Part III
Recent History: 1983 - 2005
Slide Show Presentation
Click the icon to open the 1983-2005 slide show presentation.
Table of Contents
The Seeds Are Planted: 1983-1986
Norma Miller Drops a Name
Erin & Tami Stevens Open a Dance Studio
The Quest Begins
Al Minns is Discovered
Frankie Manning Emerges From Retirement - 1986
Erin Stevens & Steven Mitchell Encounter Frankie Manning
Erin Stevens Brings Lindy Hop Back to Pasadena
Lindy Hop’s Great Ambassador
Motion Pictures
Film Documentaries
Instructional Videos
Frankie Manning in Print
Theatre and Live Performance Choreography
Awards and Honors (Partial List)
The Neo-Swing Movement: 1989-2000
Pop Culture Marketing and the Generation Gap
LA’s Royal Crown Revue and the Birth of Neo-Swing
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
The Brian Setzer Orchestra
Other Neo-Swing Artists and the Music’s Impact
The Clubs
The Movies
Neo-Swing Miscellany: 1997
The Commercial - April, 1998
Neo-Swing Miscellany: 1998
Neo-Swing Miscellany: 1999
2000: The Beginning of the End
A Post Mortem of the Neo-Swing Movement
Neo-Swing Music
Neo-Swing Dance
The Relationship Between Neo-Swing and Lindy Hop
Lindy Hop Swing Dancing Today
Lindy Hop and its Companion Dance Styles
Lindy Hop Swing Dancing in Layman’s Terms
Lindy Hop and its Music
Lindy Hop Culture
Lindy Hop Across the United States
Lindy Hop Around the World
Lindy Hop in Kansas City and Lawrence
The Dynamics of Local Swing Dance Culture
1999: Lindy Hop Swing is Introduced to Kansas City
Cat’s Corner: 1999 - 2004
The Kansas City Swing Culture Beyond Cat’s Corner
The Lawrence Swing Scene
2003: Splanky.com and the Monthly Swing Jam
2003: Kansas City Lindy Exchange
2004: The Kansas City Lindy Hop Society
2005: Kansas City Lindy Exchange
2005: kclindyhop.org
Closing Remarks and Editorial Comment
The Seeds Are Planted: 1983-1986
In the years between 1983 and 1986, dancers from California and Europe converged on New York City in search of the original lindy hoppers. These young dancers, who had already gleaned all they could from vintage movie clips, needed more. They needed to learn from the dancers who witnessed first hand the evolution of swing dance that occurred at the Savoy Ballroom.
Norma Miller Drops a Name
On June 26th, 1997, Norma Miller described the time she first mentioned the name Frankie Manning to a group of aspiring young swing dancers in Harlem. The following comes from the written transcript of an interview that was conducted for the documentary JAZZ, A Film by Ken Burns:
Norma: Again, it started in Harlem. Again, there was a big band playing up at the, up at Small’s Paradise called the, the, Al Cop’s band. Right. And we used to just go up there on Monday nights and just be, be dancing. And at the time, there was a group of kids who used to come up from downtown, that used to come to the, Small’s Paradise and it was then began the resurgence, that’s when I began writing the book.
Note that Norma Miller refers to this as the beginning of the resurgence, meaning the resurgence of interest in Lindy Hop swing dancing. The book she refers to is her book titled Swingin at the Savoy. In the next passage there is initially some confusion about the year this occurred, but it is soon resolved as being 14 years prior to that June, 1997 interview or 1983. Again, from the transcript as the interviewer asks: How many years ago?
Norma: This was 1982.
Frankie: About 10, 13 years, about 10 years ago.
Norma: Exactly 14 years ago, see, cause it’s 13 years Larry, Larry’s son is 13 years, so it was the year before that. But that began, we wanted, kids used to all come to me and wanted to know all about the time Al [Al Minns] had gotten sick. And they wanted to know all about the dancing. I was saying, ‘There’s one man that can show you everything about this dance.’ And I said, I told this person who was, I says, ‘You gotta, you’re talking about dancing and the greatest dancer in the world is here in New York, and you didn’t know this man’s name was Frankie Manning?’
Frankie: Working in the Post Office.
Norma: Right, that’s it, and he’s working right, well, I said, ‘He’s right here. And that was when I say, ‘Frankie, I want you to come up to so and so and so and so,’ and the rest is history. But he began teaching people what the Savoy dance was all about. He had that kind of patience. I’ve never had that kind of patience.
There is little reason to doubt that in 1983 Norma Miller was one of the first to let the word out that Frankie Manning, the man who in 1935 defeated Shorty George Snowden by performing the first air step, was still around and able to both dance and offer instruction. But as upcoming paragraphs will show, these dancers first located and learned from Al Minns a full two years before Frankie Manning was brought out of retirement. Precise time frames aside, the point here is that Norma Miller let the word out around 1983 that Frankie Manning was still very much alive and well.
Meanwhile in Pasadena, California, some Ballroom dancers were also curious about swing dance, swing dance in its original, authentic style.
Erin and Tami Stevens Open a Dance Studio
Erin Stevens and her sister Tami, with the support of family and friends, started the Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association in 1983. Born to a dancing family, Erin received her first Fox Trot lesson from her father for her high school prom. In a 2003 interview published on laswinginfo.com, Erin recalls the experience by saying, “From that moment on I was hooked.”
Erin went on to take all the dance lessons offered at Pasadena City College. It was there that she met Steven Mitchell and became involved in the local dance scene. As their dance partnership developed, Erin was able to earn enough money teaching at local dance studios and winning local dance contests to pay her way through college. Erin went on to receive a bachelors degree in choreography and dance teaching from the University of California at Irvine.
Tami Stevens, after earning a bachelor’s degree, also became interested in Ballroom dance and attended classes at Pasadena City College. Tami went on to become the president of the campus Ballroom dance club.
After graduating from the University of California at Irvine, Erin returned home to Pasadena. About that time, California enacted Proposition 13, legislation that caused the Ballroom dance classes at Pasadena City College to be canceled. Recognizing the opportunity, Erin & Tami’s father suggested they start their own Ballroom dance studio, and that they did. Things were slow at first, but thanks to an article in the weekend magazine of the LA Times, their dance classes were soon full.
During that first year (1983), the Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association concentrated on the Fox Trot, Waltz, Cha-Cha, Rumba, and East Coast Swing. This was when Erin’s interest in swing dancing began to develop. Quoting from the laswinginfo.com interview, Erin had this to say about her dance interests outside the studio:
We [Erin and Steven Mitchell] were dancing the things we saw in old films from the 1930’s and 40’s, and all we knew was East-Coast swing. Then one day we ran across an old Life magazine that had pictures of dancers with the words “Lindy Hop” across it. When we saw those pictures we knew that it was what we wanted to be doing. Immediately we knew that the name Lindy Hop was what we needed to pursue. Seeing that magazine was, at that moment, a life altering experience.
Life altering indeed. Looking back, we now know that what they had stumbled upon was going to alter the lives of dancers all around the world.
The Quest Begins
In 1984, armed with the names that were mentioned in the August 23, 1943 issue of LIFE magazine, Erin Stevens and Steven Mitchell went to New York City in search of original lindy hoppers. As it turns out, they were not the only ones to do so. Several sources indicate that during this same period, founding members of Sweden’s Rhythm Hot Shots were also in New York seeking original lindy hoppers for the same reason: to learn. Their first success came in the form of Al Minns.
Al Minns
In part one of this series on the history of Lindy Hop, a list of the known great Savoy lindy hoppers was given. Among those listed was Al Minns. From Judy Pritchett’s Archives of Early Lindy Hop:
One of the great dancers of Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers, Al Minns was an energetic dancer with a wild, crazy-leg style reminiscent of ‘Long-Legged George’ Grenidge. Minns was in Whitey’s top group, known as The Harlem Congaroos and appeared in the feature film HellzaPoppin and in the Popular soundie Hot Chocolates. As the youngest dancer in this group, he was particularly fit and flexible. On the initial backstep of his swingout, he formed a striking horizontal plane.
Al Minns’ film credits include,
- Jittering Jitterbugs - 1938
- HellzaPoppin’ - 1941
- Hot Chocolates - 1941
- Cabin in the Sky - 1943
- Midnight Menace - 1946
- The Spirit Moves: A History of Black Social Dance on Film - 1987
- Jazz Dance (Film Short) - 1954
- Chicago and All That Jazz (a “Dupont Show of the Week” for TV) - 1961
Al Minns and Leon James, another early Savoy lindy hopper, performed together throughout the 1960s in an effort to keep Lindy Hop alive. Together they developed a novelty act in which they danced together and charmed audiences with their playfulness and ingenuity.
One story that bears mentioning surrounds the time Al Minns and Leon James demonstrated their playfulness while being interviewed by Marshall and Jean Stearns for the book Jazz Dance (Originally Published: New York: Macmillan. 1968). At the time, not realizing that twenty years later all things Lindy Hop would be researched in great detail, the two decided to embellish their memories of early Lindy Hop and the Savoy Ballroom with accounts of gang activity and other high drama. Going so far as to give detailed accounts of physical retributions that occurred for stealing a dance step or otherwise crossing the dance gangs that ruled the Savoy’s famed Cat’s Corner. According to an article by Kurt Lichtmann of Cornell University, these accounts were vigorously denied by Frankie Manning:
In the phone interview, Frank was both quite emotional, annoyed at the misrepresentation of history, and at the publishers for refusing to edit the next edition, and absolutely serious about his side of the story.
All, Frankie Manning included, seem to agree that at the time it was nothing more than an innocent prank on the part of Al Minns and Leon James. It appears that the lasting ire over this event lies with the publishers who have refused to set the record straight in subsequent reprints of the book.
All this aside, Al Minns was a bona fide original lindy hopper from the days of the Savoy Ballroom. And for two years he guided Erin Stevens and Steven Mitchell, the founding members of Sweden’s Rhythm Hot Shots, and others in their quest for swing dance, in its original authentic style. Erin Stevens recalls those times in her 2003 interview on laswinginfo.com:
LA Swing Info: After searching for many of the original Lindy Hoppers, you started to learn from Al Minns and Frankie Manning. How did you run your business in Pasadena while learning from these legends of swing in New York?
Erin Stevens: We met Al Minns and had exposure with him for two years, and then we found Frankie. We had to fly back and forth between New York and Pasadena. I think that probably my only regret is that we didn’t work with Al more than we did, because he passed away shortly thereafter. However, we were young and didn’t have money. It was a big deal for us to make the trek out to the east coast. When I consider all of the many Lindy Hoppers who were gone prior to then, I think about how I would have loved to have met them too. I’m just glad we found the ones we did.
LA Swing info: At that point swing and the Lindy Hop became very important to you. How did it start to become popular again outside your circle of dancers?
Erin Stevens: It was 1984 and at that time nobody was doing the Lindy Hop except for us. In California, East-Coast swing and West-Coast swing were very popular, but we would stand out like sore thumbs out on the dance floor. Nobody was doing moves like the Back-Charleston. It just wasn’t seen at that time.
However, the Lindy Hop definitely continued to evolve. There were no maps for us and certainly no teaching videos. We just started with a small circle of friends that would meet in New York and we would try to piece the puzzle together. Even when we found Frankie Manning, we found that he couldn’t explain what he was teaching very well because he was used to his peer group who danced by just feeling and grooving to the music. He didn’t know how to tell us what count to twist on, or the count of any other step. Frankie was always a great dancer, but not so much for those of us who needed to know the counts, but he grew into becoming a good teacher.
Frankie Manning Emerges From Retirement: 1986
In 1955 when Frankie Manning went to work for the US Postal Service, he took the heart and soul of Lindy Hop Swing with him. In 1986 he emerged to again take Lindy Hop Swing around the world.
