~ ALASKA SWING DANCE ~

WELCOME TO ~ NELLEE’S LINDY HOP SHOP

SWING HISTORY

CHAPTER 16

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(Text is adapted from “The Swing Book”):

“EVEN MORE OFTHE REBIRTH OF SWING”!!!! !!

NEO SWING DANCERS MEET THE ORIGINAL SWING DANCERS!!

In 1982 a country-western bar in Greenwich Village called City Limits started booking swing bands occasionally, which attracted a group of dancers who formed the New York Swing Dance Society. Then some of the black dancers who had been Savoy dancers found out about it and started showing up. Among them was George Lloyd, a former Savoy regular and master aerialist who had competed some of the Harvest Moon balls.

George Lloyd circa 1983

“[George Lloyd] wasn’t a show person. He was just an awesome social dancer,” according to Teddy Kern, now co-owner of New York’s Dance Manhattan studio. As Kern recalled the excitement the “old-timer” dancers generated, “We had never seen them before. And we just had this love affair on the dance floor, all of us. They became celebrities to our little group.”

Teddy Kern & Elena Iannucci –

Owners of Dance Manhattan Studioi

“Then [the “old-timers”] began to tell us about this place uptown,” Teddy continued, “an old club that had been revived called Small’s Paradise on 135^th Street and Seventh Avnue. The Al Cobb Big Band was playing there in the back room, the Queen of Sheba room, which was fabulous. It had pink scones and gold curlicues on the was and a dance floor like butter. . . . All of us from City Limits migrated uptown every Monday night. It was like a religion. And they welcomed us. We were white kids from downtown, most of who didn’t know didley sqat about swing dancing.”

Small’s Paradise & Entertainment at Small’s, 1929

(Ed Small’s basement club featured singing and dancing waiters,

floor shows, and top musicians. It opened in 1925 & ran through

the 1960’s – it was one of Harlem’s longest running nightclubs).

Dance Floor at Small’s More Entertainment at Small’s

More luminaries from the Savoy days began appearing at Small’s Paradise by 1983. One was Al Minns, one of the original members of Whitey’s Lindy performance troupe. Norma Miller, the only member of Whitey’s troupe who went on to a lifetime career in show business. On the scene too was Ernie Smith, who wasn’t a dancer , but had done important research on the dance – including tracking down hard-to-find movies with Lindy scenes.

Al Minns & Leon James

Seemingly out of nowhere, a group of surprisingly accomplished Lindy Hoppers from Sweden, who had formed the Swedish Swing Society in 1978, also showed up in New York. And eventually a reluctant Frankie Manning, the former head choreographer for Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers and the man who would promote the revival of the dance like no one else, came inside the club. “Norma brought Frankie there. And from what she said she had to drag him there,” said Teddy Kern.

Norma & Frankie, Now & Back “Then”

While Manning would occasionally turn up at the club and dance, it was Minns – already a teacher at the downtown Sandra Cameron Dance Center – who was the deacon of the scene at that time. “Everyone idolized Al. He was the hero,” according to Teddy Kern. Soon the Swedes brough Minns over to Stockholm to teach them the dance. Norma Miller, meanwhile, was choreographing a Lindy show at the downtown jazz club, the Village Gate. The Lindy Hop was coming back to life!

NEXT TIME:

 “EVEN MORE OF THE REBIRTH OF SWING”:

FRANKIE MANNING RETURNS TO MENTOR THE NEO-SWING DANCERS!!!!! 

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