A few random links I've been meaning to share.
The first one is a video forwarded to me by Ann Mony who should be debuting a website any day week now. Maybe.
The above performance is by fellow DC dancer Naomi Uyama and Todd Yannacone.
They're performing this week at the Vail International Dance Festival in Colorado.
I also dug up this article about the festival which features a couple quotes from Todd.
Everyone's d doin' it: Lindy Hoppin blogger, Breanna Perry has a cool take on Naomi's performance with her Silver Shadow teammates Nina Gilkenson and Ramona Staffeld.
Completing the Naomi hat trick is an older blog post by a jazz fan who ran into Naomi while she was singing with the Cangelosi Cards earlier this year in New York City.
Onto other non-Naomi related links:
This site posted segments of a documentary about the growth and development of Lindy Hop in Toronto.
Perusing through the bookstore this weekend I stumbled upon a couple interesting books. One is called "Thriving on a Riff: Jazz & Blues Influences in African American Literature and Film" It's a collection of essays including one on minstrelsy images in film. That article devotes several pages to analyzing the Ivie Anderson/Whitey's Lindy Hoppers segment of the movie "Day At The Races."
It puts forth the thesis that certain cuts and close ups subvert the otherwise talented performances on screen.
This reminds me that I've started putting together an Ivie Anderson related post. Keep an eye out for that in the next few weeks.
The other book is a new collection of essays by Amiri Baraka called "Digging: The Afro-American Soul of American Classical Music (Music of the African Diaspora)"
I was only able to page through it, but did read one essay about a conversation between Baraka and Bill Cosby. They talked mostly about the relationship between jazz and dancing. That's not unusual except that Cosby grew up jammin' to post WWII jazz which many people don't find very danceable. Other than that, their observations are pretty akin to what most Lindy Hoppers would say about music and dance.
I recommend checking out both books if you see them.