Erin Stevens & Steven Mitchell Encounter Frankie Manning
Frankie Manning turned 90 years old on May 26th, 2004. On that occasion the Web site laswinginfo.com published a tribute. As a part of that tribute, they asked readers for their favorite Frankie anecdotes and stories. Erin Stevens took part by recalling the first time she and Steven Mitchell met the then 72 year old man who would become the great ambassador of Lindy Hop:
From: Erin Stevens, California
When Steven Mitchell and I were on our search for Frankie, I found his home number at the Pasadena Public Library, after seeing his name in an old Life Magazine. When he answered the phone I asked him, ‘Are you Frankie Manning the swing dancer?’
He answered by saying, ‘No, this is Frankie Manning the Postal Worker.’
‘But, didn’t you used to swing dance?’ I said.
So we kind of had a funny rapport at the beginning. Eventually, I asked him if he would teach us if we came to New York. He said he wouldn’t do any teaching, but he agreed to meet with us, and that was enough for Steven and I to fly over as fast as we could.
When we finally met he watched us dance, and eventually agreed to teach us. So Frankie came to pick us up in his car, and he drove us out to his apartment. When we got there he said “well, let’s see what you can do.”
Steven and I put in our cassette tape of Sing, Sing, Sing and proceeded to start swinging and doing our aerials on his living room carpet. He immediately popped out the tape and put in Count Basie’s Shiny Stockings and said ‘what can you do to this?’
Steven and I didn’t know what to do, so we just said ‘Huh?’
It was a whole new way to look at the dance. He didn’t really know how to give us the counts and the steps, but he could give us the feeling that he gave to the dance. That was enough to alter it forever to me. The way I looked at it, the way I danced it, and the way I taught it would be forever changed.
After standing in Frankie’s living room, looking at his photo albums, brochures, pictures on his wall and seeing all the things that he had accomplished, I knew that I was going to dedicate my life to spreading the word of the Lindy Hop. He changed my life that day.
People give us credit for rediscovering Frankie and bringing him out of retirement, but who would have thought that a couple of kids from Pasadena that went to New York in search of Frankie Manning would become what it is today.
He called me after he won his Tony Award to thank me, and that meant a whole lot to me. Sometimes when he and I are at Swing Camp Catalina, we look at each other standing over a sea of dancers moving across the dance floor and say, ‘did you ever in your wildest dreams imagine that we would be standing here together looking at this kind of a crowd?’ We would just shake our heads at each other and think that there was no way anyone could have ever foreseen that Frankie would be out there again, having this full second life touring, teaching, and performing the Lindy Hop.
It’s remarkable… It’s incredible… It’s wonderful…
It couldn’t have happened to a better person.
And so it went, in 1986 the greatest original Lindy Hop swing dancer of all time emerged from retirement and began teaching interested young dancers about swing dance; swing dance in its original, authentic style.
Erin Stevens Brings Lindy Hop Back to Pasadena
Armed with a bachelor’s degree in choreography and dance teaching; and years of experience in nearly all conventional Ballroom dance styles (including both West Coast and East Coast Swing), Erin Stevens was unaware of the term Lindy Hop until she read it on the cover of a very old LIFE magazine. If an individual that schooled in the art of dance was unfamiliar with the term, imagine how little the general dance public knew about this dance style.
Again, from the 2003 Erin Stevens interview published on laswinginfo.com:
When we first met Al Minns and Frankie Manning and had all this beginning knowledge, we wanted to get the word out and teach Lindy Hop, but if I put on a flyer that we were teaching Lindy Hop, I wouldn’t get anybody in class. Yet we would get 200 people if we wrote Jitterbug or East-Coast Swing. So we started writing ‘Jitterbug/East-Coast Swing/Lindy Hop’ to get students in the door. Then we exposed them to Lindy Hop by trying to sneak it in on people. By the late 1980’s we brought Frankie out to teach for us for the first time and we had a pretty big following of people who were interested in him and in learning more about the Lindy Hop. Since we started teaching it in 1984 it just continued to grow. By the time we had our first swing camp in 1994 we were fully Lindy Hopping.
To maintain continuity regarding the role of Erin Stevens in the resurrection of Lindy Hop swing dancing, the following passage is her take on the evolution of Lindy Hop from the late 90s until the time of the interview in 2003:
LA Swing Info: So how has the Lindy Hop evolved from the mid 1990’s to where it is now?
Erin Stevens: The Derby certainly deserves credit for getting the word out to the general masses. The GAP Commercial and the movie Swing Kids certainly had an effect [on the popularity of swing]. I would like to think that we were silently here building a foundation that had an effect on everything else [that made it popular]. However, when swing hit, it hit so big that is was very trendy. Even the [retro] clothes went along with it. There were so many people who wanted to swing dance that it was almost out of control. That was when we realized that we needed to be careful what we wished for. All of a sudden, we went from having 100 people in a class to having 400 people in a class. We soon had a different problem. We had to police our classes more, and make sure we could see the back of the room, all while still trying to get the material out there. We couldn’t teach everything we wanted, because much of the class became about just trying to move the people around. When I think back, I was definitely happy that swing had hit so big. However, when the trend was gone what we had once again was the heart of the dance. The people that were in it for the heart and soul of the dance have stuck around and continued even now that the trend is gone.
According to Erin Stevens, the swing craze of the late 90s was over by 2003. What this represents is yet another case of America’s pop culture crossing paths with a specific element of dance culture. In the 1970s it was West Coast Swing and Disco dancing, in the 1960s it was the Twist and other forms of solo dancing, in the 1950s it was Jitterbug and East Coast Swing, in the 1930s and 40s it was Lindy Hop Swing. It seems that every dance style eventually has its turn in the spotlight of pop culture. But once that spotlight dims, as the masses faithful to pop culture move on to the next big thing, the die-hards who are faithful to a dance style remain to keep it alive. Regarding Lindy Hop, Erin Stevens refers to these individuals as those who are “in it for the heart and soul.”
Lindy Hop’s Great Ambassador
Frankie Manning’s early contributions to Lindy Hop can be found in the first two parts of this series. As Lindy Hop’s great ambassador, he is now recognized as a living icon that, in his early 90s, continues to make appearances and teach at Lindy Hop workshops around the world. The following paragraphs outline some of Frankie Manning’s many accomplishments that occurred after he emerged from retirement in 1986.
Motion Pictures
In the 1992 motion picture Malcolm X, Director Spike Lee called on Frankie Manning to serve as a dance consultant. The following was taken from Judy Pritchett’s Archives of Early Lindy Hop:
In this film of the life of the great African American activist Malcolm X, his early fascination with Lindy Hop is portrayed with exciting dance scenes. The dancing was choreographed by Otis Sallid who supplied the staging. Frankie Manning was dance consultant and provided the authentic Lindy Hop styling, steps and movement. During the rehearsals, Spike Lee frequently asked ‘Is this right, Mr. Manning?’ and was clearly concerned with the accurate portrayal of Lindy Hop. Despite this, the editing of the final version of the film bore Otis Sallid’s unmistakable imprint as an MTV choreographer. Perhaps most misleading was the impression made that air steps were done constantly on the dance floor of the Savoy Ballroom, whereas in reality they were only done during contests and in jams, when the dancers were virtually cordoned off by a circle of spectators.
It seems that the lasting impact of Lindy Hop Swing always goes back to the show stopping air steps. It was this aspect of Lindy Hop that took Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers to Hollywood in the early 1940s, and apparently brought it back to the big screen in this 1992 film. Even today, the general public is quick to equate Lindy Hop swing dancing with throwing the girl up in the air. Many are surprised to learn that outside of dance competitions and choreographed performances, air steps are seldom seen at Lindy Hop dance events.
Also in 1992, a made for television movie titled Stompin’ at the Savoy was aired by CBS. Directed by Debbie Allen and starring Vanessa Williams, this movie tells the story of four young black women during the depression of the early 1930s. It portrays their daily lives as domestic workers, and dance filled evenings at the famed Savoy Ballroom. Norma Miller and Frankie Manning served as choreographers for the dance scenes in this movie.
Film Documentaries
In 1950 Mura Dehn produced The Spirit Moves, a body of work that contains six hours of archival film on African American vernacular dance. This film compilation includes Frankie Manning, Al Minns, Leon James and many other original Savoy lindy hoppers vividly filmed against a stark white background. While these films were produced long before 1986, they were not made available to the general public until after 2000. Again, from Judy Pritchett’s Archives of Early Lindy Hop:
Mura Dehn was a Russian emigre 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.
In 1988 the documentary The Call of the Jitterbug was produced by Green Room Productions. Again, from Judy Pritchett’s Archives of Early Lindy Hop:
The Call of the Jitterbug is probably the best documentary of Lindy Hop produced so far. It includes oral history interviews with Norma Miller, Frankie Manning, and other dancers and musicians including Dizzy Gillespie. It contains excellent old footage, including most of the clips listed in this archive. It has more clips from Mura Dehn’s The Spirit Moves than any other documentary.
On July 23, 1989, Frankie was profiled on ABC’s prime time news program 20/20 in a piece titled “Back into Swing.” Producer Alice Pifer said:
“Frankie Manning is one of our country’s cultural treasures and for too long he did not have full recognition. That’s why I felt he warranted a profile on national television.”
In 1994 a series of three video-tapes titled Can’t Top the Lindy Hop documented the four days of dancing and workshops that celebrated Frankie Manning’s 80th. birthday.
In 1995 Swingin’ at the Savoy, was produced by Living Traditions of Seattle, Washington. This 25 minute documentary, originally produced for television, features interviews and film clips of Frankie Manning.
On December 2, 1998, PBS’ Newshour with Jim Lehrer did a story titled “Back in the Swing” that featured an interview with Frankie Manning that discussed both the old days and the newfound interest pop culture was having with swing music and dancing at the time this story aired.
In 1999, “Swingin’ with the Duke,” was produced for the PBS series Great Performances by WNET (New York) and Storyville Films. This 90-minute program weaves performances by the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, under the musical direction of Wynton Marsalis, with documentary footage that explores the heart of Ellington’s passions as a composer and band leader. Included in this film, “veteran dancer Frankie Manning stops by to show a group of young dancers from the new swing craze sweeping the country how it was really done.”
In January 2001, the epic documentary JAZZ, a film by Ken Burns was aired in ten episodes. A portion of episode four “The True Welcome,” introduces Lindy Hop as part of New York’s Jazz culture:
“In Harlem, Chick Webb pioneers his own big-band sound at the Savoy Ballroom, where black and white dancers shake the floor with a new dance called the Lindy Hop.”
Included in this documentary is an interview with Frankie Manning about the Savoy Ballroom and the dance he helped to define.
Instructional Videos
The production company Living Traditions of Seattle, Washington who produced the film documentary Swingin’ at the Savoy, also produced a four tape series of instructional videos featuring Frankie Manning and Erin Stevens. These videos are titled: Lindy Hop Video with Frankie Manning: Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced. The fourth tape in the series titled the Shim Sham, provides instruction on this Jazz line dance that was performed back in the 1930’s.
Frankie Manning in Print
At the height of pop culture’s renewed interest in swing music and dancing, both GQ and People magazines published profiles on Frankie Manning. While the article in People (July 12, 1999) pays a fitting tribute, the article “Gotta Dance” in GQ (December, 1998) written by Elizabeth Gilbert, is positively outstanding and a must read for anyone interested in the the history of Lindy Hop and its most celebrated pioneer. This article provides an intimate and detailed account of Frankie Manning’s life and accomplishments, offering details far greater than any found on the Internet.
Transcripts of the GQ and People magazine articles are not available on the Internet. However, they can be read and copied from microfiche files found in major public libraries. Were it not for fear of copyright laws and the legal staff of GQ magazine, a transcript would be included on this Web site. In its stead, the following paragraphs that profile the author of the Frankie Manning GQ article will provide added insight into the dancer that emerged from retirement in 1986.
The following is taken from the Web site www.metropulse.com. This Web site is the internet home of Knoxville, Tennessee’s weekly voice Metropulse magazine, a magazine very similar in style and format to Kansas City’s Pitch magazine. The title of the piece is “The Joy of Humanity: Author Elizabeth Gilbert bestows honor on her fascinating subjects.” The piece is dated February 16, 2005, Vol.15. No.07. The article, written by Paige M. Travis, opens by stating:
In telling about herself, writer Elizabeth Gilbert talks a lot about other people. Humans, with their unique perspectives and quirky passions, fascinate her. In turn, her stories about them are fascinating.
