Last night I finally made it to one of these breaking practice spots that b-girl Monica keeps telling me about. On Mondays and Wednesdays (for now, at least) there is a free breaking class and practice session at the Bushwick Hylan Community Center in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. When I arrived, the staff directed me to a…
Category: Dancing / Music
Celebrating 11 years of Yehoodi & new Yehoodi 3.0 website this Thursday at Frim Fram!
I am excited to announce that this Thursday, October 22, Yehoodi.com, the swing dance website I help run, will be celebrating our eleventh year of operation. So we are throwing an extra special Frim Fram Jam swing dance this Thursday featuring all of your favorite Yehoodistrators! The incomparable Manu "Spuds" Smith will be spinning songs…
Quaking and Swinging: Teaching Quakers how to social dance
This weekend I am up in Old Chatham, New York at the Powell House retreat center for the annual retreat of my spiritual community, the Friends Meeting of Brooklyn. Tonight I taught a small group of Quakers the basics of social dance both as a fun activity and to deepen their understanding about the concept…
Interactive “Shim Sham” line dance instructional video
Here's a really well-produced instructional video on how to do the "Shim Sham Shimmy," a popular line dance that is performed at swing dances all around the world. The video project was conceived and created by lindy hoppers Patrick and Natasha of Montreal. Here's why they made this video: We all know how frustrating it…
Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown Streaming Live Video on Saturday October 10!
My friend BigCash sends out the exciting news that they are going to be streaming live video from the Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown in New Orleans on Saturday, October 10! That evening, ULHS' Saturday night dance/competition will be streamed live from the National WWII Museum. Head here to watch it live that evening. The Ultimate…
Virtually DJing a Swing Dance from NYC to Holland over Skype
One of the members of my swing website Yehoodi, ShortYgeorge sent me a story that perfectly combines lindy hop and geekiness. Apparently today is the one year anniversary of a dance in Amsterdam that ShortYgeorge started called "Swing Out of Pocket." Sadly, George was not able to be there, since he currently resides in New…
Dancing from your Center: a spiritual leading
This video is my first attempt at explaining publicly something Quakers call a spiritual "Leading" that was first shared at Brooklyn Meeting last Sunday. I consider it a Leading because it's still working itself out inside of me, and feels like there's a lot more there to be revealed over time. One of the things…
Announcing the New Yehoodi.com! Beta Testing in October, Public Launch in November
After more than a year of planning, consultation and hard work, I am very excited to announce the imminent launch of Yehoodi 3.0! For those that don't know, I am one of the administrators of Yehoodi, the premiere social website for the global lindy hop and swing dance community. Approaching our 11th year of operation,…
“Groovaloo” brings b-boying to the stage with mixed results
Got to see the Groovaloos stage show at the Joyce Theater last night with some friends. It's a very impressive hip-hop dance show with the most fully realized combination of dance performance, staging, sound, and theater that I've ever seen staged. For someone who wants to see an energetic, well-presented demonstration of b-boying, you can't…
Jersey Jazz Tribute to Frankie Manning & Frankie95 Fest
Frankie's partner Judy Pritchett was kind enough to share with me a high-rez scan of the lovely article and photo spread from the Jersey Jazz magazine about the Frankie Manning 95th Birthday Festival that took place last May in New York City. Entitled "Frankie Manning: Never Stop Swinging" its one of the sweetest tributes to…