Larry Peacock recently issued a call to swing communities around the world to do the Shim Sham line dance on May 26, 2011. That's the birthday of legendary lindy hopper Frankie Manning, who passed away in 2009 but whose legacy lives on in us. Here's his message: A call for all swing dance communities…
Category: Dancing / Music
The “Wrist Roles” Project: Toward a More Open, Inclusive Social Dance System
For the past couple of years, I have been thinking about how gender roles interact with dance roles in lindy hop (and other social dances.) As someone who cares about this dance and wants it to be an artform that is welcoming and available to everyone, regardless of gender, orientation, identity or preference, the strict…
Using Augmented Reality to Find Swing Dancing in San Francisco
I have been playing around with some augmented reality apps recently, including the Layar AR system, one of the most popular ones out there today. Layar provides a common platform for developers to share their augmented reality data using common standards, and then share them with a global community of users. There are currently more…
Rik and Nina: Poster Children of Midsummer Night Swing 2011
I'm happy to share the news that the lovely and talented dancer Nina Galicheva and I are gracing the front of the promotional posters for the 2011 season of Midsummer Night Swing at Lincoln Center. The photo is from when Nina and I competed in last year's "Ambassador's Prize" dance contest at Lincoln Center. As…
NY Post on Bone Flexin, Hip-hop and Lindy Hop Dance (video)
Interesting, if convoluted, video story from the New York Post about a "bone flexing" battle in New York. The reporter connects this newest street / vernacular dance form with older hip-hop styles like breaking and tutting, and even with lindy hop. I know it's an old story from 2009, but I liked the connections…
Gauchos bring Gypsy Jazz to the Mission
On Wednesday night I had the pleasure of catching the Gauchos jazz sextet perform at the delightfully divey Amnesia Bar in the Mission District. The Gauchos play mostly gypsy jazz, ala Django Rheinhart, throwing in some other tango and New Orleans street jazz for good measure. They got some serious chops, tight grooves, and…
America’s Best Dance Crew: S6 Ep3 “The Black Eyed Peas Challenge”
America's Best Dance Crew (Season 6) – MTV Shows I caught America's Best Dance Crew season six, episode three tonight. Each crew was tasked with dancing to a Black Eyed Peas song and with one trick move or illusion — not that tough since it's early in the season. Here's my notes from the episode:…
Street Dance Meets Classical: Lil Buck Jookin to Yoyo Ma (video)
This unexpected collaboration between cellist Yoyo Ma and hip-hop / jookin dancer Lil Buck has been circulating around the webasphere recently. Definitely intriguing and skillfully performed. I can't fault either Yoyo Ma's playing or Lil Buck's dancing, both of which are world-class. But I have a hard time seeing what the connection is between…
Bay Area National Dance Week starts this Friday: Get your lindy on!
From Friday, April 22 to Sunday, May 1, dancers and lovers of dance in the San Francisco Bay Area will get to enjoy 400+ free dance happenings during the Bay Area National Dance Week. There's a huge range of events, including classes, performances, film showings and demonstrations happening all around the Bay. Whether you are…
A San Francisco Monday: Bayside Jog, Coffee Snobbery, Food Truckin, and Swank Swing
I had a fantastic Monday in San Francisco that reminds me of why I'm so excited about living here. I woke up early, threw on my sneaks and headed out from the pad I'm crashing at in Mission Bay. Then I went for an energizing 2 mile run by the waterside through the Embaracadero and…