Midway through this article, the Metropulse author describes Elizabeth Gilbert’s approach to writing about her subjects. Doing so, she uses the GQ Frankie Manning article, written over six years earlier, as an example:
Forgoing the traditional journalistic objectivity, Gilbert inserts herself into the story as an observer, an interpreter, but she can also step back and become invisible. She wants to tell her subjects’ stories more than she wants to talk about herself. But she doesn’t seek to be fascinating because of these people; she doesn’t namedrop. She’s genuinely interested.
Take for instance Frankie Manning. A friend of Gilbert’s told her about the 85-year-old man from Harlem, who in the 1930s had been one of the best swing dancers in the country. He had toured with Duke Ellington and for a short time lived a semi-famous, glitzy life-until the swing craze passed and World War II began. Then Manning settled down, got married and became a postman. Forty years later, swing became hot again, and some young people from California found Manning and made him their guru.
Upon hearing about Manning, Gilbert knew she had to tell his story. ‘It’s incredible. And it’s heartwarming in the best, most unsentimental way. It’s totally factual and at the same time totally transcendent. Which is the best possible thing something can be.’
But getting Manning to tell her his story wasn’t so easy. ‘He was really guarded because he was black and old, and he didn’t want to talk about the stuff I wanted to talk about, which was what it was like in the very racist 1930s,’ Gilbert recalls. ‘He would answer my questions politely, simply and completely with no depth at all.’
So she tried something: she asked him if he would introduce her to his best friend in the world and if they could have lunch together.
‘It was the most revelatory thing,’ says Gilbert. ‘He sat there with his best friend, and they told stories together to entertain each other and then let me witness it. His friend would say, ‘Frankie, tell about the time’ His friend already knew the story, but I didn’t know what to ask. But his friend would say, ‘Tell about the time you were traveling with Billie Holiday, and they kicked you out of the hotel because you guys were all black and you had to sleep in the bus.’ Out poured the very stories Gilbert wanted to hear. ‘He had a lot of reasons for not sharing stuff with me, but his friend’s presence softened that and opened it and made it safe. He loved the story in the end. I knew that if he would tell me the truth that I would write a story that would honor him, but if he wouldn’t give me that stuff, the story would be really bland.’
To reiterate, the stories that Elizabeth Gilbert heard from Frankie Manning and included in her GQ magazine article are fascinating and well worth the effort to obtain from your local library.
Theatre and Live Performance Choreography
In 1989, Frankie Manning received a Tony Award for Best Choreography in the Broadway hit musical Black and Blue, the New York Times noted:
Mr. Manning is a choreographer we should see more often. His theatricalization of jitterbug styles is topped with a spectacular anthology of social dancing and tap in the chorus numbers ‘Swinging’ and ‘Wednesday Night Hop.’
Frankie returned to Broadway in 1997 as creative historic consultant to choreographer Mercedes Ellington for the musical Play On. A show based on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, and the music of her famous Grandfather Duke Ellington.
Frankie Manning has also choreographed for numerous dance companies around the world including:
- The Alvin Ailey Dance Company, “Opus McShain” with Norma Miller.
- American Ballroom Dance Theater.
- Foot & Fiddle Dance Company.
- Zoots and Spangles (England).
- Jiving Lindy Hoppers (England).
- The Rhythm Hot Shots (Sweden).
- Big Apple Lindy Hoppers.
Awards and Honors (Partial List)
- 1989 Tony Award, Best Choreography in a Broadway Musical.
- 1992 U.S. Swing Dance Council Hall of Fame.
- 1993 City Lore People’s Hall of Fame.
- 1993 New York City Arts in Education Roundtable Award.
- 1993 Honored by the International Dance Organization (Hungary).
- 2000 National Endowment for the Arts, National Heritage Fellowship.
- 2002 Keeper of the Flame Preservation Award.
On May 26th, 2005, Frankie Manning turned 91 years old.
He has a full schedule of Workshops and Personal Appearances planned for the US and abroad throughout 2005.
As the world’s great ambassador of Lindy Hop, a humble man with a radiant smile, he modestly claims:
“I’m not interested in fame and glory, it’s just that I would like others to know what a happy dance this is”
In May 2007 the biography “Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop” was released. Publisher’s Weekly had this to say about the book that chronicles the life of Lindy Hop’s grand gentleman:
Frankie Manning spread swing dancing’s popularity throughout the world while touring with Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers in the 1930s and ’40s. Dance writer and swing dancer Millman conducted extensive interviews with Manning for a vivid account of his career. Manning became a star in Harlem’s popular Savoy Ballroom with his unique style, including dancing at a sharp angle to the ground like a track runner, speed and musicality. In a dance competition, Manning astonished the crowd with the first-ever Lindy aerial, or air step (where the man sends his partner flying). Later Manning toured with jazz greats such as Duke Ellington and Count Basie, and performed in several films, including Everybody Sings with Judy Garland. After a long hiatus from dancing, he was a consultant for Spike Lee’s Malcolm X and coached a new generation of dancers in the swing dance revival of the ’80s and ’90s. While the first-person accounts of Manning’s life capture his vibrancy, humor and charm, the narrative is interrupted by short sections of historical notes; their formality is at odds with Manning’s ease and charisma. Still, this vivid memoir by one of swing dancing’s innovators and stars is a must for lovers of dance, jazz and African-American history.
The Neo-Swing Movement: 1989-2000
In 1989 a movement began that saw young contemporary musicians bored with the Punk, Ska and Grunge elements of contemporary music, looking back towards the Big Band and Jump Blues swing music of the 1940s. These musicians developed a new genre of music called Neo-Swing and along with it a culture that would embrace all the vintage trappings of 1940s America.
Research for the material in this section was difficult. Very little is written about this period from an overview or historical perspective. It is simply too recent. Most of the dated, factual material is based on a timeline that traces the evolution of Neo-Swing music (www.swingorama.com/discus/messages/151/646.html) and individual research on the groups and artists involved. While most of this information concerns the West Coast where the movement began, suffice it to say that what was seen there played out all across America as the movement gained momentum.
Pop Culture, Marketing, and the Generation Gap
Modern American pop culture is all about marketing, and marketing is all about new and improved. The Neo-Swing movement that began in 1989 was literally a movement that sold a new brand of swing music and dance to America’s pop culture. The only thing that made this movement different from similar past trends, was that this was the first to re-package a music and dance style that 40 years earlier had already enjoyed the limelight of pop culture.
Another aspect of pop culture marketing and the new and improved concept, is the corollary idea that the old and existing is inferior and to be avoided. This is best demonstrated by the cultural phenomenon first identified in the early 1950s: The Generation Gap. Simply put, anything embraced and enjoyed by a previous generation will not be embraced and enjoyed by a self-respecting member of the current generation. The pop culture of the current generation must be new, different and exciting not old, the same, and boring; even if the current generation seeks to embrace a trend from the past.
LA’s Royal Crown Revue and the Birth of Neo-Swing
In 1989 a group of young musicians in Los Angeles decided to do something different, something radical. What if their form of generational rebellion offered the ultimate affront to their parent’s generation by imitating the music and style they (their parents) disliked the most: the music and style of their parent’s generation? In other words, by imitating the music and style of their own grandparents and great grandparents.
In 1989, with the West Coast flanked by grunge bands to the north and hair bands to the south, singer EDDIE NICHOLS and tenor man MANDO DORAME decided it was time for something completely different. Drawing from collective roots in Southern California punk, rockabilly, East Side R&B and NYC street corner doo wop, the two began experimenting with a hybrid of roots styles, creating original music that drew its inspiration from the past, but was firmly placed in the present (and unknowingly) the future! Manic live shows at LA’s underground clubs proved instantly Popular and it quickly became clear that a new style was being created and adorned. Trumpeter SCOTT STEEN, upright bass player VEIKKO LEPISTO, drummer DANIEL GLASS, guitarist JAMES ACHOR and saxophonist/arranger BILL UNGERMAN sealed the core group, each man throwing his own world of influence, experience and talent into the mix.
The preceding quote was taken from rcr.com, the official Web site for LA’s Royal Crown Review, the self proclaimed “founding fathers and absolute rulers of the Neo-Swing movement.” Having established a new musical style, they took their show on the road and adopted all the trappings of vintage retro.
By 1991, RCR had released it’s first album, KINGS OF GANGSTER BOP, and was ceaselessly touring America and Europe, playing hundreds of shows to fans thrilled to hear a new genre of American music. The band also caused a stir with their love for all things vintage. From razor-sharp double-breasted suits to fedoras, hand painted 40’s ties, vintage instruments, cars and furniture - the band embraced the retro lifestyle to its fullest. In city after city, the band’s enthusiastic approach inspired fans to make their own connections with classic American culture and thus began the scene that would soon become a full-scale movement.
Though self proclaimed as the founding fathers of Neo-Swing, Royal Crown Revue wasn’t the only group of musicians toying with the idea of a modern big band swing sound.
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Note: The “Daddy” is indeed singular.
It was also in 1989, in Ventura, California, that Scotty Morris,
…jaded by life as a young studio guitarist, decided to launch a three-piece jazz, blues and swing combo. The trio included drummer Kurt Sodergren and was named Big Bad Voodoo Daddy after a fateful meeting with blues guitar legend Albert Collins at one of his concerts. ‘He signed my poster ‘To Scotty, the big bad voodoo daddy’, Morris explains: ‘I thought it was the coolest name I ever heard on one of the coolest musical nights I ever had. So when it came time to name this band, I didn’t really have a choice. I felt like it was handed down to me.’
In the years that followed, Morris and Sodergren formed the rest of the band which includes Dirk Shumaker on string bass, Andy Rowley on saxophone, Glen ‘The Kid’ Marhevka on trumpet, Karl Hunter on saxophones and clarinet, and Joshua Levy on piano. The chemistry between the band, like the success that soon followed, was undeniable. (jwelk.com)
The band made a name for themselves touring up and down the California coastline during the early 1990s. While they shared the same birth year, and a similar musical vision as the Royal Crown Revue, their nationwide success did not come until later.
In 1992 a former Rockabilly revivalist, with worldwide name recognition, jumped onto the Neo-Swing band wagon. In 1993, while this artist and the Royal Crown Revue enjoyed the national spotlight, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy settled in as the house band at the newly renovated, legendary Derby in Los Feliz, the first Los Angeles club to offer live swing music and dancing nightly.
The Brian Setzer Orchestra
Brian Setzer, a New York native, formed the Rockabilly band “The Stray Cats” in the early 1980s. Taking Europe by storm, they returned to the United States and released the album Built for Speed in 1982 which produced three top ten hits: “Stray Cat Strut,” “Rumble in Brighton,” and “Rock This Town.” Over the next ten years, Brian Setzer continued in this Rockabilly vein both within the group and as a solo roots rocker. Throughout this time period, he was also a great fan of Jazz and Big Band swing music. In December 1992 he discovered that elements of roots Rock n’ Roll and Big Band Swing could be combined. The following is taken from www.rockabilly.net:
The Brian Setzer Orchestra began with a chance meeting, grew into an experiment and now is a phenomenon of its own. In Los Angeles in late summer 1992, a group of horn players were holding an impromptu jam at Setzer’s next-door neighbor’s house when one of them saw him and called out, ‘Hey Brian, go get your guitar and come over!’ Setzer joined them with one of his classic Gretsch guitars and a small practice amp. ‘They thought I wouldn’t be able to keep up. They had charts from Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, some pretty hard stuff they were trying to get me with. But after awhile it was, ‘Gee, this guy’s alright. He can play.’ Maybe the reason no one’s tried this before is that you can’t slide by without reading and writing music and knowing jazz chords. You have to be able to blow by those chords and play over them.’
