#lindy hoppers

[thefugitivesaint]

''Life'', Dec. 28, 1936  Some selections from a year end overview by ‘Life’ Magazine, one with some dated terminology. Speaking of which, the “Lindy Hop” "is a partner dance that originated in 1920's and 30's Harlem, New York. The Dance itself consists of both 8 and 6 count steps and it includes footwork borrowed from the Charleston and Tap.” The dances exact origins are unclear, “The Harlem Lindy Hop developed probably from four possible sources, or some combination thereof: the breakaway, the Charleston, the Texas Tommy, and the hop.”  “What was special about the Lindy Hope was that it left room for the dancers to improvise. The Savoy and other ballrooms would often host competitions and dance marathons where guests would compete against each other and come up with wild variations on the moves. The dance allegedly got its name at one of these dance marathons when in 1927 a reporter asked the famous dancer George “Shorty” Snowden what the dance he was doing was called. Inspired by pilot Charles Lindbergh’s recent solo “hop” across the Atlantic, Shorty George replied “the Lindy Hop” and gave the new dance craze its name” You learn something new every day. All I know is that I love dancing. Here’s clip from the 1941 film ‘Hellzapoppin' that’s considered by some to be “the greatest Lindy hop sequence ever filmed.” (I’m not getting into the thorny business of contextualizing black performances for white audiences on film and how what’s shown might reflect American racism and/or racist expectations of black physicality but at least the clip avoids the unfortunate black face adorned by the Marx Brothers in the 1937 film ‘A Day At The Races’ at the end of another ‘Lindy Hop’ dance sequence. But, if you want to see it, you’ll get to hear Ivie Anderson sing and that’s pretty great shit right there.)  Source

[tfbsafeageappropriatedance]

Here's a fun experiment to do:

Play THIS SONG:

Over THIS VIDEO:

To this dance history hound - and due to the over-glorifying of tricks and Eurocentric-rooted skills like grandes pirouettes a la secondes releves done by females via mass media - this is what my brain REALLY sees whenever I'd watch footage of dance competition interpretations of the above cover of Duke Ellington and Don George's "Hit Me With a Hot Note."

And that brings me to my Christmas wish every year: I wear a size "Two-and-Four" video of a vernacular jazz interpretation of THAT COVER.

And many more.

I created a Spotify playlist for all the Lindy hoppers out there who are skilled in solo jazz. Introducing...

It's not just a listening-pleasure playlist. My intent is to share it with the Lindy Hop community so they can do their Africanist, vernacular takes on those songs listed, most of which are frequently-interpreted "hits" at mainstream multigenre dance competitions like NUVO or Starquest.

A dance history fan only can dream of the day when the late Natalie Cole's cover of "Orange-Colored Sky" looks like this (with character shoes with heel heights between 1-2" instead of sneakers, preferably):

And A WHOLE LOT LESS like these:

Speaking of Natalie Cole's cover of "Orange-Colored Sky," feel free to play it over above example of a vernacular jazz solo to see what I mean. (Also, feel free to play it over the video of a rhythmic gymnastics individual apparatus routine to help you envision what my brain would see whenever I'd watch whenever I'd watch footage of dance competition interpretations of said cover.)

[notherpuppet]

Headcanon that alastor learned how to move like that in battle because he was a Lindy hopper

[thechanelmuse]

Black Americans are Soul People. 

The amount of times I just watched this compilation made by BlackPowerBA. I love us. We are vibrant people with a culture unlike any other.

And that double dutch transition into Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers is the chef’s kiss.

[lindyloowho]

ILHC Europe All-Star Classic Routine: Tamara Lobato Nieto & Héctor San Andrés Jaime (Spain / Spain)

From ILHC Europe All-Star Classic Routines

[iddstar]

IYKYK

As part of my continued campaign to convince whoever I need to to let me make the official Callisto 6 comic book, here’s one of my favourite moments from the show.

[moonibinbon]

Leads that listen and respond to their follows are the most fun to dance with. Follows that play and improvise and surprise their leads are also the most fun to dance with!

Dance (especially swing) is all about communication and connection and yup that is exactly what’s happening here.

Oh, this is incredible.

Improv swing dance to a Todrick Hall song?

And they killed it!

