Musings on Dance, Food, Geek Stuff
I’m currently having a grand time at “Lindy Focus,” a weeklong celebration of lindy hop and swingin jazz in Asheville, North Carolina. Held in the Crowne Plaza Resort in Asheville, the hotel basically gets overrun by 1,000 or so lindy hoppers and jazz musicians for seven days of festivities. There’s classes, jazz jams, vintage clothing…
My friend Debra and I have been feeling pretty scrooge-y this holiday season. So we decided to get together on our scooters and hit the streets to see if we could find some Christmas cheer. It was a very successful ride, taking us from Scoot headquarters in Soma to various locales all around the city. A…
BEST ELF BREAKDOWN EVER.
Believe it or not, Episode #69 is the final show of the season… and the last weekly edition of “SwingNation.” Watch the whole episode to get the skinny on what’s happening to the internet’s only regular talk show on swing dancing. We talk about why we are moving from the weekly format, and what’s the future…
I can't get enough of this lindy hop / vernacular jazz routine by the troupe Echoes of Harlem from Australia. I love all their formations, creative choreography, and phrasing. Rarely do you see a team routine accentuate different instruments with different dancers so well. Damn, Australia! Go on with your bad self. From the…
Lindy hop is my first love, but I'm enjoying exploring my newest obsession with house dancing. The hard part about lindy hop is that it's really difficult to practice alone. You really need a partner. House dance also is best when done collaboratively with others. It was born in the club, and it's meant to…
I bought a mount for my phone on my scooter and decided to try out taking videos of my ride. Here's one of my favorite rides in the city, from my apartment to Lands End and back. On the way there I shot a timelapse video. And on the way back, I shot a…
Obligatory touristic pic of my Scoot at the Painted Ladies. I love scooters. There's really nothing like the feeling of riding around town on a zippy scooter, the wind in your face, all of your senses activated. There's something romantic and whimsical about scooters. The final scene from "Amelie" encapsulates some of that for me….
Koharu Suguwara came across my feed last week, and I've watched all the videos of her that I can since then. I haven't found much intel, other than she's a Japanese dancer and choreographer who has been featured at the prestigious Urban Dance Camp for the past couple of years. Anyone know anything else about…
Spuds decided to re-envision the show open for "SwingNation" as a 1980's era sitcom, complete with the soft jazzy intro music, freezeframes, slow city establishing shots, and other more. Warning: For those of you of a certain age, this might provoke flashbacks.