After a few more sessions, Setzer decided to work up some charts and put a Big Band together in the hopes of doing a few shows around Southern California. In December 1992, The Brian Setzer Orchestra debuted at a West Coast club. By the end of the third song the audience was on its feet. After its second Los Angeles gig, the Brian Setzer Orchestra was the hottest ticket in town. In 1994, following the release of the debut album, the Brian Setzer Orchestra embarked on a sold-out 50-show North American tour that included an extraordinary performance at the Montreal Jazz Festival the following summer.
Already armed with a huge Rockabilly fan base that knew how to East Coast Swing and Jitterbug, Brian Setzer played to huge crowds that actually got up to partner dance. Pop culture, which had been in a solo dance rut for over ten years (since the decline of Disco) saw this music and style of dance as new and improved. Young people across the country wasted no time in learning about this new music, partnered dancing and the retro culture that accompanied it.
Other Neo-Swing Artists and the Music’s Impact
Other Neo-Swing artists that joined the movement include: Cherry Poppin Daddys, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Lee Press-On and the Nails, Lavay Smith, and Indigo Swing. Contemporary Jazz and Swing artists also enjoyed increased popularity thanks to the Neo-Swing movement. Two examples are Harry Connick Jr. and Tony Bennett. The music also brought attention back to lounge crooners like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Bobby Darin, and Mel Torme.
Perhaps the greatest good that came out of Neo-Swing music was that is caused many to go back and listen to the great Swing era artists like: Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, the list goes on. Truth be known, Neo-Swing music led many of today’s hard core lindy hoppers back to the music of the 1940s; and once they got there, they discovered that it didn’t really need a year 2000 facelift, it was outstanding music in its own right!
The Clubs
In June 1989, San Francisco witnessed the opening of Club Deluxe. This art-deco establishment became the first nightly swing venue. Other clubs in the area, Bimbo’s 365 Club and later, the Hi-Ball Lounge and Cafe Du Nord provided an environment where the Neo-Swing bands and audiences could grow. These were the first known Neo-Swing venues.
In April 1993 the Derby opened in Los Feliz, becoming the first Los Angeles area club to offer live swing music and dancing nightly. Recall that this was the newly renovated and legendary club that employed the relatively unknown group “Big Bad Voodoo Daddy” as their house band. This club and it’s house band would later provide the inspiration for the milestone 1996 movie Swingers.
Thus far, the focus has been on the West Coast where the Neo-Swing movement began. In 1993, a cult film set in Germany during the 1930’s will expose a wider audience to swing music and dancing.
The Movies:
The first swing related movie born during the Neo-Swing movement was Swing Kids produced in 1993 by Walt Disney. The concept of this film was based on Hitler’s German Socialist movement that objected to American swing music because it was created by black and Jewish artists. This belief caused German youth who enjoyed swing music to be viewed as a political danger. It is a sad and romantic movie about teenagers caught up in their love for swing music and dancing in a culture that prohibits it.
The movie includes several scenes that feature Lindy Hop and Jitterbug style dancing to vintage Big Band music. The movie became somewhat of a cult hit, but was not well received by movie reviewers. The following is an amusing added comment one reviewer included after giving it a poor rating:
However, this film DID inspire me to take on what has been one of the greatest gifts of my life: 1940s Lindy Hop swing dancing. And so, even if I tell you it’s a terrible movie, it doesn’t mean that it can’t give you something very powerful.
In 1994, the movie The Mask starring Jim Carrey featured the Neo-Swing group Royal Crown Revue. This movie offered an exaggerated look at swing dancing, and insight into its appeal to young men who, a few years earlier, wouldn’t have been caught dead partner dancing. That insight is best summed up in the moment when the very sexy leading woman is asked if she thinks Jim Carrey’s character is “pretty weird lookin?” She replies: “Yeah, but you oughtta see him dance!”
During the summer of 1996, Royal Crown Revue produced the first Neo-Swing album to be released by a major recording label. The album, Mugzy’s Move released by Warner Brothers, was on the store shelves when a movie, that some say defined the Neo-Swing movement, was released.
The movie Swingers was released in the fall of 1996. As noted previously, this movie was inspired by LA’s Derby nightclub and its house band. In this movie, the character Mikey snaps out of depression by swing dancing with his new girl friend to the hot swing music of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. This dance scene (the only one in the entire movie) was so fun and spontaneous it became the signature scene that most moviegoers would remember. Many cite this movie as the launching pad for both Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and the sudden nationwide interest in all things swing!
Prior to the release of the movie Swingers, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy released two CD’s on their own label Big Bad Records: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy in 1994 and Whatchu’ Want for Christmas? in 1995. The two songs featured in the movie were: “You and Me and the Bottle Makes Three Tonight Baby” and “Go Daddy-O.” The exposure they gained from the film led to their signing with Capitol Records, where they went on to have a successful recording career. An often cited career highlight of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy was their invitation to perform during the half-time show of Super Bowl XXXIII, January 31, 1999.
Neo-Swing Miscellany: 1997
In July, Disneyland, which had held Big Band swing nights on Saturdays since the mid 1950’s, capitalizes on the Neo-Swing trend by offering Friday night “Jump, Jive, Boogie, Swing” parties. These events drew 300 to 500 dancers and spectators each night.
During late summer, Royal Crown Revue won MTV’s “12 Angry Viewers” contest. According to Michael Moss of the San Francisco based Swing Time magazine, “It was the first time MTV started to pay attention to this thriving [Neo-Swing] music culture.”
The Squirrel Nut Zippers CD Hell went platinum.
The Cherry Poppin Daddies released their compilation CD Zoot Suit Riot.
The Commercial - April 1998:
Swing curious non-dancers who read this may wonder “what commercial?” The obscure title is meant to reinforce its milestone importance. In fact, many lindy hoppers define their very dance existence relative to this commercial (pre and post).
Here we are referring to the infamous Gap “Khakis Swing” television commercial that literally sent thousands of young people with fists full of dollars to their local dance studios to beckon “Please teach me to dance like they do in the Gap commercial, please?”
Richard Harrington, a staff writer for the Washington Post mentions this in an article titled “Back in the Swing.” This article was published on Monday October 26, 1998 and can be found at washingtonpost.com. Following a paragraph about Neo-Swing music videos, he continues,
However it was a commercial, not a music video, that pushed the swing revival into overdrive, when the Gap unveiled its Lindy Hopping ‘Khakis Swing’ spot in April during the highly rated finales of ‘ER’ and ‘Seinfeld.’ Set to Louis Prima’s 1959 classic ‘Jump, Jive and Wail,’ the 30-second spot featured high-flying kids and proved so popular that the Gap recycled it [in the] fall, which it did not do with its corollary ads for ‘Khakis Rock’ (electronic music and in-line skaters) and ‘Khakis Groove’ (hip-hop and break dancing).
‘Swingers [the movie] brought the swing lifestyle to the heartland,’ says V. Vale, author of the [then] recently published book, Swing! The New Retro Renaissance. What the Gap’s ‘Khakis Swing’ ad did, he adds, ‘was expose the dance and music to a large and underdeveloped demographic – kids under 18. As soon as it came out, all the dance studios were besieged with young-sounding voices who’d gotten their names out of the Yellow Pages, asking if they could teach them to dance like [they do] in that Gap commercial.’
Suddenly, dance schools [were] as crowded as the Roseland Ballroom was in the ’30s, with new generations learning an old style of dancing that has many variations – Lindy Hop, Shag, Jive, Jitterbug, Jump, Push, Whip – almost all the names suggesting the vibrancy at the heart of swing.
First there was the Neo-Swing music, mostly underground and out of sight. As the music and dancing that went with it became more popular, the movies came in and took swing to a wider audience. Then finally in April 1998, an effort to sell pants on prime time television, inadvertently sold Lindy Hop swing dancing to millions of American TV viewers.
And it didn’t stop there. Swing went on to be used in commercial advertising for Toyota, Dockers, Coke, Liquor and other products, as well as in promotional music on the Warner Brothers network. It was considered to be hip, and in terms of corporate image, it was a safer advertising vehicle than Rock and Hip-Hop.
Neo-Swing Miscellany: 1998
In January, Merv Griffin, whose own show-biz roots go back to singing swing tunes, began offering swing dance Friday and Saturday nights in his upscale Coconut Club at the Beverly Hilton.
Mid-year, the Anaheim supper club Memories, gradually shifted the focus of its 1400 square foot dance floor to swing dancing.
During what Brad Benedict (co-producer for Big Bad Voodoo Daddy) referred to as the “Summer of Swing,” Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Cherry Poppin Daddies, and the Brian Setzer Orchestra all made top 50 in the charts.
In November, The Satin Ballroom took up residence at the Veterans Memorial Building in Culver City for monthly dances that drew about 1000 swing dancers.
Neo-Swing Miscellany: 1999
In early January, the Brian Setzer Orchestra’s The Dirty Boogie became the first Neo-Swing album nominated for a Best Pop Album Grammy award; they did not win this award, however, they did win for Best Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.
Also in January, the Pottery Barn (no, not a musical group, the chain of stores that sells interior decorator merchandise) released its own compilation swing CD with a mix of legendary and new performers. The young and hip probably did not see this as a good sign.
On January 31, hundreds of millions of television viewers got a taste of Neo-Swing when Big Bad Voodoo Daddy performed during the half-time show at Super Bowl XXXIII.
In May, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy received the key to the city of Ventura, California, their hometown.
On June 19, The Satin Ballroom’s celebration of the 60th anniversary of what was purportedly the largest Jitterbug contest ever held, attracted 100 competitors and 1200 onlookers.
On July 3, a battle of the bands was held at the Hollywood Palladium, pitting LA’s Bill Elliott Orchestra against New York’s George Gee & His Make Believe Ballroom Orchestra. This event drew 1,150 people.
2000: The Beginning of the End
The year 2000 marked the beginning of the end of the Neo-Swing movement. Like the fervor that enveloped the Country music and dance style of Urban Cowboy in the early 1980’s and the disco fever of the late 1970’s, Neo-Swing turned out to be only one more example of a genre of music and dance thrust, for a brief period of time, into the spotlight of American pop culture.
Over the next three years, the masses of pop culture gradually lost interest and moved on. But not without leaving behind significant numbers of young dancers who would take swing music and dancing seriously. Many would go on to start a new swing dance culture, forming societies and clubs all across America. As the disco generation moved into their 40s and 50s, this younger generation of dancers would continue to keep the music and dancing of the 1930s and 1940s alive.
A Post Mortem of the Neo-Swing Movement
The preceding section outlined the rise and fall of the Neo-Swing movement from a pop culture perspective. The paragraphs below address the Neo-Swing movement from the perspective of the vintage swing dance culture that was already in place before Neo-Swing gave it nationwide attention. Recall that committed dancers were seeking out early lindy hoppers, analyzing vintage dance film clips, and embracing swing music from the 1930s and 1940s over five years before Neo-Swing was ever conceived, and over ten years before it reached its high point. These were the dancers that set the standard for what Lindy Hop Swing represents: The art of vintage swing dancing and the music that inspired it.
The Neo-Swing movement did not create the Lindy Hop culture we know today, it simply adopted it the same way it adopted the clothing, hairstyles and other trappings of 1940s Americana. For many, Neo-Swing was their gateway to Lindy Hop and an appreciation for the music and dance styles of the Swing era. Others would choose to limit their swing experience to the music and dance styles of the short lived Neo-Swing movement. The following paragraphs will address both of these topics.
Neo-Swing Music
The music that drove the Neo-Swing movement was, as the advertising pros like to say, “not your fathers (or grandfather’s) swing music.” In November 1998, Sam Butera, Louis Prima’s bandleader and song arranger for 20 years was interviewed about the then increasingly popular Neo-Swing music. Ron Bally of the Tuscon Weekly conducted the interview, his article was published November 16, 1998 at weeklywire.com:
THE ORIGINAL KING of swing, Louis Prima, would be turning over in his grave if he heard ex-Stray Cat/Neo-Swing rocker Brian Setzer’s recently updated version of his seminal swing hit “Jump, Jive and Wail,” according to Sam Butera (71).