*thanks to the people who pointed out my oops

[travsd]

The Norma Miller Centennial

Born 100 years ago today, Norma Miller (1919-2019). Remarkably, this Harlem Renaissance Woman (who came a long a shade too late for the Harlem Renaissance) nearly lived to see this day. She passed away back in May. While mostly known as a dancer and choreographer, Miller was also an actress, comedian, author, and teacher. As a kid, Miller hung around outside Harlem clubs like the Savoy Ballroom…

[badbitchstromboli]

California Dreamin’

( @elizabethepb )

Sleepy spindly spiderlegs set cracks in dreams, spread, further than fathoming and what can we fathom at such a distance?

Oh the pricking of my thumbs says something’s on its way, something blowing in the wind; there is a wind for sail, a winding price for tea— steeplechase? What seahorses may be, adept at ditches, britches striped and capped, all ready set for a long nighttime nap.

I call on Barbie and Ben, the sleeping friends, to take me to a land beyond, abscond with me beyond the sea oh won’t you, Bobby D? And the spidercracks that stretch their way to stepping, step me down to stumbling ‘round like a teenaged lousy lindy-hopper— pull the stopper and the plug!

Sleep and I are not lovers, barely friends; I’ve not networked with dreaming, surely we share some channels? One never knows with those shadows.

I have dreamt, with blessings of Amaterasu, golden, gilded things one might associate or dissociate with— I have daydreamt myself anew, and daydreamt myself an old; I dance the Regression! I do the Backslide! I shake and shimmy off the shawl of self-help! I hip and hop, heaving healing at the wall!

What sticks there? At the wall? Snatch whispers at my snout, but what sticks at the wall? What spaghetti can be had? What marinara? Why, healing does look an awful lot like spaghetti— comfort and cold, leftover and piled high at the past potluck; pasta everpresent; past that lingers as reddened fingers stained with hunger hunger hunger—

What hungers in you, in dreams? What hungers for you there too?

Perhaps the dreamers are abed, taking care to have been fed; ‘haps the dreamers dream spaghettiless dreams.

Perhaps I have thought too much of spaghetti.

I must untwirl my tangled meaty-phors, and make some veg of it all— an ensalada en suite, adjoined, though separate, stately.

Forgive my famished fathoms— I cannot go such distance but we try, we try. The sea and me we rock to sleep, though the ocean gets there quicker; if ‘twere up to me, to race to sleep, we’d ought needs call a vicar.

Give me Ben and Barbie, then, Ben Zo and Barbie Tall, keepers of the steeples that we chase; oh, nuns and their habits.

You’ve told me of dreams—

Am I in my homeland, in your dreaming? My homeland, here we come— strictly, directionally speaking, strictly locationally speaking; am I coming through that golden gate?

Are you?

One wonders if spaghettiless dreamscapes could compare to my homeland, but one trusts you and your dreaming; one trusts a poet; one must, for a poet has the whole thing wrought, and a poet has his heart in hand, better dreaming than the knot— one trusts that you have made long the journey, fathomed of homeland and its sprawl. One trusts the dreamscape you’ve dreamt-scoped is grand as sand.

It is better, I bet.

[bieups]

It's my last week of vacation~ I've spent 90% of this break at my house, sleeping whenever I want and playing video games

But last weekend I went to help my friend teach a dance class (we did the California routine, for any lindy hoppers out there) and I felt like my Korean speaking was terrible...so now that my brain is rested, it's time to talk to people again!

I'll be going back to teach swivels after I move, so I gotta start looking up some helpful vocab/phrases to use in that lesson

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 5.26

Holidays

Battle of Pinhincha Day (Ecuador)

Bob Day

Boulder Day (Republic of Molossia)

Carb Day

Crown Prince’s Day (Denmark)

Drool Day

Dzien Matki (a.k.a. Mother's Day; Poland)

Feast of VooDoo Economics

Go Barefoot Around the House Day

Grey Day

Independent Artist Day

Mother’s Day (Poland)

National Death Busters Day

National EMS Recognition Day

National Grey Day

National Paper Airplane Day

National Poppy Day

National Ranboo Day

National Sorry Day (a.k.a. National Day of Healing; Australia)

National Wig Out Day

National Work From Home Day

Oat Grass Day (French Republic)

Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Day (Hawaii)

