Musings on Dance, Food, Geek Stuff
I’m so excited to announce my latest venture: SLICK RIK’S SHOE SUEDING SERVICE! (Say that five times fast.) For the modest fee of $25 I will add smooth suede to the bottoms of your favorite pair of shoes to get you sliding, spinning, and switching with ease. Interested? Head to this form bit.ly/slicksueding, and I’ll…
As a lindy hopper and a jazz enthusiast living in San Francisco, I am embarrassed about how little I know about the historic Fillmore District. In the 1940s and 1950s this area was known as the “Harlem of the West” because of the large number of Black-owned businesses, particularly supper clubs, dance halls, and after-hours…
Dance jams are not a big part of San Francisco dance culture. Which is kind of a shame, since they generate so much excitement about the dance. A jam broke out last Thursday at 9:20 Special to the classic Count Basie smoker “Jumping at the Woodside.” It was fun to get in a little bit…
Today would have been the 105th birthday of Frankie Manning, the ambassador of lindy hop. As I think about my 20+ years as a lindy hopper, I’m reflecting on all the things that this dance has brought into my life: a way to connect to jazz music I’ve always longed for, a bottomless well of…
[NOTE: This was cross-posted to Yehoodi.com] “It’s like… a solo jazz mosh pit,” Pamela, a lindy hopper from Singapore , remarks beside me, looking out on the crowd. In front of us, hundreds of sweaty and happy people are solo jazzing like crazy to the sounds of the JB swing band, on day 1 of…
A highlight of the lindy hop dance event Swingin at the Savoy 2019 last weekend was the panel discussion with legendary dancers Norma Miller and Chester Whitmore, facilitated by Seattle-based dancer Adam Brozowski. It was a packed house of eager swing enthusiasts, happy to get to engage with these two remarkable humans on a Saturday…
All Bay Area teens are invited to a free lindy hop workshop taught by wonderful Cleveland based dancers Alexis Davila and Cyle Dixon happening on Sunday October 28 at the historic Bayview Opera House in San Francisco. The teen workshop will be followed by a community dance that is open to all. Here’s Cyle and Alexis…
I finally got around to reading Norma Miller’s Swingin’ at the Savoy: The Memoir of a Jazz Dancer (1996). I don’t know why it took me so long to get to this book. I should have read it years and years ago. Norma recounts her incredible life as a dancer and an entertainer, from first…
“When the band would see real fine dancers, the musicians would try to become a part of what they were doing. Really, the dancers inspired the musicians and vice versa. If the musicians did something exceptional, it inspired the dancers to do something exceptional, and then the dancers would inspire the musicians to do even…
I’m so delighted to have had the opportunity to interview Shanghai-based jazz singer Jasmine Chen for “SwingNation” the other day. An innovative musician who fuses traditional Chinese folk traditions with jazz inflections, Jasmine rose to international attention recently when her music was featured on the “Crazy Rich Asians” soundtrack and she appeared in two scenes…