The City

I arrived in New York City on Thursday last week and had a wonderful opportunity to go out dancing, see some of the history and hear amazing musicians.

My stay kicked off with Frim Fram, one of the more commonly attended weekly dances in NYC. Ryan Swift and Heather Flock DJ’d a request evening which had been set up through this Yehoodi thread; he is also featured on this weeks Yehoodi Talk Show. Despite some odd requests both sets were excellently sewn together without feeling jerked around by a random music selection; it really goes to show how skilled Ryan is as a DJ. He is featured in . Other cats were in town including Laura Keat, Jerone Gagliano, David Rehm; added on top of the strong local community who mostly all happened to be out that night it made for a great dance.

Interview with Frankie Manning

Thanks to Alain’s blog for posting up this little tidbit about an interview with Frankie Manning from the AARP.

Frankie Manning is an exemplar of lindy hop and has been for many years. If you haven’t read his autobiography buy it on Amazon or find a friend who has it. He is both an inspiration to watch in old clips and to hear and meet in person today.

The classic clip that every lindy hopper (and really everyone) should see from Hellzapoppin’ in 1941.

A recent clip from Lindyfest 2007 where Frankie Manning is dancing with another amazing dancer, Dawn Hampton.

I’ll be back to wrap up my review of ULHS soon.