Dear friends,
Today, Friday 14th June 2019, marks 40 days since Norma’s spirit transcended.
This is a global invitation to Norma Miller’s friends, dance family, fans, community and admirers, for a meeting of hearts to accompany Norma on her journey towards her next mission.
It is with a sense of deep gratitude and undying love that I propose we take time out during the day to reflect on the immense contributions Ms Norma Miller made to the arts and entertainment industries. And, not least of all to the individuals with whom she shared her fabulous fresh personality during her very, very full lifetime.
A mother’s love is never-ending. #QueenofSwingforever Continue reading →
“may you keep smiling and dancing and be fun as you are…” – luv, Michal
A bouncy young lady called Michal Kandal gave this to me during Herrang Dance Camp last summer. Michal is from Tel Aviv in Israel. Crazy huh, the Lindy Hop is there too. (Maybe, just maybe Continue reading →
That was the title we, Lutz and I, came up with for the Intermediate and Advanced and classes last Wednesday night. I must admit, I do find it hard to “do” themes. I think I think about it too much about it. And when I think too much I get rather technical. And when I get too technical I lose the point of what I’m doing, which for the most of the time is not like me, being too technical that is. Staying with the me part, Keep it Swingin’ is fairly evident. I mean, why wouldn’t you? If I didn’t dance or sing I would crumble into a sorry dusty mess (how I introduce myself on the About page).
So considering that I have always danced, that KIS thing has not ever really been an issue for me. But I am not the point. HA! So what or who is? Yes, well, that is the question innit?
How does one transmit something which comes naturally (not sure if that is the right word) to oneself. Like singing. Or laughing. Or something. I mean, everybody can sing and everybody laughs at the same thing, don’t they?!!! Oooh, I think I might get off of this line of discussion, I can see it’s going to send me around circles!!!! Ah well, I continue. After all of these years dancing and teaching lindy hop I have learned that it is essential to give something for people to hold on to, whatever that thing is be it a title or a move or a count. Whatever. I have also had this “moaned” into me by a significant other (now that’s another story, ha ha ha).
Getting back to the classes.
The first class went well, we started off with some solo work as I like to do, then into partner work. More people turned up for the second class. Did more solo stuff, same beginning different end as the first class, then partner work (are you getting the pattern…?) Then there was a moment like…hmmm…well…right…what to do?*
Indeed.
And we did. We even continued the class outside under the light of the Lidl market. Why? Well the hall closes automatically after ten. Oh bugger. Lutz came to me like T-3 minutes, Aaahhhh! “Grab your stuff and we’ll finish this outside” she shouts, grabbing her stuff and making a speedy escape. Phew! About another 10 minutes locking down The Chase thenslotting it seamlessly into a little routine. Happy faces all round :). The video of the class material will be coming to your local blog soon (using tv type voice plugin).
I did have a preachy moment at the end though making reference to the beginnings of Lindy Hop. “We are quite privileged nowadays to take lessons in a large room with heating…blahblahblah…the dancers back in the day danced where they could, when they could…blahblahblah…here in Hamburg the Swing Kids were forbidden to dance…blahblahblah…
In my humble opinion Lindy Hop is a non-technical technical dance. Meaning that, yes there is a technique to it, but there is a soul, and that’s the bit that comes first. What is the point of Lindy Hop? The point is to express oneself, together with a partner to the music, again, in my humble opinion. 3 parts which are the fundamentals. Expression, Teamwork, Music. And yep, these three elements are technical minefields all by their lonesomes. Booooooooommm!!! When a child paints her first picture using her finger and ignoring the paintbrush, Dad still hangs it up on the kitchen wall; a relay team consisting of Homer Simpson, Oprah Winfrey, Kate Middleton-Windsor and Usain Bolt on the final leg makes for an interesting mix but probably more exciting to watch and run; Happy Birthday is one of the most common songs used world-wide has only three chords. They all bring joy with very little technique. All for the love of it. Just pure soul. Dja git wotta meen!**
Speaking of fun, check out this vlog by Mickey Pedroza. He talks about the numerous appearances of The Chase during the International Lindy Hop Competition 2011 (ILHC) in Washington, D.C, USA.
*On the way home with Johanna volunteering as my guiding light (literally), I understood that the first class was Advanced and the second was Intermediate. That information definitely shed light on the hmmm situation… 🙂
Just wanted to share this one with you, the wonderful Chazz Young at his best.
His birthday was on November the 8th. He was 80 years young!!
