Here's a cool pic of Miss Dawn Hampton dancing to the Carling Family Big Band at the dance last night at the Herrang Dance Camp. Dawn does these incredible motivational talks / dance workshops here (and elsewhere) that serve a very important role in imparting the values of lindy hop: kindness, joy, and personal expression…
Herrang Day Five: Teaching Lindy Hoppers How to Break
Sorry that the updates have been infrequent here at the Herrang Dance Camp. It's been a whirlwind experience and I haven't had much time to process or write about it. And frankly I've enjoyed being completely offline for once in my life. Anyway, today I found myself teaching an introduction to breaking class as one…
Herrang: Mind Officially Blown
Why do people come to Herrang? It's remote and hard to get to, over-crowded, hot, and full of mosquitos. There are many other camps, workshops, exchanges and dance events that occur all around the US, Europe and other parts of the world all year. And yet Herrang is still the gold standard of lindy hop…
Herrang Dance Camp Day One and Two: Auditioning and Fast Lindy Class
This is my second day at the Herrang Dance Camp in Sweden. It's been three years since I've been here, and the camp has grown quite a bit in that time. The main outdoor dance floor seems about twice as big as before, they have added more tents for the daytime classes, and participation has…
Off to the Herrang Lindy Hop Dance Camp!
Starting tomorrow night, I will be travelling to Sweden to participate in the Herrang International Swing Dance Camp, sort of the mecca for lindy hoppers. Every year, a thousand or so swing dancers from all over the world make the pilgrimage to Herrang for a five-week celebration of dance, featuring workshops, dance parties, shows, and…
“Scott Pilgrim vs the World”: Musical, Martial-arts Love Story is Full of Win
Tonight I got to see a sneak preview of "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" at the BAM Rose Theater in Brooklyn with a couple hundred other excited fans. I won't get all spoiler-y, but suffice to say it is worthy of the tagline: "An Epic of Epic Epicness." Why should you see this film? Awesome…
The LXD Episodes 6 & 7: The Duet and the Dark Doctor Deal
Episode six “the Duet” and seven “The Dark Doctor Deal” of the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers came out tonight. One was very strong and different in tone from the previous episodes; the other was a bit of fluff but still entertaining. “The Duet” features a very creative use of split screen to highlight two contemporary…
Ain’t No Party Like A Filipino House Party: Cori’s and My Birthday BBQ
Here's my sister and I blowing out the candles on our respective birthday cakes, with a bunch of our cousins surrounding us. This weekend, the birthday celebrating continued, this time in California with a big family BBQ at my mom's house. It was a fantastic party, which like all parties from the Santos clan was…
New Midsummer Night Swing Promo Video!
The nice folks at Lincoln Center sent me a link to a new promo video that they produced about Midsummer Night Swing. It features some nice band footage, the lively crowd, testimonials by dancers … plus a brief appearance by me dipping the lovely Emily V at the very end of the video! By the…
The LXD Episode 4: The B-boy Office Battle Every Office Drone Dreams Of (video)
The LXD Episode 4 "The Uprising Begins" returns to b-boying,featuring Richard "Steelo" Vasquez in a one-on-one battle with a "former protegee." I like that it takes place in an office setting, using the props and the set to good effect, particularly the swirling papers and partitions. I'm sure a lot of salarymen and women out…