I have SUCH a Lindy Crush on Kieran Yee from Melbourne, Australia!
So there is this thing called Lindy Goggles, which are very similar to Beer Goggles. Rather than being measure by the number of beers you have, one’s attraction is measured by one’s quality of dancing. That’s not to say they aren’t gorgeous or handsome, but that their movement just makes you weak at the knees.
So I officially have a Lindy Crush on Kieran Yee. Girls, you are welcome to fight me for him; he’ll be all yours by the end of the week!
The results are in and videos are up!! Congratulations to all the competitors!
Solo Charleston
Winner: Joanna Lucero
Jack & Jill
1) Davis Thurber and Kelly Arsenault
2) Andrew Hsi and Maéva Truntzer
3) Juan Villafañe and Gabby Cook
Strictly Lindy
This year, the Strictly was done in a new format. Two couples at a time were given one chorus to battle for their life and then the 5 judges decided who lived, and who died (sounds very Roman the way I’m explaining it). After the four rounds of battle, the four remaining couples jammed.
Battle:
Jam:
1) William Mauvais & Maéva Truntzer
2) Juan Villafañe & Sharon Davis
3) Nick Williams & Jo Hoffberg
This year at the Harlem 2011, they did their Solo Jazz Contest in “King of the Hill” fashion. Two contestants battle and at the end, the judge must choose a winner who continues to battle until the sweet end! This girl….she kills it.
Her name is Ksenia Parkhatskaya and she’s from St. Petersburg, Russia and she’s pretty freaking amazing. Check out those legs!! She didn’t win, but she threw down.
One more for good measures:
“A story about fragile soul made to be vulgarized and public….Once life have put mask on you only true Love can reveal genuine.” The music is OST La vie un Rosse/ La Mome – Lisieuz
Cabaret Night in Herrang week 5, 2010.
And check out her website! She’s got some great photos up like this one:
Gaaah!! The best thing about this for me is that I’ve seen this photo a number of times, but never knew who it was. Until now. Ksenia, congratulations on a job well done at Harlem and I love your photos. You’re gorgeous!!
Man, I’ve been meaning to post this for quite some time!! Sorry I was so tardy!
Followlogie has a special place in my heart. It was the first weekend I taught solo classes out of the country and was my opportunity to prove to myself that I could teach without Kevin. Nobody has said that I couldn’t, but it was something I had to prove to myself and Dominique gave me that chance. I must have done well since I’ve been invited back 3 times. :D
This year I got to stay with Maryse Lebeau and we had lots of girl time. I got to stay in her daughter’s room and I kinda felt like a little princess. Needless to say I felt very welcomed and very well taken care of. She also made some really great muffins that I basically devoured. Yum yum yum! I taught my group classes with Mikey Pedroza and Zack Richards. Zack did Spins and Turns with me (pictured) and I spent most of the time trying to make him laugh. Relatively I’d say I was successful. He was super easy to teach with and filled in the gaps where needed. What an awesome leader he was!
It was such a pleasure to teach with Mikey again. I think the last time we taught together was at LotR 2009. It’s been a while. In the classes we did together, I did about 30 minutes of jazz and then did 30 minutes of partner worked. Mikey did a great job listening to me make decisions on the fly and executing them flawlessly.
Can She Do the Can Can?
Here are some photos of my latest creation. I thought it’d be super fun to perform a Can Can while in a French speaking area and with none other than the exuberant Evita Arce. I figured if there would be anyone I could talk into high kicking and wearing ruffles with me, it’d be her!
It took me hours to get this routine together. I didn’t want to use the standard music, but I was running short on time so I figured I’d take the easy road. Then I had to find a good recording of it online. Relatively easy until you realize that you can find almost anything online as long as you can figure out how to search for it! I then scoured youtube for videos of Can Can dancing and needless to say there are more than a few videos to watch. I spent hours weeding through videos and watching good ones and a lot of bad ones to find inspiration and some solid direction. Most of the videos I liked had a large ensemble of girls where as I only had Evita and myself. As you’ll see below, there was plenty to do with just two girls (see video below).
So I found videos that inspired me, cut them up into bite size pieces, learned the movement, and then went to work on my own choreography. I mapped out the song, noted where the signature chorus’ were, and then decided where I wanted some of the flashy stuff to go. All I had to do next was fill in the dancing in betweent he flash moments and I was good to go.
