I’d like to say I decompressed on the ride back, but I just sat on the train and stewed, making myself angrier. I started writing a summary of my weekend experiences, but that turned into a litany of threats, culminating in a step by step plan to take on everyone I held responsible for pissing me off. I was pretty much prepared never to step into another Lindy Hop dance again, but fortunately a few people stepped in to pull me from the edge.
The Important Things
Nina Gilkenson is an incredible storyteller. One of the things I marvel at, no matter where we are, is how she’s able to captivate friends and strangers alike by talking about anything, up to and including paint dry. I was reminded of this even as she told stories about a week I wouldn’t wish on anyone. The waiting room of an Intensive Care Unit is not normally a very festive place, but it felt that way last Friday. I brought dinner from my favorite place to eat in the city. No one was in the mood to make a decision about food when I called earlier, so I used that as an excuse to get everything on the menu that looked good to me. We were all pretty hungry anyway by the time I got to the hospital.
Frankie95 Highlights and Observations Pt. VIII
I think I got the most sleep all weekend on Monday morning; about 4 hours worth. Then it was back to 424 W 34th street. We cleared that space of regular workshops and decided to schedule the rest of our presentations there.
Frankie95 Highlights and Observations Pt VII
The rest of Sunday evening went pretty smoothly.
Sitting through the Jack & Jill semi-finals reminded me why these things are usually scheduled in the afternoon of most events. We were originally supposed to do it right after the show and before the bands took the stage to give people time to go eat dinner or otherwise freshen up. Unless you’re in it, prelims and semi-final dance contest rounds aren’t the most riveting things to watch. Thanks to Joel Domoe, Aurelie & Tony Tye and our DJ, Ryan Swift for moving things along as quickly as possible.
Weekly Video Highlights: The Manzari Brothers
A little something different this week as I'm trying to find time to sort all the awesome Lindy videos from the past couple of months. The Washington Post recently did a wonderful spotlight on up and coming DC tap talent, John and Leo Manzari.
The two brothers are both in high school but are currently in a local production of Sophisticated Ladies, a musical based on the music of another DC native, Duke Ellington. The show is headlined by Maurice Hines, the brother of the late great tapper Gregory Hines. Here is is talking about discovering the two brothers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhxi4JrTiwY
And a couple more videos of the guys dancing. Here's John by himself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KepwUib39to
Battle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QepHEMGUzvY
Frankie95 Highlights and Observations Pt. VI
I grabbed a radio and headed upstairs to check out how everything was progressing. That’s when I found out that we were in more trouble than at any other time in the festival.
Visionary Project Interview with Norma Miller
With all this talk about Frankie, I don't want to overlook one of his surviving peers from the old days, Norma Miller. Fortunately, I randomly found the recently uploaded clips of her doing an interview with the Visionary Project. Here Norma gives some interesting background on Hellzapoppin’. It's a very sobering reminder that those days weren't just about dancing.
Frankie95 Highlights and Observations Pt. V
George Henik reminded me that the Saturday night didn’t end with the live music. Anyone paying attention will note that the Saturday late night was the only time when we featured an extended DJ set. The reason was simply because we didn’t want to put the pressure on musicians to try to follow the show that preceded it that night. However, I think we left the night in the good hands of Jesse Miner and Rayned Wiles.
They kept the crowd going so well that they didn’t want to stop dancing even after they left the ballroom after 4:00 am. This was obviously not late enough for the 100+ dancers who loitered in front of the Manhattan Center until someone got the bright idea to just start clapping hands and get everyone dancing again.
Weekly Video Highlights: The Ninjammerz Invade Asia
The Ninjammerz hit up Japan and Korea last month brought lots of new material with them, and were greeted with an equal amount of creativity. Thanks to these YouTube users for posting these videos
Frankie95 Highlights and Observations Pt. IV
You would think everything would have gotten easier after we settled into the Hammerstein Ballroom, our home for the last half of the event, but not so much.
Saturday was the first day of workshops. Theoretically, over 1000 people were eligible to take workshops. According to a survey we took a month before, closer to 800 had plans on taking them.