I love this video of a dance jam breaking out at the Bootlegger's Ball this Saturday that I participated in. The band is the "Bootlegger's All-stars" — a mash-up of some of our favorite swing musicians in San Francisco. They are tearing up the song "I've Found a New Baby" and us dancers are going…
Category: Dancing / Music
Where to Find Free-to-Use Lindy Hop Photographs (Public Domain, Creative Commons)
In the lindy hop world, there are lots and lots of people creating flyers, websites, Facebook pages and other media using photographs of dancers. Unfortunately, the internet has made it a lot easier for folks to just straight up steal someone else's photo and put it on their website or flyer. It's super not cool…
Epic Photo Shoot with Jess Keener in Chloe Hong Suit!
As you know, a few weeks ago, I received in the mail the amazing Chloe Hong suit that I ordered back in August. It’s the most expensive piece of clothing that I’ve ever purchased — and well worth every penny. I wanted to commemorate the occasion with a photo shoot done by a professional. Last week,…
Five things I learned giving out free coffee at a lindy hop event
Late last night, I returned from my second epic dance adventure at Lindy Focus in Asheville, North Carolina. There’s lots I can say about the event, but in this post I wanted to share what I learned by setting up a free coffee stand at this swing jazz / lindy hop event. By…
Rik’s 2015 Year in Pictures
Here's a quick pictorial rundown of 2015. It's a good reminder to me of what a remarkable year it has been! Dancing and Music This has been a great year for dance. I did a lot of house dancing in 2015, including organizing semi-regular practice sessions in the Golden Gate Park , taking classes with…
17th SF Hip Hop Dance Festival Recap: Academy of Villains, Hilty & Bosch, Dutch B-boys and More!
This weekend is the 17th annual San Francisco Hip Hop Dance Festival, a raucous celebration of street dance held at the beautiful Palace of Fine Arts. I saw "program A" of the show last night and it's one of the strongest years of the HHDF I've ever seen. Micaya the indefatigable organizer does an incredible…
A Retrospective on 60 Episodes of “SwingNation”!
Watch this awesome retrospective on sixty episodes of "SwingNation," the internet's only weekly talk show on swing and lindy hop. Lots of great moments in there, from "I Charleston" to chatting with Al Minn's son. Produced by the super talented Manu Smith.
Parris Goebel and Request Dance Crew of NZ: “Sorry” by Justin Bieber
I can take or leave Justin Bieber. But damn, that singer just gave his entire music video for his song "Sorry" over to Parris Goebel and her ReQuest Dance Crew. So mad props to him. I typically don't like this style of shake it and twerk it dancing. But damn if Parris and Request don't…
Ray Basa Choreo: Star Wars + House Dancing + Charleston + Jazz Hands!
This is everything to me. Watch "Star Wars Cantina Band – Noize Tank Remix | Ray Basa Choreography".
Falling Isn’t Failing: What an Animated GIF Taught Me about Dancing and Living
So this awesome animated dancing gif has been making the rounds, for good reason. First off, it’s bad ass. Second off, it’s hilarious. The more and more I watch it, the more that I think it perfectly encapsulates some important life lessons that go way beyond dancing. Stay with me here! So what’s one of the…