In February whilst teaching at a dance camp in England, I was lucky enough that my timetable meant I could take some classes with him. What a treat! For several weeks following that, my Authentic Solo Jazz class was based on those classes. For me Chazz is Mr Jazz hands himself. Everything he does is so polished, no movement without meaning or soul. “When he dances his whole body dances” to quote Norma Miller.
Find out more about Chazz here,
here: Chazz’s facebook page and here: Chazz in my blog.
And if you would like to help expand the Wikipedia entry for him, go here
So there I am reading this email, the confirmation of the classes I’m asked to teach. Beginners Level Taster…cool…Saturday 2-3.30pm…no problem…perform for Swing Ball in the evening…wha wha wha what????!!!!!
Perform. Bleedin’ Nora, ‘Ells Bells!!!!!! It was all good in the end.
I just absolutely luuuuuurve beginners. They are so hungry. Like babies, they are sponges. I love to see how they develop, how they get it, then don’t, then realise that they had it all along. Lovely.
LipHop is a nice little workshop where everybody eats breakfast, lunch and dinner together, then dance together at the evening parties which makes for a cosy, family atmosphere. The food, parties and classes are included in the package. Not much more in terms of extra curricular activities. In any case I don’t think this workshop needs it. If you don’t mind, you can sleep for free in the gym. I must add, that wasn’t offered to me as accommodation. I had a beautiful single room in a lovely little hotel, in the centre of town and not too far from the venues. We were given bikes so we could be independent. That’s always a bonus as there is nothing worse than waiting for your driver to come and take you home after a hard days teaching and evening dancing sometimes until 2 or 3 in the morning. The general level of the workshop I would say is intermediate, and is hosted in a beautiful little town called Lippstadt. I wish I had photos. I probably do somewhere. Just google Lippstadt and you’ll see what I mean. Very quaint.
I was very proud of them (the group) and me for coming up with a nice little number, filled with all the juicy basic steps that lindy-hop is founded on. The swing-out, the circle, the promenade, the twist, the pimp walk, curls and points. With just these few steps, you can genuinely claim to be a lindy hopper. That’s what they did then, and that’s what we’re doing now. Some of us a bit more fancy than others, but a spoon remains a spoon no matter what material it is made from.
So here’s the video. The tune is “For Dancers Only” by Jimmie Lunceford. Don’t forget, these guys had only one and a half hours to learn the steps, individually, as a couple and then dance in front of about 150 people. i heart beginners 🙂
How funny!!!! It was probably in the fourth week of Herräng when I was getting over the dastardly Herrang Flu. Blurgh…. You can’t really tell from the clip but I was dancing in my jesus creepers, as I hadn’t intended on dancing at all. Just popped by the Folkets Hus to check out the dancing. Then I saw my baby, Daniel Heedman. I don’t know what took me, knowing that my lungs hadn’t completely recovered I stuck my hand out, and that was that. Straight away in 6th gear!!! That’s my boy.
Daniel is one of the few dancers that had, has and has kept the spirit. The spirit of Lindy-Hop that I first tasted back in 1990. And the groove that I witnessed in 2006 in New York when the Savoy Ballroom 70+ year old veterans danced at the Alhambra Ballroom commemorating its anniversary. They taught me so much.
I was about to make a comment about “the spirit”, but I think I’ll keep that for another time…that’s going to be “a long ting” as we say back home. I only wanted to share the video.
The one thing I will say though is that visually our dance in the clip might not be spectacular. What I mean by that is showy, lifts and aerials and jazz hands and all of that. However the energy and the creativity we enjoyed during that dance, in my opinion, was unsurpassed. I guess you just had to be there to get it.
As a lindy-hopper, teacher and performer, my presence on YouTube etc. is much less prolific than many of my counterparts. Why? Dunno. I guess for me when I teach it’s about the student. When I perform, it’s about the audience, and when I dance socially, well, it’s about me, the music and my partner. So I guess with those definitions in mind, the anonymous public has not really been key in the way I choose to express and promote the art and science of it. “It” being my work.
The world of lindy hop has changed, evolved and so it should to survive. I’ve been doing this lindy hop thing for some time now and I’m always so happy to be part of any party. Especially “those” parties. When the spirit hits, you know where to find me. I’m usually right there, smack dab in the middle (to coin a phrase LOL)
Have to say it again though, that boy Daniel floats my boat. Here he is with his now wife Asa Palm-Heedman (she’s one of “them” too). Blamming it at the first Jazz Jam 2006 in the white blazer and red top They won.
Cookie's Jam 
