The now viral video from Montreal Swing Riot has gotten a lot of people excited about the potential for combining lindy hop with other street dances and more contemporary music. As a lindy hopper, b-boy and a house dancer, I'm always on the lookout for cool collaborations, competitions and performances that bring these different styles together.
Here are some other dance videos I like that show the potential for connecting lindy hop to other dance and music forms.
Harlem Hot Shots Versus Streets R Us
I got serious deja vu watching Montreal Swing Riot, reminded of another hip-hop vs lindy hop dance battle that was truly epic. In 2010, the world famous Harlem Hotshots of Sweden took on the Streets R Us crew for several rounds of competition. Check out this round that features a couple of Hotshots doing some popping and solo jazz to an electronic song.
There are several more, equally awesome rounds of battle that you can see here.
Lindy Hoppers Jam to Hip-hop at "The Floor"
"The Floor" is a club in LA that hosts some killer dance parties. Here's several well-known lindy hoppers going off to "Apache" and other hip-hop classics. Dancers include Brian Lee, Shani B, Laura Keat, Minn Vo, Jeremy Otth, Richie Roca, Mikey Pedroza, Sharon Davis, Kevin St. Laurent, Jo Hoffberg, Juan Ignacio Villafane, and Nick Williams. So sick!
Ninjammers Dance to Electro-Swing
Electro-swing of course is a music genre that's a more natural fit for lindy hop, since it combines jazz music with house beats.
The Ninjammers are a swing troop that aren't afraid to dance out of the box. Here they are performing Montreux Jazz Festival to live electro-swing being played by Caravan Palace. Dancers are Max Pitruzzella, Annie Trudeau, Thomas Blacharz and Natasha Ouimet.
Lindy Hop and Footworkin
More recently, I discovered this wonderful piece that brings together lindy hoppers Michael Jagger, Evita Arce, Remy Kouakou Kouame, and Moe Sakan, with footworkin' champ King Charles. Footworkin' is a dance genre that grew out of house and juke music in Chicago. And obviously shares a lot of styling and movement with solo jazz and charleston.
Solo Jazz, House, Locking and B-boying Collaboration
And lastly, here's a piece I worked on a few months ago with my friends Jeremy Harris, Shawn Chiao and Idalia Ramos. We were trying to see what would happen if we combined solo jazz, house dance, b-boying and locking. This electro-swing song Gabin's "Do Uap Do Uap" just worked perfectly with all those styles.
Are there other examples that bring together lindy hop and hip-hop or other modern music genres that you know about? I'm always curious to see what's out there.