Oh yeah, but wait, I needed costuming for this routine. A Can Can Routine doesn’t look right in jeans and a t-shirt; only skirts with ruffle will do. I went down to the local thrift store and bought 2 wedding skirt for cheap, sent them to my costume maker (thanks Mom!!) along with video, color scheme, and ideas, and then crossed my fingers there’d be enough time to get everything done. Thank goodness I was smart enough to work on costumes first before the choreography!!
Back to the dancing! So costumes were in the works, the song was mapped out, and I still had to choreograph. I hacked out some choreo in a few hours time and then tried it in a long skirt (see pictures below). That completely changed the game. Even rehearsing in pants doesn’t give you the feel or timing for the movement you’ll actually be using. I practiced the choreo a few times and then filmed it. I needed to send Evita something so she could learn the choreo. Thank goodness I still had 3 days before the event! Yup, that’s right. Idea – 4 weeks in the making. Costumes – 2 weeks in making. Choreography – 3 days in the making.
So what does this all really mean? Evita is utterly amazing! I sent her a video on Monday, changed some of the choreography on Tuesday, she worked on it Wednesday, found material to make the head pieces out of on Thursday and we met up on Friday. Ridiculous!! We would have met up earlier but my Thursday flight to Quebec was canceled due to weather. Eesh!
Saturday afternoon I got to teach part of the choreography to the students. I think they had fun running around with me :) It was a very energetic class and it was fabulous to get to see the choreography performed by a bevy of ladies. I wish I had a troupe to do a can-can number with!!! That night was the performance. Nina, bless her heart, made our head pieces for us while Evita and I blocked our number a few times on the fabulous stage. Seriously, I’ve never performed on a more amazing stage than this one. The photos are gorgeous, but I don’t really think they do the place justice. Uh, and the energy in there!!! Oh, it was truly a spectacular experience.
After performing that, the stress level went way down. I missed a small piece of my own choreo, but Evita was a champ about it and kept on kicking! We then needed to get ready for Nina’s number so Evita completely changed her clothes and I just took off my skirt. Classy broad!
It was a great night I must say. Hahah, after the show was done, so was I. Most of the performers grabbed a drink at the bar and headed up to the balcony to catch up and see how each other were doing. From a professional and personal stand point, the night was a smash for me! I had such a good time and I really, really needed a night just like that. It’s funny how little moments can revitalize you and remind you about how fortunate you are. That night was one of those nights.
~
And the story continues!!
Oh, how fun are late nights!! I made it a priority to try and have “cultural experiences” when I travel and apparently, this is supposed to be THE place to get bagels. Here’s how it all went down. Alain Wong took Mikey Pedroza and I to get wood-oven bagels after the show on Saturday night. We go into the tiny store and there is a guy making the dough, another guy loading the doughy spheres onto a wooden plank and sliding them into the fire, and another guy behind the counter. Since it was our first time there, the man behind the counter gave each Mikey and I a free bagel. We bought some creme cheese and scarfed them down. I needed a napkin so I went back to the counter to find one. I asked if there were napkins, got laughed at, remembered they are called “serviettes” outside of the States, and corrected myself. The cashier asked where I was from and what was I doing here. I told him I was from America and was here to dance.
C: “What kind of dance?”
Jo: “Lindy hop.”
C: “What’s that?”
Jo: “Lemme show you! Hey Mikey, come ‘ere!”
Somewhere during this dialogue, Alain gets out his phone and records this:
Yup, we got half a dozen bagels for free because of that amazing showing! Hahha, and even though we were stuffed, Mikey and I still met up with a bunch of our friends and had poutine at some place that was mega packed at 1am. Double cultural experience!!
The Call of the Lindy Hop, starring HARLEM HOT SHOTS swing dance company, recorded at CHICAGO swing dance studio in September 2010.
Dancers in the movie: Frida Borg, Frida Segerdahl, Jenny Deurell, Pontus Persson, Rikard Ekstrand and Sakarias Larsson. The boss: Sebastian Svensson. Produced by Explosiv Film, Mallory Film and Harlem Hot Shots. Inspired by Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers in the motion picture Hellzapoppin.
Other members of Hot Shots not featured in this film: Fatima Teffahi, Jessica Lennartsson
Harlem Hot Shots has for many years focused on the traditional swing dances such as lindy hop, charleston, tap, jitterbug, black bottom, big apple. During the years they have been fortunate to have worked with some of the greatest legends in in the swing community like Frankie Manning, Harold and Fayard Nicholas, Norma Miller, Sugar Sullivan, Dawn Hampton and more.
