So here’s one that’s been doing the rounds lately, and with good reason! Max Pitruzzella & Annie Trudeau in the International Lindy Hop Championships 2010 ILHC Showcase. I guarantee you’ll want to watch this more than once…

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We were dancing in some pretty wierd costumes at the Secret Garden Party but nothing as strange as this 1942 Soundie….Jewel McGowan and Dean Collins swinging out in wierd white wigs to a nonsense song by the Kingsmen. You got to love it.

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Now I love Youtube, but if you’ve ever fancied owning some classic swing clips the Ithaca Swing Dance have three on their site for download. Grab  yourself Hellzapoppin’, After Seben and Killer Diller all for free. Visit the Ithaca Swing Dance site here.

I spend more time than I’d like to admit on The Satorialist. Maybe it’s too many years as a secret Sex and the City watcher, maybe it’s just the amazing photos, who knows. But as the sunshine dwindles here in London I stumled accross photos from the Jazz-Age Dance Party in New York. If only all picnics were this stylish…

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If you haven’t seen this footage, I recommend you watch it! It’s the team form Swing Patrol London compteing on the Dance Off stage at this years Secret Garden Party. Swing Dancing in a boxing ring…yes, you heard me.

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It’s fair to say that the Andrew’s Sisters can do no wrong in my eyes, which is probably why this clip from the 1941 movie Buck Privates is one of my favourites. The Andrews Sisters perform four songs in this film: You’re a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,  [I'll Be With You When It's] Apple Blossom Time and this one – Bounce Me Brother with a Solid Four. The Lindy hop sequence features Dean Collins, Jewel McGowan, Ray Hirsch and Patty Lacey – which is amazing in itself…but not as amazing as the super daggy Shim Sham by the Andrew Sisters in the middle, I just love those flippy legs and the wierd sideways shuffles! My Shim Sham suddenly feels less comic…. next Swing Pit anyone? See you in the middle

"Shorty" George Snowden and Big Bea

Shorty George Snowden is widely cited as one of the top dancers at the Savoy between 1926 and the early 1930s. He formed the first professional Lindy Hop troupe, the Shorty Snowden Dancers and is widely recognised for two things; the Shorty George dance step and coning the term Lindy Hop.

His famous dance step ‘The Shorty George’ – in which his bent his knees, swinging from side to side, exaggerate his closeness to the ground- is a parody of himself and his general tininess!

George was barely five feet tall. But he didn’t let that stop him. His dance partner Big Bea was huge in contrast and paired up they were considered comic dancing phenomenon. They often ended their routines in a comic move in which she carried him off the dance floor on her back.

Take a look at this clip from 1937 which shows George and Bea dancing…

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What a great night we had at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday! It was just amazing to see such a huge and legendary venue filled with Swing Dancers. We’re SO proud of our two dancing teams, the Traffic Jam crew and the Happy Feet girls, who really pulled it out of the bag. Take a peek at their performances here…

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Psssttt….don’t tell anyone but we’ll be at the Secret Garden Party this year.  Yes, rehearsals have been underway and planning is a go-go for an exciting array of classes and performances at one of the UK’s best small festivals. Among the acts performing are Caravan Palace and we’ve been getting very exciting about the prospect of swinging out to them in a field in Cambridge shire. Swinging out to electro-swing?! I hear you cry. Yes! That’s right. And just in case you thought it couldn’t be done, take a look at this amazing performance form the Ninjammerz at  with the very same Caravan Palace at Festival de Jazz de Montréal.

Next challenge…swinging out in wellies. Oh dear…
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