I've been in San Francisco since Saturday participating in the awesome Producers Institute, organized by the Bay Area Video Coalition. The Producers Institute is an intense week bringing together documentary filmmakers, technologists, activists and educators to brainstorm new forms of participatory media for social change. I feel very lucky to be here as a "Mentor"…
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Twitter as an Event Organizer’s Tool: Our Experience with the Frankie 95 Birthday Festival
About a month ago my friend David sent me an email asking about how we could use the micro-blogging service Twitter to help spread the word and coordinate a swing dance festival that we were helping organize. We started brainstorming and decided to try it out. As it turns out, Twitter is a pretty effective…
The Global Shim Sham compilation video: a labor of lindy love involving 5,000+ dancers from around the world
This video is the result of several months of effort involving an estimated 5,000 dancers in over 22 countries: the Global Shim Sham. This was produced by a dedicated team of volunteers for the Frankie Manning 95th Birthday Festival, and shown to an appreciative audience of about 2,000 people on Saturday, May 23. Read on…
Off to Producers Institute for New Media Technologies in SF next week!
Video about project to create social media supporting global justice, around documentary "The Reckoning." I got a last minute invite to participate in the Producers Institute for New Media Technologies all of next week in San Francisco, run by those amazing folks at the Bay Area Video Coalition. Running from May 27 to June 7,…
Fantastic photos from Frankie 95 Festival on Getty Images
In all of the hubbub, I forgot to announce that the prestigious Getty Images stock photography service has put up several beautiful photos from the Frankie 95 Birthday Festival, mostly from the memorial service and the dance in Central Park on Friday, May 22. Check out the entire set here. One of them has already…
Gripping documentary about the International Criminal Court premieres in New York June 12 & 13!
I got the exciting news that June 12 and 13 is the New York premiere of The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court for the opening night of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival. There will be two screenings: Friday, June 12, 7:00pm: Filmmakers and ICC Deputy Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda present for Q&A…
Frankie 95 Festival Day 5: Chazz dances for his dad, Battle of the bones, Big Apple Lindy Hoppers! We love you, Frankie!
Tonight was the final night of the Frankie 95 Birthday Festival, and what a lovely way to end an incredible five days of celebration! Here's Chazz Young, Frankie Manning's son, dancing on behalf of his dad with 95 follows. Continuing the tradition started at Frankie's 80th birthday of having Frankie dance with one follower for…
Everything Remains Raw: Moncel Durden on the links between lindy hop and hip hop dance
I managed to catch the film preview and talk with filmmaker / dancer / historian Moncel Durden about his work-in-progress "Everything Remains Raw: Hip-Hop's Folkloric Lineage." Here Moncel talks the importance of dancers knowing the roots of the movements that they do. As lindy hoppers, it was great to see how Moncel was able to…
Frankie 95 Festival Day 4: Tribute Show, Campus Five, Boilermakers (video)
Here's a sweet video snippet: about 1,000 people at 4am still swinging hard at the close of Day Four of the Frankie 95 Birthday Festival. The highlight of the day was an all-star dance tribute show for Frankie Manning, demonstrating various parts of his career, from the Savoy Ballroom to the Herrang Dance Camp. Afterwards,…
Frankie 95 Festival Day 3: 3 big bands, Hellzapoppin finals, Silver Shadows (video)
The third day of the Frankie 95 Birthday Festival was jam-packed with classes and panel discussions all-day and dancing and performances all night. The highlight of the evening was a blow-out big band concert not seen in modern times, with three swingin' big band orchestras performing in the Hammerstein Ballroom: the Frank Foster Loud Minority…