This post is the commentary that came with some of the nominations for best lindy hop team videos to give voters a little more context.
Please note that some of these comments were cut out of longer ones because I wanted to I break them up by video for these posts.
Additional background information about this project can be found here.
Watch all of the videos listed below on one YouTube playlist here.
The ballot to vote on these videos will be posted on Monday, October 13, 2025.
Mad Dog - Danvers’ New Year's Extravaganza 2002
Mad Dog brought the rawness back. Jonathan Caron
Impossible to overstate the impact this routine had on the scene at the time. Gina Helfrich
The 2002 Mad Dog routine, being from the same era as the ULHS fast dance competition made my list for much the same reason. Coming when it did, it helped set the stage for what lindy hop has become in this first quarter of the 21st century. Greg Stasiewicz
Mad dog! what else is to say? Tom Yi
I wrote about Mad Dog as part of my history of the lindy hop scene up until 2007-ish, which had it’s own chapter. Jerry S. Almonte
The Mama Lu Parkets - Count Basie Centennial 2004
Nothing compares to Mama Lou Parks dancers’ energy and groove! Helena Martins
The website Yehoodi celebrated its 6th anniversary alongside the 100th birthday of Count Basie, which drew over 1000 dancers to New York City in 2004. A group of people, who learned to dance from Mama Lu Parks, just showed up that night, asked to perform, and the Yehoodi staff just let them. What followed was one of the most electrifying performances of the modern lindy hop era. Jerry S. Almonte
The Silver Shadows - ALHC 2006
The Silver Shadows came out of Mad Dog, but went through a few iterations before assuming its final form at ALHC 2006. A lot more will be said about them under their Frankie95 performance, but this routine put the lindy hop world on notice. Jerry S. Almonte
The Swedish Heroes - ULHS 2007
I’ll go out on a limb and say that the team division at ULHS 2007 may have been one of the greatest collections of team talent in modern lindy hop history. There were only four teams, but any one of them could have won 1st place in any other team competition in the past 25 years. The Swedish Heroes were basically The Harlem Hot Shots at that time, minus one couple, but were joined by Henric and Joanna Stillman, maybe two of the best performers to come out of the Swedish lindy hop system. Jerry S. Almonte
23 Skidoo! - ULHS 2007
23 Skidoo showed that you could beat the world's best with tight formations, a great song, and pushing the envelope. Kenny Nelson
The Silver Shadows - Frankie's 95th Birthday Festival (Frankie95)
Nowadays there are dancers who've never heard of The Silver Shadows. This tribute to Frankie shows them at the top of their game, honoring many of the classic choreographies that we all know and love -- with some of their own special sauce. Gina Helfrich
A team of some of the best dancers dancing to cut of two classic Count Basie songs to pay tribute to Frankie Manning. John Holmstrom
I mean, come on, the Silver Shadows are such an important part of what has made Lindy Hop what it is in this century. They had to be in here! Cari Meisel
I think I cried the first time I watched this. Classic but not cloying, and full of a love for Frankie's legacy in what felt like an authentic way (not to mention, executed at such a high level). I would make this required viewing. Breanna Perry
Silver Shadows at Frankie 95 is the best tribute to elders. Jon TIgert
Silver Shadows performing their tribute to Frankie Manning at Frankie 95 (2009) with Frida Segerdal, Skye Humphries, Nina Gilkenson, Andy Reid, Todd Yannacone, Naomi Uyama, Peter Strom, and Ramona Staffeld: These dancers were my inspiration from when I first started lindy hop in 1999, and I still admire their dancing today. Their first performance together took place at ULHS in 2005, 20 years ago, and most of them are still extremely active in the scene. By Frankie 95 they had already performed several gorgeous choreographies together, including an entire show worth of material performed at the Great Southwest Lindyfest in 2007. I love each of their individual dancing and as a team their choreographies were unique, beautiful, intricate, and felt like the best example of lindy hop to me at that time. In my memory after having danced for 10 years and traveled extensively for 5 years, this particular performance was the first time that lighting had been used for a choreography during a lindy hop event. I believe the empty spotlight in the beginning was meant to represent Frankie Manning, who had abruptly passed away about a month before his 95th birthday celebration. I will let others comment on the size and importance of this event and Frankie Manning’s legacy, but in my memory this particular choreography was the only new piece performed during the festival that was designed specifically for Frankie, paying homage to his choreographies, favorite music, and style of dancing. The team had worked on it at Lindyfest in March of that year, which was the last big event he attended before passing. Although we had already heard Shiny Stockings many times that weekend, as it was Frankie’s favorite song later in life, there was something extra moving about seeing Skye and Frida enter the spotlight on the first set of “Classic Frankie Moves” couples’ solos to begin the number. Each couple’s shine was beautifully designed to the music with the staging in and out of the spotlight in mind, and anyone who had taken a workshop with Frankie had learned those moves from him. The change of music (and lighting!) to the Jumpin’ at the Woodside turned the energy up and the beautiful choreography included references to Frankie’s earlier routines from Hellzapoppin’, Keep Punchin,’ and Hot Chocolate. I still tear up watching this routine and thinking about what it meant to watch it at his memorial event in 2009. Karen Turman
In the moment this routine touched me so much, I pretty much had tears from the first piano notes of Shiny Stockings all the way to the end. The moment, the context, the meaning behind the artistic choices from the song they danced to, to the moves, and of course all these dancers that I love and that have contributed so much to our scene. You could tell that these dancers had something to say, and that this something was heartfelt and sincere, coming from a place of love. Alain Wong
One2Swing's The California Rolls - ILHC 2009
I find team routines boring and kind of fascist, because I'm a goddamn American, and I like to do what I want. This is the exception. When one of the dancers flipped her skirt back like she's wearing tails and proceeded to play the rest of the team like a piano, the room went insane. One of the coolest moments in my Lindy Hop memory. Creative, unique, hilarious. This and the King James Bible are the two times in history where a committee pulled it off. Michael Seguin
My favorite team routine ever. Paul Riding
It is really hard not to put Minnie's Moochers’ Love Me or Leave me, Emily and Todd’s Love Me or Leave Me or The California Rolls Love Me or Leave me. Hmmmm..... All great choreographies to Nina Simone. Gotta Love it! Tena Morales
The Harlem Hot Shots - Herrang Dance Camp 2011
The HHS at Herrang is just the best, cleanest, highest energy performance there is. It's the closest to a single take Hellzapoppin we've ever come. Jon TIgert
Lindy Hoppers Dozen - ILHC 2011
Like a Metronome All-Stars recording, Lindy Hoppers Dozen's 2011 performance at ILHC is a perfect team routine that I come back to over and over, finding it consistently gratifying, musical, clever, skillful, playful, and with a glorious Ella Fitzgerald and her Famous Orchestra backing them up. Laura Windley
The Fly Rights - ILHC 2013
The Bobbysox Brigade and The Fly Rights had a friendly rivalry that made them both produce epic routines year after year. Robin S.
The performance by The Fly Rights sticks out in my head as one of my favorite team performances. It's high energy and well-danced — but it's also so different from what we were seeing in team performances at the time, from the opening to the aerial train. Cari Westbrook