To get in contact with HARLEM HOT SHOTS please e-mail info@harlemhotshots.com
Yeah for lindy hoppers being in music videos!!! Here are some of the top Swedish dancers dancing around, being awesome.
Starring: Daniel Heedman, Asa Heedman, and Pontus Persson.
DAMMNNN! Did you see those “trenches”? Holy cow those were awesome. Love the white back drop and the black accents. And doesn’t the piano player sometimes look like Zacke?
Starring: Sakarias Larsson, Daniel Heedman, Asa Heedman, Pontus Persson, and Frida Borg.
Now go support them supporting lindy hoppers by buying their music!!
Purchase on iTunes Sweden/Scandinavia: http://itunes.apple.com/se/album/samm…
Purchase on iTunes US/International:http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/samm…
Stream on Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/track/0HqvOC9…
The album “Ut Ur Min Skalle” drops March 23 in Sweden/Scandinavia, and April 5 in the US/International.
I’m so grateful that it was warmer this year at Leaping Lindy than it was last year! I was able to run around in dresses and tights without issue. :D
Here’s the scoop. I left LAX on Thursday, arrived in Zurich on Friday, met up with Skye and Kevin at the airport and trained out to Bern. The Hotel National was 3 minutes walk from the station and was just as cozy as I remember it. This year Kev and I stayed on the second floor and had a darling little room with a great big window. The sunlight that poured into our room was really lovely to have in the mornings. Yes, there were curtains, and yes, they were drawn, but they were rather thin. Ah…the point I was originally heading towards; even with a direct flight from LAX -ZUR, I spend a total of 21 hours in transit. My goodness is right!
Highlights of the weekend:
- Getting to see Kev after such a long break. It was great to get to reconnect with him after not seeing him for a month. We gabbed like girls! It was awesome.
- Goodie bags waiting for us on our bed. There were these cute little madeleine that were in the shape of bears!
- Classes were walking distance from the hotel.
- The evening dances were held at the Casino which had a stunning ballroom and a sparkly chandelier.
- The amazing staff – thanks for helping with the sound system, transportation, and all the other small details that make an event run so beautifully.
- Being able to sleep through dinner and not have it be an issue.
- Gordon Webster on Saturday night! Man, he and his band were jammin’. I had such a great time just listening! Naomi Uyama also sang with them and she was lovely, as always.
- Social dancing on Sunday. I was finally tired enough that I wasn’t anticipating and just let myself be moved. Every dance I had was outstanding. Skye, Peter, and Kevin: thanks for leading my ass around in that teeny tiny space and for keeping me safe from getting stepped on.
- Naomi djing from her iphone on Sunday night. The music was awesome solely because of her. Thank Naomi!!
- Peter Lerch for letting Kevin and I crash at his house on Monday night and getting us to the train Tuesday morning.
VIDEOS FROM THE WEEKEND:
There are other angles of these performances, but I really enjoyed watching the dances from this angle because I rarely see them from here.
Turning: turn drills and moves that used the technique.
Advance Basics: leading and following rock steps, weight changes, pauses, and triple steps. We did this in open position and touched on it in closed position and built on the yo-yo.
Touch Me: a 7 part variation/technique class. The moves built on one another and progressively got more complex. Each variation were similar enough to the last that the leaders had to have a clear idea what they were going to lead and the follows had to wait until the very end of the move for all the information. In other words, we used moves that looked the same at the beginning so that the follow couldn’t recognize the move because all of them were so similar.
So here’s something for the girls with short hair. I’m so jealous…..my hair just doesn’t hold a curl like this; it’s too heavy. As it says below, this look was inspired by the ‘Vintage Hairstyling’ by Lauren Rennells. If you’d like your own copy of the book, click here! My mum gave this book to me for Christmas last year. How sweet!!
I think this would be so lovely with a long dress. I want to say Nikki had her hair something like this for New Years. Perhaps someone will find a photo. Or maybe Claire? Or perhaps with was Sara? Hmm….I’ll start my digging….
This photo by Hilary Mercer is ALL kinds of awesome!
In the face of competition, Mary keeps her happy and relaxed.
While maintaining connection with her partner, her left hand says “Ta-Da”. Her high waist pants are ridiculously awesome and compliment what she’s got and I adore her choice of fabrics. She’s got a touch of accent by rocking some red sock with her heels. AND last, but not least, check out the swivel! One foot is over rotated Looks like I’ll need to add this picture to my swivel review!