‘I heard the guy’s (Setzer’s) recording and I think it sucks,’ Butera confirms emphatically via a phone interview from a hotel room near the Mohican Sun Casino in Connecticut last week, where he was performing in the midst of a three-week East Coast tour.
‘My honest opinion is they’re (today’s neo-swing revivalists) playing the songs, but they ain’t playing them the way they should be played,’ he adds. ‘I don’t think their arrangements swing at all. If you listen to that commercial (Gap jeans)–that’s us (Prima and Butera). That’s the way it should be played. I think if Louis heard this guy’s version, he would definitely be upset.’
While the preceding comments leave no doubt about Sam Butera’s opinion of Neo-Swing music, it raises an important point. When comparisons and critiques of different genres of music are made, they are usually delivered with wide sweeping statements. To say that all Neo-Swing music is bad, would be as inaccurate as saying that all traditional swing music is good. The truth is, both good and bad swing music has always been, and will continue to be, recorded. Moreover, every individual’s idea of what is good and bad swing music is different. That said, the discussion continues.
Brian Setzer may have been backed up by an orchestra when he covered a genuine vintage swing song, but there was no mistaking that his rendition was driven hard by a rockabilly guitar. It was this unrelenting, in your face, hard driving Rock’n'Roll nature of Neo-Swing that set it apart from traditional swing music.
The tempo of Neo-Swing music (with but a few exceptions) is out of the gate very fast and hard and remains that way until the final chord is struck. Traditional swing music, even at fast tempos, tends to ebb and flow. Traditional swing music tells a story, and while it has the ability to do so in a spirited way at a fast tempo, it doesn’t continuously shout at you the way much of the Punk and Ska influenced Neo-Swing music tends to do.
But, in its defense, Neo-Swing had to be different; it had to be new and improved. As much as art (in any form) for art’s sake is a fine idealistic pursuit, reality demands that your art be marketable; and when it comes to music, dollars simply will not be spent on grandpa’s music.
It was Louis Prima’s and Sam Butera’s authentic “Jump, Jive and Wail” soundtrack on the Gap commercial that initially sold the idea of swing-like music to America’s youth. The commercial aired in April 1998, in June Interscope Records released Brian Setzer’s The Dirty Boogie CD that featured his version of “Jump, Jive an’ Wail.” The timing could not have been better. By brilliant design or random happenstance, this timing allowed Brian Setzer, not Louis Prima & Sam Butera, to set the swing music expectations of America’s youth oriented pop culture. They wanted Setzer’s version, they wanted it fast and hard, and they certainly didn’t want boring old swing music from the 1940s.
Pop culture is superficial and temporary. The limelight of pop culture shines on a style, design, genre, or taste of anything just long enough to extract every capital benefit it might have, then it moves on. This is a relatively modern trend, a trend that began in the post war years of the 1950s as blanket advertising took advantage of developing national radio and television markets. Years from now, as the history of American music continues to be written, the Swing era will maintain its status as just that, an era. Neo-Swing, on the other hand, will likely be no more than a footnote in that history.
To re-phrase an earlier comment, the good that came out of Neo-Swing music was that it influenced many to go back and listen to traditional swing music and artists. Like the repackaging of race music for white pop culture in the mid 1950s by artists like Pat Boone and Bill Haley and the Comets, traditional swing music was re-packaged for youth pop culture by the Neo-Swing movement in the late 1990s. In both cases the commercial makeovers, though pale imitations of the original article, can at least be given credit for exposing the original article to a much wider audience.
As superficial as it was in terms of music, Neo-Swing’s relationship to vintage swing dancing also lacked depth and understanding.
Neo-Swing Dancing
It was the fast paced Lindy Hop air steps in the Gap commercial that set the swing dance expectations of the Neo-Swing movement. After all this was the dance that matched the fast and hard driving music that was Neo-Swing. This should come as no surprise. It was this aspect of Lindy Hop swing dancing that in the late 1930s prompted requests “…from downtown socialites and rich folk who wanted to have lindy hoppers perform at their lavish parties;” and, in the early 1940s took Lindy Hop Swing to Hollywood and around the world. Fast and furious tightly choreographed dancing that included non-stop air steps. This is what the public would pay to see, this is what came to define Lindy Hop swing during the Swing era and during the Neo-Swing movement. If you recall, this is what in the beginning defined Lindy Hop swing dancing for a young Erin Stevens and Steven Mitchell. This was the blueprint they used in developing the routine they demonstrated to Frankie Manning during their first encounter with the man who invented the air step.
Neo-Swing’s all fast, all air step, all the time approach to Lindy Hop is as superficial as much of the music that inspired it. The lesson to be learned here is the one that was taught to Erin Stevens and Steven Mitchell by Frankie Manning himself:
Steven and I put in our cassette tape of Sing, Sing, Sing and proceeded to start swinging and doing our aerials on his living room carpet. He immediately popped out the tape and put in Count Basie’s Shiny Stockings and said ‘what can you do to this?’
Steven and I didn’t know what to do, so we just said ‘Huh?’
Erin Stevens and Steven Mitchell, both skilled dancers in the highest regard, knew they were in the presence of the master. There is little doubt that their routine to “Sing, Sing, Sing,” very fast at a little over 200 beats per minute, was flawless. Mr. Manning’s “immediate” response to their routine made it obvious that there was something more to be learned. When Frankie Manning cued up Count Basie’s “Shiney Stockings,” a song that clocks in at a much slower 138 beats per minute, it would have never occurred to them to respond “Oh, we don’t dance to that old boring swing music.” Sadly, that may have been the response given by a typical Neo-Swing dancer that was into swing simply because pop culture dictated they should be there.
When the Gap commercial “sent thousands of young people with fists full of dollars to their local dance studios to beckon ‘Please teach me to dance like they do in the Gap commercial,” a willing and able dance instruction industry was there to greet them. In many cases, what they were taught was not Lindy Hop, but instead single step East Coast Swing with lots of air steps and some lindy stylized Charleston. Moreover, many were not taught how to dance in a technical sense, they were instead taught choreography that merely allowed them to imitate what they saw in the Gap commercial.
This quick, short course method was easy to teach and learn. It met the needs of most students who were not otherwise disposed to learning to partner dance. They simply wanted to learn how to “throw that girl around” and they wanted to know now! Also, the sheer numbers that were marching to the studios were staggering, and to offer quality instruction on that scale was difficult to do. For the masses of pop culture, this superficial approach to dancing was fine. After all, it would soon end, and they would be moving on to something else.
For those who would take all of this more seriously, those who dug a little deeper into traditional swing music and listened to the likes of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughn and others, they would soon realize there was a lot more to swing music and dancing than Brian Setzer’s “Jump, Jive an’ Wail,” throwing a girl up in the air, and dragging her between your legs.
During the height of the Neo-Swing movement, Frankie Manning had been out of retirement for almost 15 years. It was during this time that People and GQ magazines ran profile articles on Frankie and the story of Lindy Hop. So the story of Lindy Hop Swing, its technique, and style were known and available if you looked in the right places. While the preceding paragraphs paint a picture of the masses who were taught by generic dance studios that covered everything from Ballroom and Tango to the Foxtrot and Country Line Dancing, there were alternatives that specialized in Lindy Hop dance instruction that was technically sound and grounded in the proper techniques of lead/follow partner dancing. Instruction that emphasized air steps as something that was to be learned after you learned how to dance, after your dancing progressed to an advanced level. Many who were brought to swing music and dancing by the Neo-Swing movement, sought out this deeper understanding and instruction. These were the the people who went on to populate the Lindy Hop Swing culture that remains in place today.
The Relationship Between Neo-Swing and Lindy Hop
The Lindy Hop community recognizes Neo-Swing music for what it is: a late 1990s version of swing music re-packaged for consumption by America’s youth. Swing music that is, for the most part, fast (often very fast), hard driving, and unrelenting in its delivery. It is the music that defined a pop culture movement that introduced thousands to swing music and swing dancing. Many lindy hoppers remain dedicated fans of Neo-Swing music and can execute fast lindy and air step moves with the same technical skill as the original Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers of the late 1930s. Neo-Swing definitely has a place in Lindy Hop Swing. However, it is clearly not the style of music and dance that lies at the heart of Lindy Hop Swing.
Lindy Hop culture is centered in the Swing era and the Big Band and Jump Blues swing music that defined it. From that vantage point, Lindy Hop culture also recognizes alternative styles of swing music. Neo-Swing, as one alternative swing style, certainly falls within this broad definition, but so do many others: Swing Rhythm & Blues, Swing Jazz, Western Swing, Rockabilly, Honky Tonk and even some Country music. Neo-Swing is simply one of these alternative swing styles. Moreover, it being a style of swing that inspired many to embrace Lindy Hop Swing, it is one of the alternative swing styles you are most likely to hear at a Lindy Hop event. The same cannot be said to reassure a lindy hopper who, for example, is a fan of Western Swing music.
In spite of Neo-Swing’s slow and lingering death between 2000 and 2003, some Neo-Swing dancers still champion its cause, and regard traditional swing music and Lindy Hop Swing culture as old fashioned, too slow, and boring. This is indeed unfortunate. Perhaps in time, they too will learn the lesson that was taught to Erin Stevens and Steven Mitchell that day in Frankie Manning’s apartment. A lesson that, after mastering fast tempo East Coast Swing and all the air steps that went with it, opened Erin Stevens’ eyes to,
…a whole new way to look at the dance. He didn’t really know how to give us the counts and the steps, but he could give us the feeling that he gave to the dance. That was enough to alter it forever to me. The way I looked at it, the way I danced it, and the way I taught it would be forever changed.
After wringing every last capital benefit from the Neo-Swing movement, pop culture handed the stewardship of vintage swing dancing back to those who all the while held it most dear, those who Erin Stevens referred to as “the people that were in it for the heart and soul of the dance.” The people who make Lindy Hop Swing what it is today, over 70 years after it all began in that ballroom in Harlem, the one they called the SAVOY!
Lindy Hop Swing Dancing Today
The Neo-Swing movement bestowed a tremendous amount of attention on swing music, swing dancing and the culture of America’s Swing era. This turned out to be a Lindy Hop public relations campaign that no amount of money could buy, and created an influx of new Lindy Hop dancers in numbers that no one could have predicted. Now out of the spotlight of popular culture, the following paragraphs will describe Lindy Hop’s place in today’s dance culture.
Lindy Hop Swing and its Companion Dance Styles
Lindy Hop Swing culture entails a lot more more than the blended six and eight count swing style that is Lindy Hop swing dancing. Other vintage dance styles that fall under the Lindy Hop heading include: East Coast Swing/Jitterbug, Balboa, Bal-Swing, Charleston, Collegiate Shag, and a few Jazz line dances that date back to the 1930’s.
These different dance styles lend themselves to specific tempos and/or types of music. Very fast tempos, for example, are ideal for Balboa, Bal-Swing, and Charleston. When the music is both fast and in the style of Neo-Swing or Rockabilly, East Coast Swing/Jitterbug is a good match. Collegiate Shag aligns well with the quick bouncy rhythms common to Swing/Ragtime music. Lindy Hop itself is appropriate for most any style and tempo of swing music; but at a very fast tempo demands considerable aerobic endurance. Moreover, any of these companion dance styles can be (and are often) mixed with classic Lindy Hop within a single performance. Doing so is part of what makes Lindy Hop the spontaneous happy dance it is.
While every dance generation eventually discovers a new dance style called the line dance, it is in fact a very old concept. Long before the “Electric Slide” and “Boot Scoot Boogie” there were the line and circle Jazz dances that date as far back as the 1920’s. Two of these dances, popular during the 1930s and 40s, were the Shim Sham and Big Apple. At a Lindy exchange or other large gathering of lindy hoppers, it is not uncommon to see 20 or 30 dancers line up and break into the Shim Sham.
In recent years, a form of Lindy Hop that reflects modern urban culture called Hip Hop Lindy Hop or Hizzop was developed for contemporary music. Seen as a novelty by many lindy hoppers, the advent of Hip Hop Lindy Hop reflects the fact that many devotees of Lindy Hop swing dancing are among the Hip Hop generation.
