AIR Pt. 6: Groove Is In the Heart

August 20, 2009 at 12:28 am (Artistry In Rhythm, Dance, History, Lindy Hop, video)
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This is part of a paper I wrote entitled “Artistry In Rhythm: Dialogue Through Dance in the Lindy Hop community.”  Previous and future posts can be found by searching my blog for the category “Artistry In Rhythm”

The combination of those trends mentioned in the previous posts contributed to the development of certain dance habits in Lindy Hoppers that were collectively called “Modern Savoy Lindy” or “Groove Lindy.”  By some accounts, dancing like this already existed in some scenes such as Chicago and San Francisco. Some of this can be also be attributed to the influence of was being seen of WCS performers at crossover events.  However, the buzz from the Minnies’ Moochers performance provided the spark for its nationwide popularity.[1]

One characteristic of this so called “groove” dancing is what Julius Yang dubbed as “micromusicality.”[2] This is the tendency for dancers to move their bodies to match the melody line of a song, and in some excessive cases, try to accent as many individual notes as possible.  This had the important effect of inspiring dancers to progress away from simply executing random moves in time to the music, and become more in touch with the music. Read the rest of this entry »

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AIR Pt. 5: Music makes the people come together . . .

August 13, 2009 at 1:15 am (Artistry In Rhythm, Dance, Lindy Hop, video)
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This is part of a paper I wrote entitled “Artistry In Rhythm: Dialogue Through Dance in the Lindy Hop community.”  Previous and future posts can be found by searching my blog for the category “Artistry In Rhythm”

As noted previously, the choice of the song “Love Me or Leave Me” by the Moochers was a drastic departure from the kind of music that was typically used for routines and social dancing at the time.   In the three years after the Minnie’s Moochers’ routine, the community (with some exceptions) embraced slower, post WWII swinging jazz.  Posting on a thread on SwingTalk.com noted Lindy Hop DJ Jessie Miner, described it in this manner:

“As for what might be lumped under this “groove” blanket, the recordings are usually from the 1950s and beyond, the rhythms tend to often feel laid-back/behind the beat, lacking the prominent and driving 4/4 bass drum of earlier Swing music and often favoring the cymbals and snare, the tempos on average are in the slower range (120-160 BPM), the styles are usually quite rooted in jazz and/or blues. Beyond that, some of the more [recognizable] artists would be Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, Gene Harris, Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Williams, Ernestine Anderson, Barbara Morrison, Jimmy Witherspoon, Lou Rawls, Ray Bryant, Junior Mance, Buster Smith, etc… .”[1]

To understand the significance of the spread of this music, I’ll describe briefly how the music has affected the dance historically, and what the implications were of music choices in the modern era. Read the rest of this entry »

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AIR Pt. 4: Unintended Consequences

August 2, 2009 at 11:05 pm (Artistry In Rhythm, Dance, History, Lindy Hop)
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This is part of a paper I wrote entitled “Artistry In Rhythm: Dialogue Through Dance in the Lindy Hop community.”  Previous and future posts can be found by searching my blog for the category “Artistry In Rhythm”

The Law of Unintended Consequences

Minnie’s Moochers both exemplified and popularized various trends in the Lindy Hop community at that time.  Those related to the music, the events, and the dance itself.  These trends fueled each other through the late 90’s and early 00’s at a time when the modern national Lindy Hop community was coming together and bringing in large number of new dancers because of the increased popularity of Swing around the country.  As a result, the community was absorbing ideas at the same time that it was coalescing, and was struggling to reconcile these ideas with what was passed to them from those who came before. Read the rest of this entry »

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AIR Pt. 3: Birth of The Groove

July 27, 2009 at 2:01 am (Artistry In Rhythm, Dance, History, Lindy Hop, video)
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This is part of a paper I wrote entitled “Artistry In Rhythm: Dialogue Through Dance in the Lindy Hop community.”  Previous and future posts can be found by searching my blog for the category “Artistry In Rhythm”

The “Love Me Or Leave Me Routine” by Minnie’s’ Moochers was probably the first significant routine of the modern era for a few reasons.  First was the venue: the 1999 American Lindy Hop Championships.  This was a time when there were still very few exclusively Lindy Hop events, and ALHC (only the second year of the event) attracted the attention of the bulk of the dancers in the community whether or not they attended.

