alain’s dance blog

Our Northern Lights team performance at Frankie95. It was such a great experience preparing for this. Melanie & Joshua, the choreographers, did an amazing job building the routine. Dancers are Eric Bertrand, Nardia Tonge, Mélanie Huot-Lavoie, Joshua Welter, Alain Fragman, Caroline Rossi, Lunou Samson-Poirot and me. The other team members who’ve danced this routine with us in the past are Sylwia Bielec, Adrian Warnock-Graham, Marie N’Diaye.

It was intended as a tribute to the past (and especially to Frankie Manning) and so you’ll see many classic vintage moves and styling. The feedback we’ve gotten so far has been overwhelmingly positive - thank you!

My favorite teaching partner Ann Mony (who recently moved to Washington DC) is featured in this week’s Jam Cellar video class review.

Miss you, Ann!

This past May, Max Pitruzzella and I danced a showcase routine at CSC 2008. It was fun and interesting to work with him. Here’s the video.

The Camp Hollywood 2008 Pro Lindy finals. My favorite moment… Mikey and Nina swinging out 10 straight times for their entire first spotlight. Amazing.

Also check out all the other amazing couples.

1st - Nick Williams & Carla Heiney (CA)
2nd - Kevin St Laurent & Emily Hoffberg (PA)
3rd - Jeremy Otth & Laura Keat (CA)
4th - Juan Villafane & Sharon Davis (Argentina & Australia)
5th - David Frutos & Kim Clever (CA)

Thank you readers for following my dance blog this past year. I’ve decided to put blogging on hold for the next month as I prepare for my 7 week bike trip from Vancouver to Mexico. I’ll be dancing all along the West Coast on my way down south (starting with Camp Jitterbug in Seattle), so I’ll definitely write about my journey along the way.

It’s not too late to donate (click here to go to my donation page), and you can also come support me by dancing on Friday April 25 at Cat’s Corner. The Cool Canaries will be playing for my fundraiser.

New Dance Blog

As Carl mentioned yesterday, we are launching a collaborative dance blog project this summer. There will be more dancer interviews, more jazz music discussions and more reporting on Lindy Hop events in the near future.

For now, here are the most popular posts of the last year:

The Lindy Hop dance

• Top reasons why you will fall in love with Lindy Hop
• How to prepare for a swing dance competition
• The different types of dance shoe soles: pictures

Spotlight on dancers

• Dancer Interviews: Adam Boehmer
• Dancer Interviews: Stephanie McKernan and Lindy Bout
• Handpainted t-shirts of Lindy Hop dancers: Max Pitruzzella
• Handpainted t-shirts of Lindy Hop dancers: Mike Faltesek

About swingin’ jazz music

• How to start your collection of swinging jazz music
• Song playlist at the Montreal Lindy Hop Exchange 2007
• Song playlist for the Battle of the Swing DJs 2007
• My Top 5 Count Basie songs for swing dancing
• My Top 5 Sidney Bechet songs for swing dancing
• My Top 5 Duke Ellington songs for swing dancing
• My Top 5 Fats Waller songs for swing dancing

Wicked dance videos

• You can dance no matter what your size!
• We’re dancing Lindy Hop in the official Gmail video by Google
• The family of swing dances explained in video part 1
• Best slow motion dancing in a Lindy Hop video clip
• Watch our Lindy Hop performance at ULHS 2007
• SwingOutDayton team choreography to OK GO
• Watch Jordan Frisbee and Tatiana Mollmann at the US Open 2007
• Watch the SuperJews dancing at Swingin New England
• Bands for dancers today: Loose Marbles
• Watch the Harlem Hotshots from Sweden on TV
• Watch a tribute to the Harlem Congaroos in Seattle
• So You Think You Can Dance: The Lindy Hop