Gotta Dance? Swing It Over

There are swinging parties in Manhattan nearly every night. The trick is in knowing where to find them. Take a recent Thursday: Sandwiched between a Blarney Stone and a liquor shop on Eight Avenue just south of Penn Station and up four flight of stairs was a scene invisible to most New Yorkers. Wild and sweaty, loud and crowded, it featured scores of smiling, ever-shifting couples energetically executing the kinetic choreography of the Lindy Hop, the Charleston, the Jitterbug, the Balboa, the Carolina Shag. They danced East Coast and West Coast styles and bluesy New Orleans freestyle.

This party, the Frim Fram Jam, is a weekly event organized by the local chapter of a national swing dance network called Yehoodi, after "Who's Yehoodi (Yehudi)?," a song popularized by Bob Colloway. Held at a studio called You Should Be Dancing and drawing more than 150 people a week, the Frim Fram Jam is a popular destination withing a throbbing, urban subculture: Manhattan's swing dance demimonde. The scene is the recent revival of a phenomenon that stated quietly in New York in the mid-1980s, waxed and then waned and then grew popular again in the decades that followed until the best swing dance spots were forced to close for lack of revenue in the new century.

Now enjoying a renaissance that began around three years ago, the current swing dance milieu consists of a network of clubs, events, instructors, dancers, DJs and bands. It is characterized by its own celebrities, etiquette and conventions, and enabled by social networking, particularly the New York City Swing Dance Group of MeetUp.com and Yehoodi.com. This scene is scored by composers whose names form the spine of the Great American Songbook: Duke Ellington, Count Basie, George Gershwin, Benny Goodman, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Isham Jones and of course, Cab Collaway. (NYT)

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Dancesport In A Tight Spot?

The International DanceSport Federation, IDSF refers to dancesport as - "Dancesport is a team sport. It is generally defined as partner dancing between a man and a woman combining as a couple (or group of couples combining as a team) and using the required technique or floor craft and artistic interpretation to produce a highly disciplined dance performance. Dancesport developed out of the narrow confines of competition ballroom dancing but today includes any dance style which has achieved an internationally recognized competitive structure and has adopted a sports based culture. The currently recognized sections or disciplines in international style dancesport are: 1) Standard, 2) Latin American, 3) Ten Dance and 4) Rock 'n' Roll".

Recently while browsing through the website dancesport.info.net, I happened to read an interesting forum topic titled "What Is Happening To English Dancesport?" The discussion at this forum which started in June 2007 is on-going. Basically this forum discusses the 'declining' popularity of dancesport in England vis-a-vis the other popular dances like Salsa, Hip Hop, Argentine Tango and Swing. The contributors to this forum aired their disappointments over this issue and gave their views on how this problem can be resolved. All this while I had thought that dancesport is still going strong in England. The forum debate certainly was an eye opener for me. Which kept me pondering. What about the dancesport scene here in Malaysia?

Ballroom and Latin American dances were popular in Malaysia during the 1960s and 1970s when the first few dance schools were opened. When Salsa was introduced here in the late 1970s it caught on quickly. The dance became a hit and many Salsa dance schools and clubs were soon in business. Other popular dances like Hip Hop, Belly and Line Dance also made their way here and their novelty plus the fact that they could be danced without a partner helped to supplant the popularity of Ballroom and Latin American. As was and is now, ladies often complain about the dearth of male partners. Presently, Ballroom is danced mainly by the more matured crowd while Latin American still manages to attract a sizeable following among the youngsters.

Can't Stop The Lindy Hop - A Tribute to Lindy Hop Legend Frankie Manning

Dancers from around the world gathered recently in New York, USA from May 21-25 to pay tribute to legendary Lindy Hop dancer, the late Frankie Manning (image) who would have been 95 on May 26. Manning who passed away from complications of pneumonia on April 27 2009 at Lennox Hill Hospital, New York was considered the world's authority on the Lindy Hop. Held over the Memorial Day weekend, the FrankieFest '95 included social dancing, tribute performances, video presentations, panel discussions, walking tours, workshops conducted by internationally acclaimed teachers, and a Hellzapoppin' dance competition.

Frankie Manning was born in Jacksonville, Florida on May 26 1914 and moved to Harlem with his family when he was 3. He was a leading dancer at the legendary Harlem's Savoy Ballroom where during the swing dance era in the mid-1930s, he revolutionized the Lindy Hop with his innovations including the Lindy air step, also known as an "aerial" and synchronized ensemble Lindy routine. As a featured dancer and choreographer he performed in several films including Hellzapoppin' (1941), and entertained on stage with jazz greats like Ethel Waters, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Cab Calloway.