This was also the time before the proliferation of online videos, and so ALHC videos (tapes!) were at a premium because new material was very hard to come by in contrast to the wealth of videos that can be found online today. Read the rest of this entry »

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Artistry In Rhythm Pt. 2: Battle Royale

July 20, 2009 at 12:02 am (Artistry In Rhythm, Dance, History, Lindy Hop, video)

This is part of a paper I wrote entitled “Artistry In Rhythm: Dialogue Through Dance in the Lindy Hop community.”  Previous and future posts can be found by searching my blog for the category “Artistry In Rhythm”

The first serious public discussion about the dance itself is also probably the community’s most infamous.  That would be the debate triggered by Ryan Francois’s opposition to the 1999 World Lindy Hop Championships.

It was the first world championship held in America, held at the height of the dance’s revival, and its possible significance escaped no one.  The controversy was over the fact that the championship was operating under the umbrella of the World Rock & Roll Confederation and the perception that they would impose strict regulations upon the contest that would negatively impact the dance and its community. [1]

The debate went on to cover a number of topics from the influence of contest formats on the dance, the artistic integrity of contests, race issues in the community, and even the personal integrity of various promoters and instructors. Read the rest of this entry »

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Artistry In Rhythm Pt. 1: Introduction

July 12, 2009 at 9:36 pm (Artistry In Rhythm, Dance, History, Jazz, Lindy Hop)

This is part of a paper I wrote entitled. Subsequent and future posts can be found by searching my blog for the category “Artistry In Rhythm”

“The most important thing you can do is to empower another person to be themselves-even if what they’re going to do is going to be the opposite of what you do . . . you don’t want to teach them a dogma . . . you’re a part of their story.  A lot of times you look at them as if they’re a part of your story. You try to empower them with tools to do what they want to do.” Wynton Marsalis[1]

“I don’t want to feel obliged to play something with the same styling that we became identified with at some specific period . . . I don’t want anyone to challenge my right to sound completely mad, to screech like a wild man, to create the mauve melody of a simpering idiot, or to write a song that praises God.  I only want what any other American artist wants-and that is freedom of expression and of communication with our audience.”- Duke Ellington[2]

Introduction

While we venerate our history through Frankie Manning, Dean Collins, and The Savoy Ballroom, I think our community finds it a little too easy to discount everything that has happened in the recent past.  A prominent Lindy Hop instructor once remarked to me that all the vintage clips he studied were history and dismissed everything else (meaning modern competitions and performances) as just pop.

We celebrated the birthday of the dance’s premiere ambassadors, Frankie Manning, at the Frankie Manning 95th Birthday Festival in 2009.  Unfortunately he passed away a month before the event.  However, he wanted us to celebrate his passing rather than mourn it, so the event went on and included an impressive array of performances that reflected the breath and diversity of a community of dancers that stretches across the entire world. Read the rest of this entry »

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Foreword for “Artistry In Rhythm”: Why write a 70 page paper about the modern Lindy Hop community?

July 6, 2009 at 12:02 am (Artistry In Rhythm, Dance, History, Jazz, Lindy Hop)

Probably the same reason you would want to take up learning a dance that almost disappeared 50 years ago.

This little project started out as a random post to my MySpace page.  Yep, it was that long ago.

I was going to list and talk about some of my favorite Lindy Hop routines from over the years, but then I ended up focusing on two routines in particular that had a profound effect on the development of our community:  Minnies’ Moocherss “Love Me or Leave Me” and Mad Dog’s “Well Git It!”

While working out why’s and how’s of the significance of these routines, I realized that I was going to have a hard time explaining something:

The Mad Dog routine isn’t very good.

That actually doesn’t diminish its importance, but it does require a bit more explaining than a simple “Gee this is kewl.” Read the rest of this entry »

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