As I mentioned about a month ago, I participated in the "I Charleston New York" flash mob in Times Square along with a bunch of other local lindy hoppers. Organized by those wacky dancers from Montpellier, the Swingjammerz, "I Charleston…" is a video project where they go from city to city around the world, spreading their love of this classic dance in public places from Paris to Tokyo.
The New York edition hits all the spots you might imagine: the Empire State Building, Times Square, Grand Central, etc. But they also head to the site of Savoy ballroom, in front of the post office where Frankie Manning used to work, and a few other unexpected locales. One of my favorite bits is Alice dancing on the subway platform while talking on the phone!
New York needs more wacky public swing events like this one to get every day folks exposed and excited about dancing. How else will they know how awesome lindy hop is unless they see it up close and in person?
Great work, Thomas, Alice, JB, Sara and Oliv! Thanks for inviting us all to share in your charleston mania!
“How else will they know how awesome lindy hop is unless they see it up close and in person?”
I’d say that actually doing Lindy Hop, and not the Charleston, is a good start.
Well I consider Charleston a close relative / gateway drug to lindy, and you can see some swingouts in this video too!
I started lindy hopping because I saw some badass charleston back-in-the-day. I.e. 1997.