More than a year after the Savoy 80th anniversary celebration at the Alhambra Ballroom, I have finally managed to post (thanks to iMovie ‘08) the video tribute I put together as part of the festivities. The music video features Ella Fitzgerald (probably the Savoy’s most famous musical export) and Louis Armstrong singing Stompin’ at the Savoy. To their lively rendition, I’ve matched a number of clips showing many of the Savoy’s great dancers from Shorty George to Frankie Manning to Sugar Sullivan and more scorching the floor (and air). When I get a moment, I hope to draw up a list of folks. One notable missing from the final piece is Dawn Hampton. I deeply regret not including a clip of her, an oversight born largely because I turned this around in less than a week. One of the reasons I did not get around to posting this video after the event was my desire to correct the omission. But it proved hard to tinker with, especially the further I got away from the project. After 18 months on the shelf, I’ve decided to post it. I plan on adding a bonus clip of Dawn after the end. I will republish it then.
Posted on October 19th, 2007 by chad
Hard to believe that American Lindy Hop Championships (ALHC) will celebrate a decade of great dancing this year. Then again, it’s hard to believe our son Indy is 15 months old. That’s a lot of 5-6-7-8s. Anyway, we are thrilled to be back at ALHC this year and are excited to teach a Peabody workshop on Saturday from 5:45pm to 7:00pm. While we’ve got miles to go in our effort to introducing people to the fleet-footed bliss that is dancing Peabody, we are also amazed at how many people have gotten to know the dance over the past four years. Being invited to teach Peabody at ALHC represents a kind of milestone for us. We can’t wait!
We perform and teach popular and historical social dances of the Jazz Age and Swing Era and have appeared on stage, independent film, and local and national television. Known for our performance and our research of social dancing, we also consult and choreograph for period productions, particularly those set in the Roaring Twenties. Though we do not regularly compete, we have placed in a number of competitions, including 1st in the 2004 American Lindy Hop Championships Fast Dance division.