t Give you Anything But Love” on it.

It was interesting to hear Naomi describe the way she tried to choreograph this piece now that she’s singing as much as she dances professionally. Sarah Vaughn is a tough act to follow vocally, and Naomi has a respect awe for the way Vaughn can perform Cirque du Soleil-like acrobatics with her voice. But I like how she and Peter translated it into this pleasant duet piece.

The Groove Era gets a bad rap for a lot of poor dancing, which was in abundance back then, but there were still some gems. I feel like this performance is an homage to some of those ideas like this one that Peter did with Janice Wilson about 10 years ago.

The other part of the story is how long some people in this scene have known each other. You just never know how things will turn out.