alain’s dance blog

The Spirit Moves is considered the bible for Lindy Hop and authentic jazz forms. Indeed, the documentary contains authentic footage of dancers back in the day, dancers that we now consider “legendary”, dancers like Leon James, Al Minns, Frankie Manning.

Here’s a description from SavoyStyle, maintained by Judy Pritchett:

Mura Dehn was a Russian emigrant to the United States in the 1930s. She was so impressed with the African-American social dance that she saw in New York City that it became her life’s work to document African-American vernacular dance. One of her achievements was “The Spirit Moves”, consisting of six hours of remarkable archival film. Formerly available for viewing only at the Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center in New York City and the Smithsonian. The first 3 parts of this are now available on videotape at SavoyStyle.

For those who are curious about the content, here’s the original index from the movie:

Chapter 1
Ragtime: Strut, Cakewalk, Breaks–steps in cakewalk
Jazztime: Charleston (1920’s), Jazz steps (1930’s, including Boogie-woogie, Shimmy, Susie-Q, Snake hips, Black bottom, Fish tail

Chapter II
Blues: Rent party, Shakeblues, Speak easy, Male shake blues, Gutbucket blues

Chapter III
Savoy routines: Trunky doo, Aerial lindy, California (lindy), Big Apple.
Postwar trends: Calypso, Apple jack
Jazz Dance

Many Lindy Hoppers today study the Spirit Moves and learn from them. For example, Mike Faltesek’s famous 2006 solo blues routine draws elements from the Shake blues section. And Naomi Uyama’s winning performance in the solo blues contest at Showdown 2006 shows influence from the solo dancing of Mildred Pollard (aka Sandra Gibson).

I’m so glad this documentary exists to show us authentic jazz dance forms as danced by artists from that time period. You can purchase The Spirit Moves at Swingdanceshop.com.

The New York Palladium-Times reports that Ramona Noel Staffeld will appear at the Oswego IDOL fundraiser.

The Pittsburg Post-Gazette published a nice article on Coal Country Traditions, a nonprofit organization in Pittsburgh with the mission to preserve many styles of dance, including swing.

And most interesting mention of Lindy Hop this week was found in the Edmonton Journal, where freelance music reporter Mari Sasano mentions Lindy Hop in a K-OS show preview. Seemingly out-of-nowhere.

Toronto-based k-os makes songs that are smart, but also infectiously dance-able. Who didn’t do the lindy-hop to Crabbuckit in 2004

On a side note, there are two awesome events happening this weekend near Montreal. The Canadian Balboa Championship run by Jason Herron, and the Albany Chill Lindy Hop exchange run by our friends in Albany. Both events are a three hour drive away. I’ll be in Albany for Barbara Morrison and Gordon Webster!

Given the traffic I’m getting on my blog from being featured in the thumbnail of the Gmail: Behind the Scenes (Final Cut), I think it’s time for me to post about why Ann and I submitted our video - and why we are so glad it was selected.

We’re in love with Lindy Hop, the original swing dance from the 1930’s and 40’s.

I discovered Lindy Hop when I started my first year at McGill University. Back then, the swing dance community in Montreal was pretty small. The Swinging Air Force had just started, Kurt and Cleo from Swing Express still taught swing, and Cat’s Corner was still looking for a home. SAF is now Studio-88-swing, Cleo is now Mlle Oui Oui Encore and teaches striptease burlesque, and Cat’s Corner is proudly in downtown Montreal.

My initial attraction was to a cute girl named Nicole dancing in front of the Arts building at Mcgill. It later become a hobby for me and Elvire, a friend from Cegep. And now, it has turned into a life’s passion.

Lindy Hop is a dance, but it is also a dance culture and community.

The dance is pure joy. Being part of the African-American vernacular dance tradition, it embodies rhythm and improvisation, and allows you the freedom to express yourself however you choose. And because Lindy Hop is a street dance, there’s no right or wrong way to dance it. You make it your own.

There’s the dance history. There is much history involving Lindy Hop and jazz music. Swing revivalists and historians alike have done much to preserve the dance history. Peter Loggins created a historical jazz dance foundation, Nick Williams and David Rehm collected vintage video clips, Margaret Batiuchok wrote her master’s thesis on the Lindy, Cynthia Millman helped Frankie Manning with his autobiography.

There’s the dance culture. In classes, dancers rotate partners. You get to meet everyone right away. And at dances, you can ask anyone to dance without fear of rejection. People do not come as couples and dance solely with a partner. Instead, everyone socializes and it’s great fun.

There’s the dance community. The Lindy Hop community is known for its warmth and openness. For some reason, there are no bad people in the dance scene. Maybe it’s natural selection at work? When I traveled to Europe last summer, Judy from London gave me the keys to her house. Sonia from Montpellier picked me up and hosted me at her apartment. Olivier from Lattes helped me out during a whole weekend workshop - I even sat down for supper with his mom and two children!

But most notable among these hospitable people during my trip were the dancers from Barcelona, who drove me across the border into Spain. They were kind enough to fit me into their itinerary and even took the time to introduce me to their nude beaches first before dropping me off. Now how cool is that?!!

In fact, in any city with a Lindy Hop scene, you will find dancers who will welcome you into their home. I’ve had great experiences in Canada (Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec city) and in the United States (Burlington VT, Rochester NY, New York City). And from friends, I’ve heard that the hospitality extends to the entire planet, from Sweden to Korea.

I’m really glad Lindy Hop made it onto the Google video so that it gets the exposure I think it deserves.

A lot of students have asked me about the different dances, so I’ll let the videos speak for themselves. Here are some solo jazz dances: Black Bottom, Charleston, Blues.

Josephine Baker

Jojo Jackson dancing the Black Bottom at Rocky Mountain Girl Jam 2007 Sharon Davies and Max Pitruzzella battling in a solo Charleston dance-off at Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown 2006 Mike Faltesek performing solo Blues at SoCal Blues 2006

Tonight, Gabriel - a student in our Intro to Lindy Hop class at Cat’s Corner - asked about the song we dance the Shim Sham to, so I decided to post about it.

The Shim Sham is a solo jazz routine appropriated from tap (the creator was Leonard Reed). We teach it because it’s an awesome way to introduce beginner dancers to jazz movement and rhythm.

Here’s a video of legendary Frankie Manning leading the Shim Sham to Bill Elliott’s Shim Sham Song:

The traditional song that we dance to is Tuxedo Junction, but it is danced to other songs as well. Read this thread on songs for the Shim Sham. The one I play most often is Jimmy Lunceford’s T’aint What You Do (It’s the Way that You Do It).