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Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2016)

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Re: Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2016)

#21

Post by KerryJones »

DanceScholar wrote: post #7

Went to Herrang once, took many a workshop with Frankie in NYC back in the day. He was amazing. Can't wait to get back to Swing 46 someday!

Also went to Herrang, though it was after he passed. I was fortunate enough to meet and take a class with him at Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association (the sisters who brought him out of retirement)

:wave:

Re: Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2016)

#22

Post by KerryJones »

dumb1224 wrote: post #2

Second time seeing lindy hop related thread on HN. Are there many practitioners here? Very excited and sad as I don't see I can go back to this hobby anytime soon.

Yep! I was Los Angeles based but traveled (including Herrang) and SF area now.

Re: Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2016)

#23

Post by dnautics »

DanceScholar wrote: post #7

Went to Herrang once, took many a workshop with Frankie in NYC back in the day. He was amazing. Can't wait to get back to Swing 46 someday!

Standard tech swing easter egg: search google for sweden, zoom in on the pin/center of the "sweden" text

Re: Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2016)

#24

Post by thangalin »

dumb1224 wrote: post #2

Second time seeing lindy hop related thread on HN. Are there many practitioners here? Very excited and sad as I don't see I can go back to this hobby anytime soon.

Danced the Lindy for nearly 20 years. About six months into it, I visited Herräng. Picture the main dance house: a huge spacious hardwood dance floor, cute decorations over the walls, a custom-built DJ booth at the back, and standing at the front was Dawn Hampton.

Dawn was a short woman whose talents spanned dance, music, songwriting, and anything Cabaret. Her favourite song was Count Basie's Splanky.

I had arrived at Herräng during setup week, and got to know some of the crew who run the show, plus a few secrets---password for free Internet, less-frequented shower areas, and to avoid laundry duty at all costs.

Between the DJ booth and Dawn were countless dancers sitting, mostly cross-legged, eating up her every single word.

So on that afternoon while Dawn was holding the crowd's attention, I was up in the DJ booth, gazing over everyone, a clear view of Dawn at the other end. When she asked, "Who wants to do Splanky with me?" nobody budged. It took me a half-second later to shout, "I do!" I launched myself off the platform, leap-frogged over people's heads, and managed to score a dance with Dawn Hampton to her favourite song.

See when Dawn danced with you, she danced _with_ you. She held your gaze, recognized you as a person, played with you, back-led with you, showed you how to embody the music with your movements. She adapted to your level and made you look like a pro. She and Frankie Manning were Lindy Hop.

Re: Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2016)

#25

Post by whitymcwhite »

So what would be the appropriate compensation for a dance move? Abd who should pay? Everytime you want to dance, sum together the value of your dance moves and pay to the global dance move organization?

Or should there be dance watchers at every venue, and present you with a bill at the end of the evening?

Should there be an app for that? Could the Apple watch detect if you do a Lindy Hop, and advise an automatic donation to BLM?

Re: Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2016)

#26

Post by jrumbut »

whitymcwhite wrote: post #25

So what would be the appropriate compensation for a dance move? Abd who should pay? Everytime you want to dance, sum together the value of your dance moves and pay to the global dance move organization? Or should there be dance watchers at every venue, and present you with a bill at the end of the evening? Should there be an app for that? Could the Apple watch detect if you do a Lindy Hop, and advise an automatic don…

I don't see anything like that suggested in the article.

The article gives recognition to someone whose contributions to arts and culture may not be known by many, and explains why they went underappreciated.

Re: Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2016)

#28

Post by dang »

whitymcwhite wrote: post #25

So what would be the appropriate compensation for a dance move? Abd who should pay? Everytime you want to dance, sum together the value of your dance moves and pay to the global dance move organization? Or should there be dance watchers at every venue, and present you with a bill at the end of the evening? Should there be an app for that? Could the Apple watch detect if you do a Lindy Hop, and advise an automatic don…

We've banned this account for trolling. Could you please stop creating accounts to break HN's rules with? You've done it a ton, and it just destroys this place. That's not in your interest. The idea of HN is to beat the internet odds (if possible) and have a forum that remains interesting and hovers at least a little above the suckage line. If you keep pushing its head underwater, that just kills it for everyone, you included. How does that help anybody or improve anything?

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2016)

#29

Post by scr »

Started dancing back in the 90s in LA after the Swingers hype. Became of of the regulars at the Derby and other LA spots ( Satin Ballroom, Moras modern rhythmists on mondays). I met my wife there then and we are still together after all these years. I miss those hey days! Got to see Frankie several times, and the nickolas brothers, and all the old timers from the OG LA scene from the Balboa ballroom in the 30s and 40s, Hal Takier, Bart). Such an amazing time. Got to dance for the last time right before the lockdowns. Glad I live with my dance partner. I feel for you all who don’t! Doing swing outs with the doorknob on an open door was one way I practiced back in the day. That’s still COVID friendly!

Re: Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2016)

#30

Post by froh »

dumb1224 wrote: post #2

Second time seeing lindy hop related thread on HN. Are there many practitioners here? Very excited and sad as I don't see I can go back to this hobby anytime soon.

Met my wife at lindy, grew together into balboa, blues, lindy, evolved into fusion groove swing, we miss social dancing, too.

This snapshot video to me is nicely capturing the spirit of "what's lindy hop?"

https://youtu.be/zbhgzVfYoOQ

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