Favorite Videos 2010 Blues & Balboa

Last stop. My top favorites will go up some time next week after I get home. Until then, I wish everyone a Happy New Year!!

Favorite Videos 2010: Solo Jazz

A bit of a misnomer since most of these are done in groups, but I trust that you get the idea. You can tell I’ve been doing these all at once because my descriptions are getting shorter, but at least a lot of these performances speak for themselves.

Favorite Videos 2010 Other Dancing

This is a combination of dances that don’t quite fit any of the traditional jazz dances done by Lindy, Balboa, or Blues dancers. They’re either more modern or they are a combination of several influences into something new. I wish there was a term for that . . .

Favorite Video 2010 Lindy Hop Couple Routines

The reason why there are so many posts is because there was so much good dancing that I had to break them up to keep each update from being too long. This post is a good example of how that's still a problem, but at least it's a good problem to have. That’s why I had to break out a separate post for my favorite of favorites which will come out right after the New Year.

Favorite Videos 2010: Music

Just a note: This blog is going on automatic for the next week. There should be a post every day Monday through Thursday with the rest of my favorite videos. I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to check it while I’m at home or at Lindy Focus next week, but feel free to leave a comment and I’ll reply whenever I can.

Northeast Girl Jam 2010 Mable Lee with the Boilermaker Jazz Band

The people who organized Northeast Girl Jam did a great service by giving people the opportunity learn and be entertained by the legendary Mabel Lee. Here she sings with the Boilermaker Jazz Band who once again demonstrate their versatility and virtuosity.

Snowball 2009 - Gordon Webster Sextet - Down By The Riverside

One of the good trends that has developed over the past few years is the growing relationship between dancers and musicians. Here’s the godfather of Lindy Hop, Steven Mitchell, channeling a bit of James Brown alongside a couple other dances, Malcolm Holt and Naomi Uyama tearing it up with Gordon Webster’s band over at the last Snowball.

ILHC 2010 Jonathan Stout & His Campus 5

Yeah, I know it’s my video. I’m biased that way. Just before this jam broke out, I checked my clock and knew Jonathan was going to end with a hot one. I figured that someone would film the jam, so I set up in front of the band. I always wanted to get footage of a great dance band like Jonathan’s during a jam.

And just for comparison’s sake, the jam itself.

ILHC 2010 LED Talks Preview

It was the time of your life and you know it.

Uptown Swing Class Review Peter Strom & Stacia Martin

Best use of music to make an instructional point.

Wherever you are and who ever you are, have a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and/or a wonderful holiday. Good luck and God Bless. Take care, fare well, and all that Jazz. I hope to meet you on the dance floor sometime soon in the coming year.

Favorite Videos 2010: Lindy Hop Teams

Just a word about wording. The title means what it says, says what it means. This is just stuff that I like, and is by no means meant to be any sort of definitive compilation of the year's best performances. I like dancing, and I don't always have a good reason for stuff I like more than others. The intro is here and social dance highlights are here.

Favorite Videos 2010: Social Lindy Hop

This is the way it'll work: I'm posting videos under a bunch of different categories, and then I'll post my overall favorites last which will be right after the New Year. The overall ones won't be listed with the rest. I'm using the term social very broadly here since I'm including a couple of competitions, but I didn't feel like breaking them out into their own category. Most of this is improvised Lindy Hop though.

Favorite Performances 2010: Introduction

There really is no method to my favoriting madness. The actual dancing in a video doesn't necessarily have to be good for me to like it. Given the volume of videos I see, I tend to appreciate effort more than execution. Random things will often jump out at me in a clip that have nothing to do with dancing. I’ll even favorite videos of dancing I don’t like if only to watch it later to make sure I don’t. I have some vague hope that I would help compile some sort of sociological/anthropological/psychological study/historical record of our scene. Until then I’ll have to settle for “Hey look! This is eff’n kewl!” along with the occasional wardrobe malfunction and people falling down.

Swing & Soul: Serious Fun

I went to Swing & Soul last weekend. It was big fun. That's all I have to say about that. Usually event reviews detail the music, venues, and classes in order to give a recommendation or not. But what's the point in this case? I don't make it a secret that I've worked for Tena Morales (one of the event directors along with Manu Smithand Peter Strom) on a few events, so most anything I say has to be taken with a grain of salt. Or at least it should be.

Proof

I remember back in ye olden days of the early aughts and surfing Lindy Hop message boards, trying to figure out who knew what they were talking about was such a pain in the ass. Often times people who were actually knowledgeable would be the least serious commenters. Rayned Wiles would answer half the time in verse while Reuben Brown delighted in threading the line between snark and trolldom. I remember thinking that Peter Loggins and Jenn Salvadori needed editors or be a bit less quick on the draw with their posts and how polite Mike Faltesek was when he was slamming you and everything you stood for. Out of frustration with less knowledgeable posters, David Rehm half jokingly devised a whole merit system where people would only be allowed to post on a topic based on their dance experience.