Risk vs. Reward

Yet another opportunity to re-post old Facebook notes and consolidate my writings. I originally wrote this a year ago for an art project by my friend Sandy Yin, the blogger of "A Brief List of Rules." She gave me good feedback and I was going to re-work it, but I've decided to just re-post it as is since it combines a lot of things happening this week like Carla appearing on "So You Think You Can Dance" and that I'm about to go spend my fifth Thanksgiving with Naomi. It's just a nice reminder to me of the spirit of the holiday.

The story of my start in dancing begins like many others: with a girl and a smile.

Carla Heiney & The Boilermakers on So You Think You Can Dance

Last night Ellenore Scott & Ryan Di Lello performed a Lindy Hop piece choreographed by Carla Heiney on So You Think you Can Dance. The dancers did a great job with the performance given the tight time constraints, but any woman that can teach me how to dance should have no problem with much more gifted performers.

I remember the years taking lessons from Carla while she was still studying biology at the U of Maryland. When she told me about her dream of becoming a full time dancer I thought to myself “A full time Lindy Hopper? Really?” I was worried about her earning a living, never mind any kind of notoriety.

AIR pt. 14: The Plot Twist

Two years ago, I compiled a list of my favorite routines from The American Lindy Hop Championships in response to an open request by that event’s promoter. As I was making the list, I discovered that I found it harder and harder to come up with stand out moments as time went on. It wasn’t because the dancing was bad—in fact it was much better technically as years pass—but very little stood out creatively in the way Minnies’ Moochers, Jenn Salvadori & Justin Zillman, or Mad Dog did during their times.

DCLX-Secret Origins

Well, maybe not secret, but few people are around that remember very much.

The first DCLX-DC Lindy Exchange-was hatched in the back of a van coming back from ALHC 2001 somewhere on I-95. Mike Miloszewski was on a dance high and wanted an excuse to relive it again. And soon.

Holding a national dance competition seemed out of the question at the time, but Lindy exchanges were just becoming popular. Mike decided that it was time for DC to have its own.

Random Links & Videos: Let's Get Physical Edition

Many new blogs on the interwebs. Sorry it's taken me so long to link to them.

This one is a super in depth explanation of how followers use the muscles in their backs by a licensed massage therapist. <Hot Club of Durham>

Random Videos: Friday Blues

A few videos are popping up from The Emerald City Blues Festival last weekend. Here are a couple nice ones. First up is a pretty gutsy Josephine Baker inspired performance followed by a routine by Seattle's own Sister Kate.

Check out YouTube user FloriDave for more.

Random Links & Videos: History Lesson Edition

Four weeks after ULHS and still no word on official results. Even ALHC put up their results a week after it ended. I still have unofficial results in my "ULHS 2009 Round Up" post, and at least lots of people are talking about ULHS online. I also just added another blog to that post from another attendee. <Me>

Just in case ALHC was feeling neglected, someone who attended that event finally posted a review to prove that someone went. The omnipresent and always opinionated Allen Hall chimes in with the latest installment of his <News and Views>

That post also includes his latest sojourn to DC with his wife Rudy last week. They hit up The Boilermakers at Glen Echo hosted by Flying Feet and stopped by The Jam Cellar.

Anatomy of a Dance Contest: The Champions’ Strictly Lindy Hop Division at ILHC 2009 pt. II

There’s been a lot of discussion about the use of pre-planned choreographed sequences in social dance contests for awhile now. (Yehoodi, Lindybloggers, and White Heat) Event directors Nina Gilkenson, Tena, and Sylvia shared those same concerns. At the same time, they didn’t want to tell the dancers how they should dance . . . even though they really wanted to.

Anatomy of a Dance Contest: The Champions’ Strictly Lindy Hop Division at ILHC 2009 pt. I

I’ve already written quite a bit about this past International Lindy Hop Championships, but to illustrate how complex any one part of an event can be I’m going to give you a peak behind the curtains of The Champions’ Strictly Lindy Hop Division at ILHC 2009. This one competition took about 20 minutes out of a four day event. Theoretically, a dance contest sounds like a deceptively simple recipe: Add one part music, several parts dancers, and it’s off to the races, right? In reality . . . not so much.

There’s a very thin, delicate and ever shifting line between managing an event and just letting it happen. There’s no secret formula for making sure everything goes right, just as there’s no way to anticipate and prepare for everything that can go wrong. There’s a lot of moving parts; not just logistical, but also creative and political. Details are plentiful, and it’s remarkably easy to be tripped up by even the smallest one.

Make good decisions, and if you’re lucky, you may be rewarded with something very special.

Q & A with Skye Humphries pt. 4

Let's talk about the places where you can Lindy Hop – If I wanted to start, how could I do that?

Most major cities have a Lindy Hop scene. The best place to start is the internet- finding the local dance and going out. Of course lessons are a helpful way to get a handle on the basics, but the most important thing is to go out and start moving to the music.