What were the best Lindy Hop videos of 2016? I am not entirely sure. That didn't stop me from putting together a list of 105 videos that I think best represent Vernacular Jazz Dance this year.
Most of those videos are on the handy YouTube playlist above. You can also click HERE to see the annotated version where I added little notes as to why some of these were noteworthy. (Which are only visible if you view it on a desk top computer)
A few other videos don't reside on YouTube, so I'm listing them below. They include:
A little background on this list: I used to do this sort of thing every year from 2009-2013.
2009: Lindy Hop Couples, Online Highlights, Lindy Hop Teams, Improv Dancing, Other Vintage Dances, Personal Favorites
2010: 2010 Introduction, Improv Dancing, Lindy Hop Teams, Swinging Music, Lindy Hop Couples, Other Dances, Solo Jazz, Blues & Balboa, 2010 Closing Thoughts
2011: Most Popular Lindy Hop Videos, Lindy Blogging Highlights, Wandering & Pondering Greatest Hits, 2011 in Review, Personal Highlights, 2011 Closing Thoughts
2012: Blogging Highlights, Swing Music, 2012 in Review, Notes on Video Developments, Lindy Hop MVPs, Dance Highlights, Flashback with Ramona Staffeld, 2012 Personal favorites and Closing Thoughts
2013: Most Viewed Videos of 2013, 2013 Swing Dance News
I put off lists for 2014 and 2015 because of a lot of reasons. It took being drafted for someone else's project for me to put together something for this year.
This is not a comprehensive list. I put this list together with an eye towards what has the most views, truly outstanding performances, and what seem to be socially, culturally, or historically significant within the context of our community. In that way, I hope these lists function as a sort of time capsule to remind me of highlights if I or anyone decides to ever gets around to writing that comprehensive history of Lindy Hop.
That being said, I freely admit that my personal tastes and experiences do play a large part of this. I'm sure 100 other people could pick 100 other different videos that could represent 2016 just as well, and I would not argue with them. In the end, I don't think that's possible for any one person to be able to see and evaluate everything that comes out these days.
It's a nice problem to have.
I actually did an interview with Ryan Swift on The Track Podcast earlier this year, where we discussed why and how I select videos to highlight among many other subjects relating to this blog and Lindy Hop in general.
If you have a lot of time, a more comprehensive list of 2016 videos can be found on my YouTube page. I constantly update several playlists including highlights for each year.
If you want to get a regular stream of Lindyverse related links, videos, thoughts and my photos, click the Like for the Facebook page for this blog over to the right.
If you're new around these parts then click HERE for a handy guide to interesting posts about the Lindy Hop community. It's mostly up to date except for my last major post about the overall state of Lindy Hop back in 2014 which you can find HERE.
I spend a lot of my time these days taking photographs which you can follow on Instagram and Flickr and a separate site I've set up for my Street Dancer Project.