Another dance style gaining widespread acceptance is the art of well connected Blues dancing. This is a dance style that applies the lead/follow dance techniques of partnered swing dancing to the slow and sensual rhythms inherent to classic Blues music. St. Louis played a major role in promoting this dance style through a series of Lindy/Blues Exchanges that were held between 2002-2005. These exchanges attracted lindy hoppers from all across the country; and inspired similar Blues events that continue to be held nationwide.
As amusing as it might seem, dancers, people who are serious about dancing and study it, can actually dance without any music at all. That is the beauty of well connected lead/follow dancing. Recognizing that many readers of this material are not already dancers, perhaps a word about what Lindy Hop Swing dancing really is would be appropriate.
Lindy Hop Swing Dancing in Layman’s Terms
Up until now, very little has been said about what Lindy Hop swing dancing is, at least not in a technical sense. The following will attempt to remedy this oversight:
Lead/Follow Dance Technique
Lindy Hop and its companion dance styles are Lead/Follow partnered dance styles. That is to say that the movement and flow of the dance is led (usually by a man) and followed (usually by a woman). It is the job of the Lead to know how to direct the Follow in a safe manner that is appropriate for the music. It is the job of the Follow to know how to interpret the leads that are given, and not anticipate leads they may think are about to be given. This makes for a partnered dance style that is spontaneous and in the moment, not memorized or choreographed.
The objective of dance instruction is to teach Leads how to lead and Follows how to follow.
Dance as a Conversation
When performed correctly, swing dancing is a conversation, a constant give and take, delivery and response, between a Lead and Follow. The lead/follow technique is a universal language of dance. The non-dancing public will often follow-up the comment “you two are a fantastic dance couple” with “you must have been dancing together for years.” The truth of the matter is a good Lead and Follow, who have never met, can dance together at a level that the ordinary public would consider very high. The secret is a good Lead and Follow both know the Lindy Hop dance language and can therefore carry on a Lindy Hop dance conversation. This will hold true even if the Lead, a natural born American citizen who can’t speak a of word of German, is dancing with a German Follow who can’t speak a word of English.
The Physics of Partnered Dancing
Swing Dancing is based on the fundamental laws of physics handed down by Issac Newton. To quote a previous passage:
Lindy Hop, Jitterbug, and East Coast Swing dancing bring with them a real potential for injury. Swing dancing is largely an illusion. While it may appear that the dance Lead is pushing, pulling, throwing and spinning a helpless Follow around the dance floor, this is by no means the case. The fundamental techniques that control swing dancing and make it safe are unseen. Concepts of proper connection and frame, the transfer of momentum and energy, and other subtle dance dynamics cannot be learned by mere observation, they must be taught.
Again, when performed correctly, swing dancing should not hurt and the Follow should not be made to feel as if she is being man-handled around the dance floor. When lindy hoppers dance in public, it is common for non-dancers to attempt to imitate the things they see (or think they see) experienced dancers doing. When they do, it is not uncommon to see the unfortunate Follow wince in pain as her shoulders and arms are being jerked in directions they were never meant to go. This is why it is important to learn to dance correctly.
While learning to dance correctly has the added benefit of being able to dance without music, it is the music that inspires most of us to dance.
Lindy Hop and its Music
Lindy Hop swing dancing is a product of the Swing Era and the Big Band/Jump Blues swing music that defined it. This is the cornerstone on which Lindy Hop culture is based. In order to fully enjoy all that Lindy Hop Swing has to offer, one must appreciate and respect music that is in this style and from this era. However, it must be added that Lindy Hop does not limit itself to vintage swing, or for that matter, swing music from any particular era. It simply regards Big Band/Jump Blues Swing as its anchor, and takes pride in keeping the heritage of this music alive.
Big Band/Jump Blues Swing music is . . .
. . . the dominant musical style of Lindy Hop culture.
Alternative swing styles, employed to supplement and add variety to Lindy Hop’s core musical style, include Swing Rhythm & Blues and Swing Jazz. Rockabilly, Roots Rock’n'Roll and Neo-Swing music may also be included when dancers demonstrate a preference for these musical styles. The same holds true for classic Blues, which has become popular among lindy hoppers in recent years.
While there is a small contingent of lindy hoppers who enjoy Hip Hop Lindy Hop or Hizzop, this style of music is usually reserved for private parties populated by dancers who share this interest. Hip Hop Lindy Hop exemplifies the fact that Lindy Hop can be performed to Funk and Hip Hop rhythms.
Western Swing, Honky Tonk Swing and Alternative/Roots Country music driven by a swing (not two-step) rhythm is both era and style appropriate for Lindy Hop swing dancing. But experience has shown that this music, no matter how pure its swing rhythm or how well suited it is for Lindy Hop swing dancing, will seldom be heard at a Lindy Hop event.
The common denominator among Lindy Hop music is the swing/shuffle rhythm that is the heart and soul of Lindy Hop Swing. It is the rhythm that drives Count Basie’s “Shiney Stockings,” Big Joe Turner’s “Shake, Rattle & Roll,” Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon,” and Van Morrison’s “Moondance.” It is a common musical rhythm that (as the list indicates) can be found among a wide variety of musical styles. However some common musical styles lie outside the realm of Lindy Hop culture.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, popular music and dance went through a dramatic change. In terms of music, it was the evolution of swing driven Rhythm & Blues into funk and soul driven Rhythm & Blues. The dance styles of popular culture kept pace with the music and gradually evolved from East Coast/Jitterbug swing dancing to solo dancing in place. In other words, popular music and dance went from Swing music and swing dancing to Funk/Soul music and solo Dancing.
Within dance culture, West Coast Swing adapted its partnered dance style to fit the non-swing rhythms driving Funk/Soul Rhythm & Blues. Lindy Hop Swing’s style did not undergo this transformation because, quite simply, there was no Lindy Hop Swing to undergo such a change. Lindy Hop Swing went into remission long before the advent of Funk/Soul Rhythm & Blues music. A style of music that was directed toward the solo dancers of pop culture, but nonetheless embraced by the West Coast Swing dancers within dance culture.
For the reasons explained above, non-swing Funk and Soul driven Rhythm & Blues music is not regarded as swing music by the Lindy Hop community. The same holds true for Latin music and the repetitive “thump, thump, thump” of Contemporary Top-40, Nightclub and Disco music. Let it be emphasized that nothing is wrong with any of these alternative styles of music, and occasionally some of it will pop up at a Lindy Hop event out of pure novelty. It is merely being pointed out that this music is not regarded as swing music by Lindy Hop culture.
Dancers who prefer contemporary popular dance music, Funk and Soul driven Rhythm & Blues or Latin music and rhythms, would be far better served by the West Coast Swing and Latin dance communities than the Lindy Hop Community.
Lindy Hop Culture
Lindy Hop culture is dance culture; this alone has significant meaning. Dancing in the eyes of popular culture is often seen as a means to an end, a method employed to become acquainted with someone they are attracted to. In dance culture dancing is its own reward; an experience unto itself where physical attraction between the Lead and Follow plays a small (if any) role. Indeed, within dance culture, the quickest way to improve your “attractive index” is to improve your dancing skills.
People who are serious about dancing will vividly remember and reflect on the details of a specific dance experience (partner, song, dance surface, etc.) the same way a serious sports fan might recount a memorable inning in baseball, play in football or hole in golf. In fact, many Lindy Hop swing dancers approach their dancing with the same intensity as a dedicated athlete.
Like any hobby or sport, Lindy Hop Swing offers a fun and friendly environment where people can pursue a common interest. It is open to all ages, family friendly, and in terms of most organized Lindy Hop events, smoke and alcohol free. It is also great exercise. While formal competition in Lindy Hop swing is possible (culminating every year at the American Lindy Hop Championships), it is not a driving force in Lindy Hop culture.
A partner is never required, and it is not uncommon to find a Lead or Follow whose significant other has no interest in dancing at all. When couples participate in dance instruction, they are encouraged to rotate partners to improve their lead/follow skills and not fall into the memorized choreography trap.
Lindy Hop swing dancers come in all shapes and sizes, and from diverse backgrounds. While the majority fall within the age range of early 20s to about mid 30s, there are are quite a few teenagers and middle aged folks in their 40’s and 50’s who are also involved.
The following sections will demonstrate how popular Lindy Hop Swing has become in both the United States and around the World.
Lindy Hop Across the United States
Lindy Hop clubs and organizations can now be found in nearly every major metropolitan area, and many mid-size cities, throughout the country.
In Kansas City there is the relatively new…
- Kansas City Lindy Hop Society
In St. Louis there is the…
- Lindy Hop Swing Society of Greater St. Louis
And in Lawrence the…
- Kansas University Swing Society
Regarding the latter, it is now common for many colleges and universities to sponsor swing clubs. Other examples being the…
- Washington University Swing Society
in St.Louis. and the…
- Truman State University Swingers
in Kirksville.
In major cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and Dallas, their Lindy Hop scenes (as they are called) are quite large and have a lot to offer in the way of dance instruction and opportunities to dance. For those who live outside major metro areas, regional weekend workshops and dances provide opportunities to learn and practice Lindy Hop Swing and other vintage dance styles. For the hardcore Lindy Hopper who is not afraid to travel and lives by the mantra: “DANCE NOW, you can SLEEP WHEN YOU’RE DEAD” there are lindy exchanges.
A lindy exchange or LX is a mini-convention where Lindy Hop swing dancers from all across America converge on a city for non-stop dancing over an extended weekend. The term exchange refers to the exchange of dance steps and styling that occurs when dancers of diverse backgrounds and experience gather to enjoy a weekend of dancing, fellowship and partying. These events also give dancers an opportunity to exchange their local dance partners with visiting dancers and thereby improve their lead/follow dance skills.
Given the youth oriented demographics of Lindy Hop culture, these events usually include homestays, carpooling and other aspects of travel “on the cheap” in a spirited adolescent road trip style. This aspect of Lindy Hop has played a major role in establishing a nationwide network of lindy hoppers that some say approaches cult status. Many lasting cross country friendships have been born out of a love for Lindy Hop, its music, and three or four days of around the clock dancing.
Lindy Hop Exchanges and other national events are held throughout the year. Listed below are some examples.
- HILX: Hawaii Lindy Exchange (January ‘05)
- SoFLeX: Southern Florida Lindy Exchange (January ‘05)
- ULX: Utah Lindy Exchange (January ‘05)
- Lindy Gras: New Orleans Lindy Exchange (January ‘05)
- LAX: Los Angeles Lindy Exchange (January ‘05)
- ASSLX: Athens (Ohio) Swing Society Lindy Exchange (February ‘05)
- ATLX: Atlanta Lindy Exchange (April ‘05)
- LAFLX: Lafayette (Indiana) Lindy Exchange (April ‘05)
- DCLX: Washington D.C. Lindy Exchange (April ‘05)
- DARLX: Dayton’s Allen & Rudy Lindy Exchange (April ‘05)
- Floor of Dreams Lindy Hop Exchange: Swing Society of the University of Illinois (April ‘05)
- SDLX: San Diego Lindy Exchange (APril ‘05)
- KCLX: Kansas City Lindy Exchange (May ‘05)
- DLX: Denver Lindy Exchange (June ‘05)
- CTLX: Connecticut Lindy Exchange (June ‘05)
- TCLX: Twin Cities Lindy Exchange (June ‘05)
- EatME: Everyone’s at the Michigan Exchange, Ann Arbor (July ‘05)
- Beantown Lindy Hop Summer Camp: Boston (July ‘05)
- SFLX: San Francisco Lindy Exchange (August ‘05)
- STLBX: Saint Louis Lindy/Blues Exchange (September ‘05)
- Indian Summer Swing Camp: Northern California (September ‘05)
- ALHC: American Lindy Hop Championships (October ‘05)
- WCLX: Windy City Lindy Exchange (October ‘05)
- Pittstop Lindy Hop: Pittsburg Lindy Exchange (November ‘05)
The preceding is only a partial list of national Lindy Hop events. Given the planning and level of commitment required to stage a national event, many cities choose to hold events every other year instead of annually. In addition to these national events, many regional workshops and mini-exchanges are also held throughout the year.
