Musings on Dance, Food, Geek Stuff
This week I announced to the world that Yehoodi.com was closing after 25 years of service to the Lindy Hop community. It was a bittersweet announcement. Sad, because it’s always sad to see something you loved and poured your heart into for so long come to an end. But happy too, because it’s good to…
I’ve been thinking about skate dancing and my progress over the nearly three years that I’ve been practicing this art form. Of the many dances I’ve practiced, rhythm / jam skating is one that I have progressed the fastest. Not that I am an “expert” by any means, but I feel like my level of…
Last Friday, Manu and I walked into an elegant, empty ballroom in Times Square, NYC. “You know where we are, right?” Manu asks me. “The Edison Ballroom?” I reply. “Naw, dude. This is the Supper Club.” I stop in my tracks as it hits me where I’m standing. We’re in the $%^&ing Supper Club! For…
[Cross posted to Yehoodi.com] Earlier this month, one of the original Yehoodites, Anne Bernstein, (aka “Caledonia” on the message boards) passed away, after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Anne was a Brooklyn-based lindy hopper, cartoonist, and television writer. I only knew Anne Bernstein a little. Anne was part of the mob of lindy hop…
The Cakewalk is one of the lesser known “grandparents” of Lindy Hop, alongside the Charleston, Black Bottom, the Breakaway and others. The cakewalk, however, was more than just a dance, it was also a subtle but powerful means of Black resistance to white supremacy. The history of the cakewalk goes all the way back to…
For this Valentines Day, Spuds and I are happy to bring to you a very special edition of the Yehoodi Talk Show: "The Lindy Dating Game". Three lovely lindy bachelorettes and one lindy bachelor play our game to win a date and valuable prizes. Find out if Kevin ends up with Sarah, Kellie or Becca…
I had a fantastic time today at "Lindy in the Park," a weekly outdoor swing dance that happens every Sunday afternoon in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. A mainstay of the Bay Area lindy scene since 1996, Lindy in the Park is a great public outreach for the dance, since it attracts hundreds of passersby,…
Last night I headed out to the Russian Center in San Francisco for the weekly "9:20 Special" lindy hop dance held there every Thursday. The 9:20 takes place in a beautiful old ballroom with a gorgeous sprung wooden dancefloor that packs a couple hundred dancers from complete newbies to oldsters like myself. Classes at various…
Check out this beautiful and flawless lindy hop performance by Dax Hock and Sarah Breck on the CBS dance show "Live to Dance." I haven't been watching the show, so I don't know what injury the judges are referring to, but they looked damn sweet. And the music choice I thought was perfect —…
I suppose I should be excited about this new dance reality show "Live to Dance," but the promos and brief videos I've seen are so saccharine-filled fluff that it hurts my brain. Bright lights! Standing ovations! Gushing judges! ZOMG! Paula Abdul! That said, I'm very excited to see Dax Hock and Sarah Breck on…