Sally Ride Day

Starfleet Remembrance Day (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds)

Windmill Day (Netherlands)

World Dracula Day

World Lindy Hop Day

World Orienteering Day

World Product Day

World Redhead Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

National Blueberry Cheesecake Day

National Cherry Dessert Day

World Sherry Day

4th & Last Friday in May

Ascension Friday (Belgium)

Bermuda Day [Last Friday]

Don't Fry Day [Friday before Memorial Day]

European Neighbours’ Day [Last Friday]

Great Wisconsin Cheese Festival begins [Last Friday, thru Sunday]

Heat Safety Awareness Day [4th Friday]

National Cooler Day [Friday before Memorial Day]

National Death Busters Day [Friday before Memorial Day]

National Heat Awareness Day [Last Friday]

National Polka Festival begins (Ennis, Texas) [Friday before Memorial Day]

National Road Trip Day [Friday before Memorial Day]

National Wig Out Day [Friday before Memorial Day]

Portland Rose Festival begins (Oregon) Friday in late May; thru June 26]

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Day (Western Australia) [Last Friday]

Trader-Willi Syndrome Awareness Day [Last Friday]

Title Track Day [4th Friday]

Independence Days

Erenian Republic (Declared; 2019) [unrecognized]

Georgia (from Russia, 1918)

Guyana (from UK, 1966)

Molossia (f.k.a. the Grand Republic of Vuldstein; Declared; 1977) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Augustine of Canterbury (Anglican Communion and Eastern Orthodox)

August Kopisch (Artology)

Buddha Day (Buddhism)

Doc Owl (Muppetism)

Dorothea Lange (Artology)

Eleuterus, Pope (Christian; Saint)

Festival of the Valley (Ancient Egypt)

Lambert of Vence (Christian; Saint)

Lemminkainen’s Day (Pagan)

Lenny Bruce Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

St. Monica (Positivist; Saint)

Oduvald (Christian; Saint)

Peter Sanz  (Christian; One of Martyr Saints of China)

Philip Neri (Christian; Saint)

Philippe de Champaigne (Artology)

Quadratus of Athens (Christian; Saint)

Shavuot (Judaism) [6 Sivan] (a.k.a. …

Feast of the Harvest

Feast of Weeks

Festival of Weeks

First-Fruit festival

Wheat Harvest

Thargelia (Birthday Festival of Apollo & Artemis; Ancient Greece)

Totally Random Day (Pastafarian)

World Hunger Day (Pastafarian)

Zachary, Bishop of Vienne (Christian; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Butsumetsu (仏滅 Japan) [Unlucky all day.]

Premieres

Absolutely Free, by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention (Album; 1968)

American Pie, by Don McLean (Song; 1971)

Avengers Assemble (Animated TV Series; 2013)

Beatlemania! (Broadway Musical Tribute; 1977)

Big Jake (Film; 1971)

Buddy of the Apes (WB LT Cartoon; 1934)

Caspar (Animated Film; 1995)

Dracula, by Bram Stoker (Novel; 1897)

Flying Home, recorded by Lionel Hampton (Song; 1937)

Games People Play, by Eric Berne (Self-Help Book; 1966)

God’s Men, by Pearl S. Buck (Novel; 1951)

Johnny Mnemonic (Film; 1995)

Kung Fu Panda 2 (Animated Film; 2011)

Mad Love (Film; 1995)

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (Film; 2017)

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, by The Beatles (Album; 1967)

Sourcery, by Terry Pratchet (Novel; 1988) [Discworld #5]

The Whole Truth and Nothing But, by Hedda Hopper (Memoir; 1963)

X-Men: The Last Stand (Film; 2006)

Yellow Submarine, recorded by The Beatles (Song; 1966)

Today’s Name Days

Alwin, Philipp (Austria)

Anamarija, Filip, Zdenko (Croatia)

Filip (Czech Republic)

Beda (Denmark)

Miina, Minna, Valme, Valmi, Vella, Velli, Vilma, Vilme (Estonia)

Miina, Mimmi, Minna, Minni, Vilhelmiina, Vilma (Finland)

Bérenger (France)

Marianne, Philipp (Germany)

Alfaios, Karpos, Sinesios (Greece)

Evelin, Fülöp (Hungary)

