ULHS Around the Bend

ULHS starts tomorrow night with the Riverboat and will most likely run until the wee hours of Monday morning before people ship off to the airport.

Last year I wrote a quite extensive review of ULHS 07 in a series of posts (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) which gathered quite a bit of traffic.  This year I hope to bring that traffic to Lindybloggers.com with a more pointed review, but also stay tuned for key footage from the event and perhaps an interview with one of the organizers.

I think this will be an interesting event for me since last year I approached it as just a dancer and competitor and this year I have the angle of a journalist/blogger in addition to those roles. To come back to an event the following year after having reviewed it once, I look forward to seeing what changes are in store (there are definitely some large ones relating to some of the competitions) and how they’ll affect the event.

If you’re going to ULHS this year and see me walking around with a camera, a notepad and a ridiculous hat (okay maybe not the hat) say “Hi”, introduce yourself, get a snapshot, give me a comment, and let me know what you think about Lindybloggers, this blog, and/or ULHS.

Stay tuned for the ULHS review and if you’ve got something to add, post it up in our comments on Lindybloggers.

Reborn Alone

So I have the urge, the need to create a solo piece.  It has been on my mind for sometime, perhaps years, yet I did not want it to be just another charleston routine or blues routine.  Watching choreographies from modern and contemporary artists, they often have a value, a meaning attached that I find all too often lacking from the choreographies of the lindy hop and jazz community.

We choreograph based around flash, style or atmosphere.  We create a blues piece to be sexy, sensual or sultry.  We create a lindy hop choreography to match the music, to evoke a sense of musicality that is built directly off of the rhythm and structure of the music behind it.  To show our athleticism, our creativity, the one-upmanship of our peers.

But why don’t we create routines which evoke a particular emotion or injustice that strikes us; using the music as a source of inspiration to show that anger, discontent or joy.  Is our dance limited in its maturity?  I don’t believe it has to be.  Perhaps the next step is for our pieces to mean more than just a historical recreation with modern influence; perhaps our step is for our works to be art which evokes some relationship with the world outside of jazz and lindy hop.

Lindybloggers.com

Lindybloggers.com is live!

On Hold

Jazz Dance Blog will be on hold for a while.

Currently in the works is a joint blog project with Alain Wong, that is being designed by our mutual friend Patrick Beland.  This blog project will cover many of the same aspects but with more featured articles, event reviews and interviews from more contributors and authors.

If you are interested in potentially contributing articles, reviews, interviews, video footage, or photography on the lindy hop scene and lindy hop events please feel free to contact me at ferrix (at) gmail (dot) com.

In the meantime, go dance.

Camp Jitterbug Video Round-Up

Here’s the final video round-up of this years Camp Jitterbug out in Seattle.  Thank to Sean and Tonya for putting on such a great event and providing us with these high quality videos of the competitions.

Jump Session Show 2008 Trailer – As I mentioned in my post for Camp Jitterbug; the Jump Session Show is one of the few shows entirely dedicated to traditional jazz dances.  Here is this years composite trailer.

Jack and Jill Finals – I had the opportunity to participate in this years Jack & Jill and it was a really great competition.  High energy with a very responsive crowd.  Here is the video, although I would have liked to have it filmed from the front.

Solo Charleston Finals – I couldn’t wait for this video to come out and I’m thrilled that it is out.  I had such a great time with all of the other dancers in this competition, especially in the dance off between myself and Sharon.  Check it out.

And if you missed the Lindy Hop Couples Final video, check it out in this post.

What’d you think of the videos from this years Camp Jitterbug?  Leave a comment and let me know.