Hot Blues on Blues Action

January 25, 2012 at 8:48 am (Blues, Dance, Lindy Hop, Video Highlights)

Lots of chatter on a recent Bug’s Question of the Day that asked “Why don’t more blues dancers go to events like ILHC and Lone Star to compete in the blues divisions? Why don’t the lindy hoppers who compete in the blues divisions at ILHC and Lone Star come to Blues events and compete?”

Eventually a comparison of recent contests came up, and some people mentioned that people who do well in Blues contests at Lindy events wouldn’t do well in Blues contests at Blues events.

I want to talk about this more in depth, but I’m still putting together some thoughts and discussing it with some people. Until I can post something coherent, I thought I would pose this little thought experiment.

I very haphazardly edited two videos together of the winning performances from the Strictly Slow Blues competition at bluesSHOUT 2011 with Ruby Red & John Joven (first couple) and the Strictly Blues contest at the Lone Star Championships 2012 ( a mostly Lindy Hop event) with Evita Arce & Jeramie Anderson.

I just want to pose this simple question: Would Evita & Jeramie’s performance be that out of place at a Blues event? Discuss, and I’ll be back next week with a post comparing the Blues and Lindy sub-cultures, and the role of competitions.

3 Comments

Reflections on My Favorite Performances of 2011: Freedom Through Connection

December 29, 2011 at 12:12 am (balboa, Dance, Lindy Hop, Video Highlights)

For quite some time, my standard answer for how long I’ve been dancing has been “about 10 years.” It’s getting to a point where I need to re-evaluate that answer. I took my first Lindy Hop class in January of 1999, almost 13 years ago, from a woman who still inspires me to this day.

Peter Strom & Naomi Uyama International Lindy Hop Championships 2011

She now lives in Minneapolis, MN along with the guy in this next video which I’ve probably watched more than any others this year. Read the rest of this entry »

5 Comments

My 2011 Video Highlights

December 28, 2011 at 3:02 am (Blues, Dance, Lindy Hop, Video Highlights)

I feel like I’m a broken record in saying how many great videos and performances there were this year. It’s part of the reason why I broke up the video selections like I did. I would have had no problem sharing all the other videos, but that would have been a long frickin’ post. (Not that I usually have a problem with that)

I really enjoyed all the videos that have been posted so far, but I reserved this post to highlight stuff that somehow fell through the cracks for whatever reason. A lot of them are from earlier this year, and just didn’t meet the metric standards of the earlier posts based on this blog’s Facebook Page simply because of sheer numbers. However, it’s still all quality stuff.

Couple Performances

Stompology 2011 Mike and Laura performance

Read the rest of this entry »

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Lindy Hop in 2011 Review

December 27, 2011 at 2:23 am (balboa, Blues, Dance, History, Lindy Hop, Video Highlights)

I was distinctly unproductive on this blog this year, so I’m going to make up for it by commenting on (almost) everything in one shot.

In looking up all the videos and blog links on this blog’s Facebook Page for other posts I noticed some things and was reminded of a few more. Obviously, this can’t be a comprehensive recap of the entire Lindy Hop scene, but I think it’s still pretty amazing that all this information is in relatively easy reach. Read the rest of this entry »

2 Comments

The Proletariat’s Favorite Videos of 2011

December 26, 2011 at 12:34 am (balboa, Blues, Dance, Jazz, Lindy Hop, video, Video Highlights)

This list is different from the Most Popular Lindy Hop Videos of 2011 post from last week in that it is a compilation of videos that were popular with the visitors of the Wandering & Pondering Facebook Page.

In putting this list together, I ran into the same problems as I did in selecting blog posts to feature in the Wandering & Pondering’s Lindy Blogging Highlights of 2011. It’s a bit difficult trying to determine what was more popular than others based on all the different data available, both objective and anecdotal. In the end I just took everything that got pretty good numbers in one category or another, but didn’t do any sort of ranking other than selecting the main video out of each category to highlight at the beginning of each category.

The other thing I noticed is how something like this is at the mercy of what I decide to post. I realized this after noticing that this list is short on ILHC entries, and that’s when I remembered that I actually didn’t post many videos from that event because I saw everyone else was posting them on Facebook, on their blogs, and other places.

One of the purposes of the FB page is to drop the hidden gems I find without going through the trouble of formatting them for presentation here on this blog. In the process, I deliberately eschew stuff I figure most people already know is out there. Part of that is because I feel that the kind of person that follows this blog is past the casual beginner stage, and is a bit more discriminating in their tastes. I think that’s reflected in the videos you guys ended up favoring over others.

Yeah, I just realized that I just described you and my blog as the hipster part of the Lindy scene. I apologize.

But check out the first video below featuring Marie N’diaye & Anders Sihlberg which was the overwhelming favorite on this list.  It has a pretty good view count of over 3200+ views, but is well short of the videos from the most popular list. The Harlem 2011 Solo Jazz Contest clip is the same way, but there was still over lap with the first list as The Harlem Hot Shots at Herrang, and Slow Club’s Two Cousins were also pretty heavily favored.*

I’m not sure what that says about you guys, but I do like your taste in videos.

Couple Routines

“Denim Moves / Marie and Anders / Lindy Hop”

Read the rest of this entry »

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Wandering & Pondering’s Lindy Blogging Highlights of 2011

December 22, 2011 at 12:32 am (balboa, Blues, Dance, DJing, Jazz, Lindy Hop, Links)

Because there really wasn’t much happening on this blog. Fortunately, the lindy blogging community exploded like a hippo after a trip to a state fair chili cook off.