Lindy Hop is also alive and well on the Internet where Lindy Hop societies and clubs from around the world post Web sites and message boards. In New York, yehoodi.com is recognized as the unofficial Lindy Hop message board for the entire country. In Kansas City, the message board splanky.com is “Swing Central” for local dancers. In St. Louis, gatewaylindyhop.comis recognized as both a local and national Lindy Hop message board. The Lindy Hop Swing Society of Greater St. Louis also has a Web site located at lindyhopswing.com.
When Pop Culture lost interest in swing music and dancing, it left in its wake a Lindy Hop dance culture that had not been seen since the late 1940s. It was a unique and fortunate turn of events: a young dance couple’s interest in vintage swing music and dance, leading to the discovery of Frankie Manning, then ten years later pop culture’s sudden interest in all things swing! These elements combined to resurrect a dance style that many had thought was lost forever. As popular as Lindy Hop has become in the United States, it doesn’t stop here. Now Lindy Hop clubs and organizations can be found all around the world.
Lindy Hop Around the World
While no one disputes the fact that Lindy Hop Swing is uniquely American, ground zero for Lindy Hop on the world stage is Herrang, Sweden. You may recall that when Erin Stevens and Steven Mitchell first went to New York to seek out original Savoy lindy hoppers, they were met by dancers on a similar mission from Europe. Among those dancers were the founding members of the world famous Rhythm Hot Shots dance troupe from Stockholm, Sweden. In 1982, as members of the Stockholm based Swedish Swing Society, these dancers were instrumental in initiating (15 years BEFORE the Neo-Swing movement!) what has become “the leading and most comprehensive African American swing dance camp in the world.”
Herrang Dance Camp is a month long summer event that features the top Lindy Hop dance instructors in the world, honorably presided over by the master himself, Frankie Manning. Herrang Dance Camp is Mecca to Lindy Hop swing dancers the world over, and there are many.
The preceding section listed national Lindy Hop events, what follows is a similar list for events that occur on the world stage.
- Stockholm Lindy Exchange (Sweden)
- Toronto Lindy Exchange (Canada)
- Melbourne Lindy Exchange (Australia)
- Vancouver Winter Exchange (Canada)
- London Lindy Exchange (England)
- Japan Lindy Exchange (Tokyo)
- Montreal Lindy Exchange (Canada)
- Hullabaloo - Perth Lindy Exchange (Australia)
- Munich Lindy Exchange (Germany)
- Paris Lindy Exchange (France)
- Prarie Lindy Exchange duPLEX (Canada)
Again, the preceding list is just a sample of Lindy Hop events that are known to occur around the world. There are no doubt hundreds of others that don’t advertise on a global scale.
The point to be made here, is that Lindy Hop swing dancing is much more than the idle pastime of a handful of dancers in Kansas City who enjoy vintage swing music. Lindy Hop is more than some old dance style that was briefly resurrected in the late 90s by Brian Setzer and a thirty second TV commercial advertising khaki pants.
Lindy Hop swing dancing, the original music that inspired it, and the man who made it world famous not once, but twice, are a part of our national performing art heritage. The dance and the music needs to be maintained and preserved, and the man who made it famous, Frankie Manning, needs to be forever remembered for his role in making it all happen.
The next and final portion of this series will focus on Lindy Hop Swing in Kansas City and Lawrence since the late 1990’s.
Lindy Hop in Kansas City and Lawrence
The preceding section described how the Neo-Swing movement generated interest in swing related music and dancing that, for many, opened the door to vintage Lindy Hop Swing and Big Band/Jump Blues swing music. Sadly, in the Kansas City/Lawrence region, the transition from pop culture’s contemporary Neo-Swing to vintage Lindy Hop Swing has encountered significant resistance. While there are and have always been dancers in this area who identify themselves as vintage Lindy Hop swing dancers, their numbers have remained low among the general swing dance population.
The goal of this Website and the Kansas City Lindy Hop Society is to generate interest and hopefully increase the local population of vintage Lindy Hop Swing dancers. Toward that end, part of the inspiration behind this three part history was to explain why vintage Lindy Hop Swing is what it is, how and why it is different from other popular swing dance styles, and moreover, why it is nothing to be upset or argued about. Perhaps this added understanding and insight will encourage contemporary swing dancers to become better acquainted with vintage Lindy Hop Swing and see it in a different light.
As the topic now turns to one of a local scale, it becomes important to first understand the dynamics of local swing dance culture.
The Dynamics of Local Swing Dance Culture
Every swing dance scene in America shares the broad common history presented in this three part series. That said, every swing dance scene also has a local history that shapes the way vintage Lindy Hop Swing is received, interpreted, and ultimately embraced or resisted. A few of the many factors that influence a local swing scene and its relationship to Lindy Hop Swing include,
- Established non-Lindy Hop dance culture.
- Lingering impact of the Neo-Swing movement.
- Local music history.
- Role of profit driven dance studios.
- Role of non-profit dance organizations.
- Positive elements of social organization that include mutual respect, cooperation, and a common vision for an evolving swing scene.
- Negative elements of social discourse that include inflated egos, territorial competition, and differing opinions on how a local swing dance scene should evolve and the dance styles and music it should include and promote.
Simply put, local dance scenes are burdened with the same politics, competitive factions, and drama that accompany all social groups. To provide detail concerning the evolution of any local dance scene would require both omnipotence and the will to air dirty laundry. Lacking both of these attributes, the information offered here will be general and non-specific.
1999: Lindy Hop Swing is Introduced to Kansas City
Perhaps a more fitting term would be re-introduced. Given the rich swing history of Kansas City, it stands to reason that Lindy Hop Swing would have been prevalent here during the 1930s and 40s. Not immune to the influence of America’s pop culture, Kansas City also witnessed the decline and eventual demise of Lindy Hop Swing during the 1950s; and did not see it return until the height of the Neo-Swing movement of the late 1990s.
Early in 1999, Jean Denney and Frankie Hoang created the first known Web based non-profit Lindy Hop group in Kansas City. Named Cat’s Corner, after that famous portion of dance floor occupied by Savoy’s top dancers, this Web site was Kansas City’s sole Internet resource for vintage Lindy Hop related information for several years.
The Cat’s Corner logo reads: “Get into Lindy Hop, the Original Swing Dance”
Jean Denney is a life long dancer who became serious about vintage swing dancing in 1997; and for twenty months studied with Charlie Wyler in Baltimore, MD. Jim Craniak, a Baltimore area dancer who studied swing dance with Dean Collins once commented that they (Jean & Charlie) “reminded [him] of the dancers from that [vintage swing] era and style.” It was during this period that Jean adopted Dean Collin’s and Jewel McGowan’s Hollywood style of Lindy Hop and added her own unique signature.
In the fall of 1998 Jean moved to Weston, Missouri where she soon made her way to Kansas City in search of a swing dance outlet. There, during a competition to promote the movie Blast From the Past, Jean observed Frankie Hoang and his partner dancing in a vintage Lindy Hop style. Jean Denney described this meeting in correspondence dated June 22, 2005:
They were the first dancers I’d seen in KC who followed the musical phrasing, danced in an eight count pattern and had a connection that allowed for authentic lead and follow.
Jean went on to describe what happened next,
Frankie and I got to talking and finally got together to dance. We decided to start a crusade and share the gospel of Lindy Hop in KC. Frankie was organized and enthusiastic. I was the “dancer” and had some nice vintage clothes. Frankie was strictly Lindy Hop, old school and traditional. I had to adapt and I really learned a lot from Frankie, like Charleston!
According to Jean, she and Frankie taught the basics of Lindy Hop swing dancing and “put about 300 dancers through [their] fast start campaign.” In October of 1999, Frankie left Kansas City for law school in Georgetown and Jean moved to Lawrence to work for the Kansas Art’s Commission. It was then, less than one year after its inception, that the torch of Cat’s Corner was passed to Ed Schlittenhardt and other promising dance students.
Cat’s Corner: 1999 - 2004
Cat’s Corner thrived during the Neo-Swing movement in which it was created. It was a time when everyone wanted to swing dance to the contemporary swing sound of Brian Setzer, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Royal Crown Revue and the many other popular Neo-Swing artists. Young dancers in Kansas City were quick to learn six count East Coast Swing and combine it with the acrobatic moves seen in swing related movies, music videos and television commercials. Some even held on to make the transition from East Coast Swing to Lindy Hop Swing. Even West Coast Swing dancers, who were already accustomed to partner dancing to contemporary Disco, Funk, and Soul music, joined in to experience the swing craze that was sweeping the nation. All was well, while it lasted.
In Kansas City, interest in Lindy Hop swing dancing remained (and to a degree still remains) closely tied to the Neo-Swing movement. In terms of dance style, vintage Lindy Hop was embraced by Neo-Swing dancers who sought to advance their dance skill beyond six count East Coast Swing. But in terms of music, it was an entirely different story. The majority of Neo-Swing dancers in Kansas City wanted no part of vintage Lindy Hop swing music; nor did many of the West and East Coast swing dancers who were likewise participating in the Neo-Swing craze. Many of these dancers considered the music enjoyed by lindy hoppers to be old fashioned, un-hip, and boring. Therein lies the reason why Kansas City failed to make the transition from pop culture’s contemporary Neo-Swing movement to vintage Lindy Hop Swing culture.
As the Neo-Swing movement began to fade between 2000 and 2003, so did interest in Lindy Hop Swing. During this period Cat’s Corner was a haven for the few dancers in Kansas City who identified with vintage Lindy Hop Swing and the music that inspired it. Cat’s Corner was not a Neo-Swing club, a West or East Coast Swing Club, or a hybrid of all three; it was a bona fide vintage Lindy Hop Swing club hosted by one of the leading vintage Lindy Hop dance couples in the Kansas City region: Ed Schlittenhardt and Jenny Pool.
By the fall of 2002, Cat’s Corner was holding a weekly lesson and dance every Friday night at the Westport Presbyterian Church. Attendance was sporadic. Some evenings would draw as many as 10 or 15 people, others would draw only a few dancers. Unfortunately, there were also times when not a single dancer would show. Finally, in the spring of 2004, Ed and Jenny reluctantly closed the doors on the Cat’s Corner weekly lesson and dance.
By this time, the Cat’s Corner Web site was being hosted by kcdance.com. Over time, the Cat’s Corner site was no longer maintained and during the summer of 2005 it was finally laid to rest without mention. It was a sad end to an idea that only a five years earlier inspired so much enthusiasm and promise.
Ed Schlittenhardt and Jenny Pool went on to teach Lindy Hop, Balboa and Charleston at other local venues and today remain one of Kansas City’s top vintage dance instruction couples. Both have remained active in the local Lindy Hop scene and are valued supporters of KCLHS where they sometimes teach. Ed is also recognized for his knowledge of vintage Swing and Jazz music and skill as a Lindy Hop DJ.
The Kansas City Swing Culture Beyond Cat’s Corner
Cat’s Corner wasn’t the only source of swing dance activity during the latter years of the Neo-Swing movement. Other talented dance couples like Jake Fisher and Chrissy Bridgeman were offering, and continue to offer, progressive lessons and workshops in Lindy Hop, Balboa, Charleston and Collegiate Shag. Michael and Angel Lamy started the local swing dance Internet message board www.splanky.com and the monthly Swing Jam lesson and dance. During the warmer months, Kenny Nelson organized Saturday afternoon swing bombs in public locations to help raise interest in swing dancing and music.
Local swing dancers also formed Internet and e-mail networks to stay in touch with the local swing scene. For profit dance studios were teaching various styles of swing, with some concentrating on high energy air step intensive dance performance routines. Two weekly lesson and dance venues were introduced in Lawrence; and in 2003 the first ever Kansas City Lindy Exchange (KCLX) was held. While all of these efforts indicated a continued interest in, and support for, a local swing culture, Kansas City’s interest in vintage Lindy Hop Swing never rose to the level seen in other parts of the country.