When interest in swing dancing began to wane in the 1950s, Manning took a job in the Post Office where he worked for 30 years until his rediscovery by a group of swing dance enthusiasts in the mid-1980s. Since then he was much sought after to teach, choreograph and perform globally. In 1994, a weekend-long celebration was held in the Big Apple to commemorate his 80th birthday. For his 86th birthday, a gala was held in Tokyo, Japan in his honor which included workshops conducted by the master Lindy Hopper himself. Manning was actively dancing until last year, when he fell during an overseas trip and suffered lingering complications.

The Lindy Hop was a huge phenomenon during the swing era (1920s to 1940s) just as Hip Hop is today. We are seeing a resurgence of interest in this dance in this part of the world too. Here in Malaysia, KL Swing! in Kuala Lumpur and Outcast Dance Studio in Petaling Jaya conducts Lindy Hop classes. Down south in Singapore, Lindy Hop has caught on there, with dance studios like Jitterbugs Swingapore and JAZZ INC actively promoting this swing dance. Manning had made several visits to Singapore, his last one being in 2008 for the SEA (South East Asia) Jam. Rest in peace, Manning. You will be dearly missed.

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Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak To Compete In Dancing With The Stars - Season 8

Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak will be competing in the next edition of the popular television reality show "Dancing With The Stars" (DWTS), ABC Television announced recently. The man known as "The Woz", created the original circuit board used for the Apple computer and teamed up with Steve Jobs in 1976 to market it. Wozniak quit working full time at Apple two decades ago and after years of working on various projects, re-emerged last month as chief scientist at Fusion10, a data storage start-up. Fusion10 uses closely-packed clusters of flash memory chips in servers to enable them to find data very quickly.

Wozniak will show off his dance moves alongside 12 other celebrities in season 8 of DWTS which will air on March 9. He will be competing against Jewel and her rodeo star husband Ty Murray, singers Belinda Carlisle, Chuck Wicks, Lil' Kim, and Denise Richards, actors/artistes Gilles Marini, David Alan Grier, Denis Richards and Jackass star Steve-O, gymnast and Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson, football legend Lawrence Taylor, and entertainment reporter Nancy O' Dell. Renowned ballroom judge Len Goodman, and dance choreographers Bruno Tonioli and Carie Ann Inaba return as judges for this season.

Dancing with The Stars (DWTS) is based on the format of the top rated British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) show, Strictly Come Dancing in which celebrities are partnered with professional dancers in various dance routines that are judged by an expert panel and by public votes. Season 1 of DWTS premiered in the USA in 2005 and was an instant hit there. Unlike SCD where only standard ballroom and Latin American dances are performed, other dance styles like American Swing, Smooth, and Rhythm are also showcased in DWTS. The dancing greats who have taken part in DWTS include Karina Smirnoff, Corky Ballas and his son Mark Ballas.

The past winners of DWTS were:

Season 1 - Kelly Monaco & Alec Mazo

Season 2 - Drew Lachey & Cheryl Burke

Season 3 - Emmit Smith & Cheryl Burke

Season 4 - Apolo Anton Ohno & Julianne Hough

Season 5 - Helio Castroneves & Julianne Hough

Season 6 - Kristi Yamaguchi & Mark Ballas

Season 7 - Brooke Burke & Derek Dough


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Learn To Swing At KL Swing!

KL Swing! will be organizing a Swing dance workshop and social dancing session for Swing dancing enthusiasts. The details are as follows:-

Venue
Shall We Dance Studio
12A-2, Jalan Telawi 3, Bangsar
59100 Kuala Lumpur
(between Starbucks and Affin Bank)

Date

December 23 2009, Tuesday


Time
7.00 pm to 8.30 pm - Beginners
8.30 pm to 10.00 pm - Intermediate (knowledge of swing-out is required)
10.00 pm to 12.00 midnight - Social dancing


Fees
1.5 hours class - RM30 includes social dancing entry
Social dance only - RM10


Shoes
Only dance shoes or sneakers at the studio please


Registration
At the studio. Just turn up dressed comfortably with your shoes

Social dancing (Aliyaa In The Swing Time) will also be held every Tuesdays at Aliyaa Restaurant at 8 Lorong Dungun, Bukit Damansara, 50490 Kuala Lumpur from 9.00 pm to 11.00 pm. There will be a 30-minutes taster class for absolute beginners starting at 9.00 pm. The class is free of charge but those attending are requested to support the restaurant with food and drink orders. For more information on the Swing dance workshop and social events, please contact Ming Pang at 6012-6964568, email:info@klswing.com or log on to http://www.klswing.com/. Happy swinging!

