Lindy Hop Instructor Statistical Pornography

Stalking a lot of people at the same time is hard. Although stalking for academic purposes can be called research. Try that one on the judge next time someone files a restraining order on you. Let me know how it goes.

Not too long ago I was in the mood to make one of those lists of top dancers. No particular reason. Just one of those lists I was just curious to see written out in front of me.

What? Don’t you ever research something just to see the information in front of you? No? Well, I do. Don’t judge.

I jotted down what I could off the top of my head, looked at a relatively short list and thought to myself that this couldn’t be it. There had to be more people I wasn’t thinking of; probably around Europe, since I don’t feel I’m as familiar with what’s going on over there. That’s what led me to checking out the Herrang teachers awhile ago since I consider Herrang the center of the European Lindy-verse.

I still wasn’t satisfied after I was done with that, so I decided to check a few more event web sites around Europe to see if I could find any more unfamiliar names. Along the way I just started recording who was teaching where. I kept clicking and clicking until I had the instructor line ups for 120 events in front of me.

Swingtime Abridged

Woefully behind on the blog between the upcoming Big Big Benefit for Laurie Gilkenson and ILHC. Which is a good hing I have a bunch of old writings stockpiled for this sort of occasion. I'll have some stuff up about Camp Jitterbug, updates on ILHC, and try to dig into my backlog of cool videos as soon as I can. The Atomic Ballroom blog put up a nice top 10 list of ballroom dance sequences in vintage films. It lists quite a few Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire sequences including two from the film Swingtime. Although I am disappointed that they didn’t include the finale to that film, “Never Gonna Dance,” which I consider their best performance, period. Anyway, it reminded me of this post I originally put up as a note on my Facebook profile a couple of years ago.

The Big Big Benefit for Laurie Gilkenson

Following up on my post about Laurie Gilkenson a couple of weeks ago. I visited her in the hospital last weekend and she's doing much better and may be moved out and into rehab soon. On behalf of Nina and her father, I'd like to thank everyone for their kind words and donations. If you haven't seen it already, we'll be having a benefit for Laurie. It's a little overwhelming to see so many people generously donating their time for this.

Happy Birthday, Frankie!

What else is there to say? This is from Frankie's 88th Birthday Celebration in 2002.

My favorite DC memory of him where he took us to school. In the midst of an improvised Big Apple during a jam, he jumps up out of his chair from the sidelines, stops the presses and shows the kids how its done.

And my favorite "new" video of him with his son Chazz Young. I don't get tired of watching this.

Learn more about him at his official website: www.FrankieManning.com

Frankie95 Thanks

It's a shame a more formal Thank You didn't go out after the Frankie Manning 95th Birthday Festival, so I'll repost the one I did on my own on June 3, 2009.

The following list is by no means complete, and it’s not the official list. I only had a small part in this event, so I’m sure there are quite a few other unsung heroes of Frankie95 out there. However, I wanted to thank everyone that I came in contact with over the weekend or otherwise helped out that I can remember.

Frankie95 Propilogue

Next to last stop on my Frankie Manning 95th Birthday Festival Retrospective. I actually wrote this note first before the others and went back and forth between re-posting it or not, and whether it should go at the beginning or the end. A few weeks ago I thought it was appropriate to end, but reading it now makes me think it should have gone first. Oh well. This note was originally posted on May 31, 2009.

Video Highlights: Stockholm Tap Festival 2010

building on last week's Manzari Brothers videos, here are some nice videos from the 2010 Stockholm Tap Festival. Videos courtesy of lindyhopporto.

First up is tap bad ass, Jason Samuels Smith.

Chloe Arnold

Finally, A very loose Big Apple performed to live music. Dancers include Isabella Gregorio, Vincenzo Fesi, Mikaela Hellsten, Oskar Markusson, Frida Borg, Rikard Ekstrand, Hanna Zetterman, and Mattias Lundmark.

Frankie95 Highlights and Observations Pt. IX

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.