The following sections will take a closer look at a few of these efforts.
The Lawrence Swing Scene
Lawrence, Kansas lies about 45 minutes west of downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Home of Kansas University, the Neo-Swing movement did not go unnoticed by the taverns and bars surrounding KU. In the earliest days of the movement, three venues took a turn at hosting a Sunday night swing lesson and dance. The first to enter the swing market was the Bottleneck, who later passed it on to Johnnie’s Tavern, who then passed it on to Abe & Jakes. When Abe & Jakes decided to end their swing night, the Flamingo Dance Studio/Academy began their Sunday night swing lesson and dance to take its place. Later on the Flamingo Dance Studio/Academy was renamed Camelot.
At some point during these transitions, another weekly swing lesson and dance was instituted on Tuesday nights at the Ecumenical Christian Ministries (ECM) building on KU’s campus. Attended heavily by local swing dancers immersed in the Neo-Swing movement, these Tuesday and Sunday night events were the mainstay of swing dancing in Lawrence for many years. As you might expect, the principal styles of music and dance encountered during this period was Neo/East Coast Swing.
In 2002, Lindy Hop and other vintage dance styles were introduced to the ECM program by area instructors that included Ed Schlittenhardt & Jenny Pool. That same year, dancers who identified with vintage Lindy Hop Swing began attending the ECM dances. These lindy hoppers sought to introduce vintage swing music that was not well received by most of the regular Neo/East Coast Swing dancers. In spite of this neo-swing vs. vintage swing friction, the ECM and Flamingo/Camelot venues managed to hold on and keep swing dancing alive in Lawrence during the decline of the Neo-Swing movement.
By the fall of 2003, regular attendance at the ECM dance dwindled to a handful of die-hard dancers who were students at KU. These students got together and agreed that they could better manage this weekly event and ensure its continued operation if they formed a KU student swing dance organization. In January of the following year (2004), the Kansas University Swing Society was recognized as an official KU student organization.
The Kansas University Swing Society (KUSS) continues to hold its Tuesday night lesson and dance. Since its inception under the leadership of Misha Thompson, this organization has fostered some of the top vintage Lindy Hop and Balboa dancers in the area. Sadly, the Sunday night swing lesson and dance has been discontinued at the Flamingo/Camelot.
2003: Splanky.com and the Monthly Swing Jam
In the spring of 2003, Michael and Angel Lamy moved to Kansas City from Connecticut; where they were active in the local and national Lindy Hop Swing scene as dance competitors and instructors. Michael is also known for his skill as a Lindy Hop DJ, where he has served in that capacity for the American Lindy Hop Championships.
In the summer of 2003 Michael launched splanky.com and labeled it swing central for Kansas City swing dancers. Named after the popular swing instrumental made famous by Count Basie, splanky is an open message board where local dancers can post discussion topics and trade opinions on a variety of subjects. Over the years the discourse on splanky has (like most open Internet forums) ranged from informative, humorous, and supportive to banal, insulting and divisive. Created with the original intent of uniting Kansas City’s many swing dance factions under the model of Lindy Hop Swing culture known back east and in other parts of the country, Kansas City’s resistance to embrace vintage Lindy Hop Swing was again made evident.
That same summer in 2003, Michael and Angel started the monthly Kansas City Swing Jam lesson and dance. Originally held the first Friday of every month at Walter’s Dance Studio, Swing Jam is now held the first Saturday of every month at the Kansas City Swing Dance Club. Attendance at this swing event ebbs and flows, but when the local lindy hoppers do turn out it makes for a great evening of swing music and dancing.
2003: Kansas City Lindy Exchange
Perhaps the crowning Lindy Hop event of 2003 was the first ever Kansas City Lindy Exchange or KCLX. In an earlier section titled Lindy Hop Across the United States, a lindy exchange was described as “…a mini-convention where Lindy Hop swing dancers from all across America converge on a city for non-stop dancing over an extended weekend.” And that is precisely what was staged here on July 18-20, 2003.
During the latter months of 2002, three former Kansas City lindy hoppers Meg, Mia and Scott got together and decided it was time to stage a national Lindy Hop event in Kansas City. This trio, with the help of other area swing dancers, planned three days of Lindy Hop Swing that drew dancers from all across America.
Dance venues for this event included Union Station and the Muehelbach Hotel. Late night dances until daylight were also held at Walter’s Dance Studio and the Westport Presbyterian Church.
Shown to the left is the back of the men’s t-shirt with the invitation:
“DANCE with THE HEPPEST of the HEP in the HEARTLAND.”
The first KCLX had a few mishaps. One example being a power failure downtown caused by a water main break. This required a last minute shift in dance locations that were difficult to communicate. But all in all, for a first time national event pulled off by a small independent group of dancers, it was regarded as a success that drew about 80 to 100 dancers from around the country.
Shown to the right is the logo that appeared on the left breast of the men’s t-shirt.
2004: The Kansas City Lindy Hop Society
In 2003, West Coast Swing was well established in Kansas City with at least two organized clubs: the Kansas City Swing Dance Club and the the Cowtown Swing Dance Club. Lindy Hop Swing and Kansas City’s large following of Neo/East Coast swing dancers did not have any organized clubs. The swing culture outside West Coast Swing was made up of separate groups (some would say cliques) who shared a common swing style or taste in music; with some tied to individual dance studios, dance instructors, and in some cases a specific dance venue or musical group. This was the nature of Kansas City’s swing dance environment when, in the fall of 2003, a group of swing dancers entertained the idea of creating a swing dance organization that could, in time, sponsor another Kansas City lindy exchange.
On December 31st, 2003, what was to later become the Kansas City Lindy Hop Society was incorporated as a Missouri non-profit organization under the name KCLX. During the first half of 2004, founding members drafted a set of by-laws that would chart the future course of the organization. These by-laws included a process for the election of a president and governing board. In July 2004, the first election was held and Hilary Wright was installed as founding president.
Soon afterwards, it was recognized that the incorporated name KCLX, though a fitting title for a Lindy Hop event, was not entirely appropriate for a Lindy Hop organization. To remedy this issue, paperwork was filed and the organization that originally incorporated under the name KCLX became what we now know as the Kansas City Lindy Hop Society (KCLHS).
With a new name and a framework to guide the organization, the next task was two-fold: the fund raising and planning for what would be Kansas City’s second lindy exchange. During the latter half of 2004 and into the early spring of 2005, KCLHS sponsored a garage sale, dances, and dance workshops to raise money that would support the lindy exchange they were simultaneously planning. This was no small task when you consider all the details that surround a national dance event, details that include marketing and promotion, dance venue selection/negotiations, contract agreements, event insurance, housing, entertainment, printing, t-shirts, organizing volunteers, DJs, etc. But they pulled it off and over the weekend of May 20-22, 2005, the second Kansas City Lindy Exchange hosted dancers from all across America.
One additional milestone that bears mentioning is that later, in July of 2005, The Kansas City Lindy Hop Society was granted status as a 501c(3) tax exempt non-profit organization. This preferred tax status allows KCLHS contributions to be claimed as tax deductions.
2005: Kansas City Lindy Exchange
The second Kansas City Lindy Exchange, the first sponsored by KCLHS, was held on May 20-22, 2005. Friday night featured a DJ’d dance at the American Jazz Museum. Saturday night it was Kansas City’s own legendary Scamps at the Rockhurst Social Hall. Sunday night featured another local favorite Jazz & Jump Blues Swing group, the Grand Marquis at the Fahrenheit Ballroom.
On Saturday afternoon, the lindy hoppers at Barney Allis Plaza drew many onlookers. The weather was perfect, the music was SWING!, and the dancing was non-stop.
The Sunday afternoon dance was held in the Loose Park Pavilion. Again, the weather was perfect as lindy hoppers entertained themselves and passing park patrons.
Shown at right is the KCLX ‘05 logo that appeared on the front of the event t-shirts. The slogan for KCLX ‘05 was:
“Basie, Barbecue, and all that Jazz”
KCLX ‘05 was, without question, a resounding success that drew praise from nearly all who attended. The weather was beautiful for both afternoon dances; and the evening and late night events were staged and managed without incident. As the first national event planned by a new Lindy Hop social organization, it was truly an accomplishment to be proud of.
2005: www.kclindyhop.org
During 2004, this writer frequented many of the Blues and Jazz clubs throughout Kansas City; most of the time with a talented Lindy Hop follow in tow. While dancing in these public venues, two things became apparent:
- Lindy Hop swing dancing is rarely seen in public where dancers can interact with live musicians in a spontaneous and improvised way.
- The general public appreciates Lindy Hop swing dancing, is curious about its origin, and eager to know where to learn more about it.
When faced with questions about Lindy Hop Swing, the only local resource that could be offered was splanky.com. But as a swing dance message board for people who were already swing dancers, I knew it wouldn’t provide answers to the questions asked by the non-dancing public. The other option was to suggest that by typing “Lindy Hop” into any Internet search engine, more information could be found. The downside with this option is that it wouldn’t provide any local information or points of contact.
These encounters with the public, and the lack of a resource to refer them to, were the inspiration for a Lindy Hop Web site that would combine information from a wide variety of sources into one detailed account of the history of Lindy Hop Swing, and how it fits into today’s dance culture.
In January of 2005, at a back table in Blayney’s Westport Blues Bar, the founding president of the Kansas City Lindy Hop Society, Hilary Wright, and I confirmed something we already knew: my interpretation of Lindy Hop swing dancing, its music, and culture was fundamentally the same as those who were now guiding the Kansas City Lindy Hop Society. It was then that I first proposed the idea of a Web site clearly branded to represent vintage Lindy Hop Swing and its history. Moreover, I offered to personally subsidize and create such a Web site if the Kansas City Lindy Hop Society would be interested in making it their home.
In February of 2005, the board of the Kansas City Lindy Hop Society welcomed my proposal and the kclindyhop.org Internet domain was registered. Nine months later, in November 2005, this website was opened to the public.
Closing Remarks and Editorial Comment
And so it goes, one lindy hopper’s version of how the African tribal dancing that was imported to America during the slave trade, combined with the European notion of partner dancing, and evolved under the influence of the Jazz Age, Big Band Swing Era, and the swing/shuffle rhythms of Jump Blues Swing to become Lindy Hop Swing culture.
An often heard discussion/debate among contemporary swing dancers is how Lindy Hop needs to grow and evolve. A common argument presented to support this idea is the fact that Lindy Hop was itself a product of evolving dance and musical styles, and that to not continue to evolve and adapt the dance would be a disservice to its heritage.
The problem with this argument is that the evolution of what was once Lindy Hop swing dancing, the continued adaptation of what was once the Lindy Hop style to meet the needs of contemporary music, never stopped. It is very much alive and well, and now exists under the name of West Coast Swing. In other words: What some propose, the growth and evolution of Lindy Hop Swing to keep pace with contemporary music, has already been done once. There is no need to do it again.
Throughout this text the clarifying adjective vintage was used to precede the words Lindy Hop Swing. To those who get the concept of Lindy Hop Swing, this added qualifier is understood and superfluous. Lindy Hop is a swing style from the past. In the early 1980s swing dancers went to great lengths to discover, resurrect, and recreate this dance in its original authentic style. As a Lindy Hop swing dancer, I am in no hurry to force fit this vintage dance style (that was so hard to come by) into modern pop music and dance culture.
While to be sure, some lindy hoppers do toy with the notion of contemporary Lindy Hop. There is, after all, Hip Hop Lindy Hop and occasionally you will hear some non-swing contemporary music at a Lindy Hop event. Though this may be, what lies at the core of Lindy Hop Swing is the spirit of dancing in the African American swing style to the Big Band, Jump Blues, and Jazz swing music that defined America’s great Swing Era of the 1930s and 1940s.
This is what defines Lindy Hop swing dancing, its music, and culture.
george