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Jive And American Swing Dances - The Similarities And Differences

The term "Swing dance" is a generic term that covers over a dozen different types of partner dances. The US Swing Dance Council defines Swing dance as follows:- "Swing dance is an American Rhythm dance that consists of 6 and 8 beat rhythms that cover either a circular or slotted area on the dance floor. The dance incorporates underarm turns, side passes, pushes and whips, plus other variations, syncopations and extensions. All styles incorporate the same identifiable moves. If you can define the dance as something other than Swing, it is not Swing". Some of the more popular and well known Swing dances are the Lindy Hop, East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing, Balboa and the Carolina Shag.

A meetup group called KL Swing was recently set up by a group of Swing dance enthusiasts to promote Swing dancing in Malaysia. For the past couple of months, KL Swing has invited Sinclair Ang, a renowned Swing dance instructor from JAZZ INC, Singapore to conduct classes and workshops in Kuala Lumpur. As I was keen to know what the similarities and differences between Jive and American Swing dances were, I emailed Sinclair for his views. This was his reply:- "One could say that Lindy Hop/Swing was the original form of Jive, historically speaking, and it is danced mainly to 8 counts. Six-count Swing or East Coast Swing, done to triple steps are a part of a lindy hopper's repertoire of moves but it is always tied-in with the 8 count or Charleston. Six-count Swing is closely related to Jive but the main difference comes in the feel in which they are executed."

Sinclair further elaborated - "I am not an expert on Jive or Rock n' Roll but the general feel of Jive is upwards and bouncy. The bounce or pulse in Swing (even 6 count) is downwards, keeping in closer tradition to its African American roots. And because the swing era music that inspired the Lindy Hop dancers came earlier (1920s to 1940s), compared to the Jive (1940s onwards), the emphasis of the music, and thus the dance, is on the even (off) beats rather than on the odd (on) beats, thereby creating the swing feel. While there is ballroom swing, the original form of Swing/Lindy Hop remains a street dance and ballroom swing would probably have more in common with Jive than the original street version."

JAZZ INC is a collective of dancers led by Sinclair Ang to promote Jazz dancing, from vernacular Jazz to Charleston and Lindy Hop through classes and performances. Sinclair has been a leading figure in the Lindy Hop and Swing dance community in Singapore since 2001. He is known internationally as well, having taught at several workshops and camps across Europe, Australia and Asia over the years. Sinclair has trained and choreographed for several performance groups and has performed for the stage, both locally and abroad. He is currently focused on helping the fledgling Swing dance scenes in Asia grow. To know more about Sinclair Ang and his dance classes, please check out his websites at www.sinclairang.com or www.jazzinc.wordpress.com.

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Swing, American Smooth And American Rhythm Dances

The terms swing dance and swing dance era are very often mentioned in the lexicon of American dance history. The swing dance era refers to the period from the 1920s to the 1940s. When talking about the swing dance era, the song "In The Mood" composed by by Glenn Miller in 1939 comes to mind. "In The Mood" has remained one of the most popular and iconic songs of the swing dance era. The term swing dance can however mean different things depending on whether you are referring to American swing dance or International (ballroom) swing dance.

When you talk of the International swing dances you are referring to the ballroom dances where there is a sway (and therefore swing) action. The 4 ballroom swing dances are the waltz, Viennese waltz, foxtrot and quickstep. Tango is not considered a swing dance as there is no sway in Tango. I have always wondered why the ballroom swing dances are not called the sway dances instead.

The American Swing dances generally refer to dances that are danced to a swing rhythm. They include the lindy hop, jitterbug, east coast swing and west coast swing. These dances are more similar to rock & roll and jive and which are sometimes also broadly categorised as swing dances.

In the United States there is a style of dances known as the American Smooth dances. These are the waltz, Viennese waltz, foxtrot and tango. Unlike the International (ballroom) dances which are danced in closed body positions, the American Smooth dances can be danced in closed hold, open hold and shadow positions. Variations like underarm turns and lifts are also permitted.

There is also another style known as the American Rhythm dances which are the cha cha cha, rumba, mambo, east coast swing and bolero. The bolero is a slow, sensuous and romantic dance combining the rhythms of rumba and the rise and fall techniques of the waltz.

The various classifications of the dances can be confusing sometimes. We should however not be overly concerned with the different genres of dancing. What is most important is for us to get on to the dance floor, enjoy ourselves and have a swinging good time. Happy dancing!

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