Filippo, Pellegrino (Italy)

Eduards, Edvards, Varis (Latvia)

Algimantas, Eduardas, Milvydė, Vilhelmina (Lithuania)

Annbjørg, Annlaug (Norway)

Beda, Filip, Marianna, Paulina, Więcemił, Wilhelmina (Poland)

Carp (România)

Dušan (Slovakia)

Felipe, Mariana (Spain)

Vilhelmina, Vilma (Sweden)

Felipe, Flip, Phil, Philip, Philippa, Phillip (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 146 of 2024; 219 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 5 of week 21 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Huath (Hawthorn) [Day 13 of 28]

Chinese: Month 4 (Ding-Si), Day 8 (Jia-Shen)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 6 Sivan 5783

Islamic: 6 Dhu al-Qada 1444

J Cal: 25 Bīja; Foursday [25 of 30]

Julian: 13 May 2023

Moon: 42%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 6 St. Paul (6th Month) [St. Monica]

Runic Half Month: Odal (Home, Possession) [Day 2 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 68 of 90)

Zodiac: Gemini (Day 6 of 32)

[lindyloowho]

THIS GETS ME SO EXCITED ABOUT JAZZ DANCING

[the27percent]

[ DANCE ] :  for  my  muse  to  invite  yours  to  dance 

Lindy hoppers are polite and respectful. Usual etiquette is to hold a hand out with a smile and ask “would you like to dance?” A yes is met with enthusiastic acceptance, a no is met with enthusiastic acceptance.

But the band is loud, the horns cut through the air cleanly. Pippa sees The Being standing off to the side. They look curious, observant. They’ve been watching everyone but she’s not sure if they’re a dancer too. If they’re a beginner, she’s eager to be a friendly experience.

She walks over, and holds out one hand flat. She makes an upside down ‘V’ with her index and middle fingers of the other hand and places them on the flat palm. Like a pair of open legs standing up. Another way of asking to dance without words.

Seeing these kind of events in the modern day is bringing back some interesting memories. Memories that Atieno doesn't really speak too much on, they feel too recent for them and yet too long ago for anyone else they would speak about. The complications of all that had been happening when they last saw dancing of this time live was... still reverberating through Earth from everything they saw on a regular basis.

But it didn't make it any less fascinating for them to see the sheer enthusiasm of people. They have been watching, very aware that their presence is off from those who usually attends such scenes.

So when someone does approach them with an open smile, Atieno raises a slight eyebrow and sly smile - but they do accept the offer. It might be good to surprise someone with what they really have up their sleeve.

[buxberg]

Le rêve de devenir acteur est né à l'âge de neuf ans

Il y avait plusieurs raisons : il était impressionné par les films de son oncle (Denis Lawson), il raffolait des vieilles cassettes noir et blanc des années 30.

 En 1987, Evan est allé à Perth, où il a essayé de trouver un emploi dans la troupe du théâtre de répertoire local.  Comme il n'avait ni expérience ni éducation spécialisée, il a été refusé.  Cependant, dans le théâtre où "Journey to India" a été mis en scène à cette époque, il manquait de figurants et Evan a joué l'un des Indiens dans la production.  C'était ses débuts sur la scène professionnelle.  Ensuite, il était toujours embauché au théâtre, mais pas en tant qu'acteur, mais en tant que machiniste.

Après avoir travaillé dans le théâtre pendant six mois, Evan a passé un an à étudier le théâtre à l'université.  À l'été 1989, Evan a terminé le cours et s'est rendu à Londres, où il a tenté d'entrer à la Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, mais n'a pas réussi et est devenu étudiant dans un établissement d'enseignement moins prestigieux - la Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

 La formation s'est poursuivie pendant trois ans.  En 1993, peu de temps après la sortie, les débuts d'Ewan à la télévision ont eu lieu - grâce aux efforts de son agent Lindy King, il a obtenu le rôle principal du soldat Mick Hopper dans la mini-série "Lipstick on Your Cell".

La même année, il fait ses débuts au cinéma, après avoir reçu un petit rôle dans le drame "Human Weaknesses".  Cela a été suivi par le rôle de l'ambitieux Julien Sorel dans la mini-série "Rouge et Noir" - une adaptation à l'écran du roman classique du même nom de Stendhal.