Random Links: Stored up Odds & Ends

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.

Video Overview: The Battle at Jazz Jam

There are two main ingredients for to make a Lindy Hop competition significant.

1. Get a lot of good dancers to show up.

2. Put video of it up on the internet ASAP.

This is the reason why I'm posting about an event called Jazz Jam in Stockholm, Sweden. I always thought the scheduling of this event was brilliant. It takes place right after Herrang Dance Camp ends.

Newsflash: Minnie's Moochers Still Matter

Not really a newsflash, but just amusing to see how Camp Hollywood finally gets on the bus, 10 years later. I hear that Ben ans Sherri's teams did very well this past weekend and look forward to seeing more Camp Hollywood clips online.

AIR Pt. 4: Unintended Consequences

Minnie’s Moochers both exemplified and popularized various trends in the Lindy Hop community at that time. Those related to the music, the events, and the dance itself. These trends fueled each other through the late 90’s and early 00’s at a time when the modern national Lindy Hop community was coming together and bringing in large number of new dancers because of the increased popularity of Swing around the country. As a result, the community was absorbing ideas at the same time that it was coalescing, and was struggling to reconcile these ideas with what was passed to them from those who came before.

Survivance and Dance

I used to work at the National Museum of the American Indian. There, I met Gerald McMaster, a curator who coined the term “Survivance” for one of the exhibits. The word refers to the process by which Native communities endured though hundreds of years of challenges.

I went to the National Pow Wow hosted by my former employer in 2007. It was an odd experience coming from a different kind of dance community. The most significant one is that Pow Wow's are not just about dancing (social and competition), but they are also equal parts ceremony, marketplace, and family reunion. In that sense it's a much more robust experience than going to a typical Lindy Hop event weekend. I guess I could draw some parallels, but really, matching up a bunch of hobbyists with native communities that are thousands of years old can't really compare.

ILHC 2008 Highlights

One of the fun things about being involved with an event like this is getting to see and hear things I wouldn’t normally if I was just another attendee.

During the Friday floor trials, as we were still setting up the ballroom, the guy in charge of the hotel staff peaked at the competitors for the Classic division practicing. At one point we were checking out the room while Carla and Zack ran through their routine. Even though he had never seen Lindy Hop until that evening, he turned to me and said, “Out of all these people, I think they are going to win.” I just smiled and shrugged non-commitally, and moved on to the next thing that had to be set up.

ILHC 2008 Video Compilation: Showcase Division

This is part of a series of posts gathering up all the choice online footage from the 2008 International Lindy Hop Championships. This year’s ILHC is happening on August 27-30, 2009 and you can register at www.ILHC.com.

Showcase Division

Max Pitruzella & Annie Trudeau-1^st Place (above)

Laura Keat & Nick Williams-2^nd Place (No video available. Anyone got one?)

Showcase Jo Hoffberg & Kevin St. Laurent-2^nd Place