I talked about this extraordinary growth earlier this year on this blog, and it’s been good to see it continue. I mentioned in my first year anniversary post that I started this blog mostly because I wasn’t seeing much in depth conversation about dancing. I like to pretend that my lack of production is reflected in the fact that so many other people are posting interesting stuff.

I wanted to do the same sort of thing for blog posts as I did for the most popular Lindy Hop videos, but I quickly discovered how hard that would be since there is no one place like YouTube where I can reliably check who has had the most hits over the past year. At first I went through my handy dandy Facebook page for this blog and compiled the posts that got the most “likes” and comments. As I went further back, I realized the problem with this approach since I only started FB page in February, so obviously items posted earlier this year got fewer responses. Facebook does provide “Insight” numbers (number of impressions, views, clicks, responses, and virality which sounds slightly obscene) for posts on the page, but they only go back to July 19, 2011. The other problem I noticed is that really popular posts like stuff by Bobby White or Rebecca Brightly were re-posted by other people which would garner responses I wouldn’t necessarily notice, and would subsequently lessen the likelihood of people liking or commenting on my page. I thought about alternate ways to factor this in, but there really isn’t a good way to do it, especially with my short attention span.

Ultimately, I compiled this list based on a combination of the available data, my terrible memory, and arbitrary bias. If you think of a really cool post that isn’t included here, feel free to post it to the comments. Read the rest of this entry »

8 Comments

Most Popular Lindy Hop Videos of 2011

December 19, 2011 at 12:33 am (Dance, Lindy Hop, Video Highlights)

[UPDATE: I forgot to include the MOVITS! - Sammy Davis Jr. (Official Video) which along with it's English subtitles gives it about 255,000 views. No Lindy, but some quickly cut in Charleston. The dancers are Pontus Persson and Daniel & Asa Heedman of The Harlem Hotshots]

For the past couple of years I’ve done end of the year round ups of my favorite videos, but I decided to do something different this year.

The reason for those round ups were for me to share stuff I found over the course of the year, but that’s exactly what I’ve been doing on the Facebook page for this blog since February. That was not the original intention for the FB page, but it’s how it has worked out. It’s also been a very convenient way for me to keep pseudo-blogging since I haven’t been able to pull together my own full blog posts. That’s for a lot of different reasons. I’ve been writing quite a bit actually; mostly in terms of unfinished posts or lots of long emails to friends because they tend to be more forgiving of my poor grammar and editing. I like the FB page because it’s pretty low maintenance and the character limitation provides me with a good excuse not to go into too much detail. So basically I don’t post because I have too much to say about stuff, but not a lot of time to write it all out, edit it, and format it all nicely.

However, my latent OCD compelled me to go through that FB page and figure out what were the most popular items from the past year. But that is not this post. This post is the part where I decided to do a not very easy search for the most viewed Lindy Hop related videos on YouTube.  It wasn’t easy because the search filter on YouTube doesn’t allow you to search a specific date range. Plus, people like tagging their random crap with the words “Lindy Hop.” I have a feeling that is how stuff gets tons of views because users will tag their videos with all kinds of unrelated words to get suckers like me to pull them up in searches.

But you probably don’t care about details, so here’s the list. More details after.

Views as of 12/18/11                                          Video
509000 Denver Airport Holiday Flash Mob with cmDance
486000 Super Mario Camp Hollywood by Morgan Day & Emily Wigger
344000 Two Cousins  by Slow Club with Remy Kouakou & Ryan Francois
44000 Black Coffee by The Careless Lovers
37000 ILHC 2011 Champions Strictly Finals Various 
32000 ILHC 2011 Classic by Frida Segerdahl & Skye Humphries
28000 Leapin Lindy 2011 Show by Frida Segerdahl & Skye Humphries
21000 ESDC 2011 Showcase by William Mauvais & Maeva Truntzer
20400 ILHC 2011 Classic by Kevin St. Laurent & Jo Hoffberg
20100 ILHC 2011 Classic by Thomas Blacharz & Alice Mei
19000 Call of the Jitterbug by The Harlem Hotshots
18000 Flashmob Amsterdam Central Station with  Foundation Lindyhop.nl
17000 ILHC 2011 Showcase by Max Pitruzzella & Annie Trudeau
16500 Herrang Dance Camp 2011 Promotional Video  by Herrang Dance Camp
15800 Herrang Dance Camp 2011  The Harlem Hotshots

Read the rest of this entry »

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DC in 24 Hours

October 18, 2011 at 1:32 am (Random DCene)

Lots of people like to make lists of places to go/things to do in DC*, but the problem is that a lot of them aren’t feasible in the short time that most people have to visit because more than a couple things need a lot of time like museums, are places where you need to wait for tickets, or you need to contact your Senator or Representative to get a special tour.  There’s plenty to do in DC, but lists are easy. I’m going to give you a plan. A crazysexycool tour of the city as if you only had 24 hours to do it.

Prepare to unleash the hounds!

To be honest, while I’ve been to most of these places, I’ve never done them on a schedule like this. I don’t know about you, but we’re assuming some highly improbable things about my stamina. It’s entirely possible that I would need a nap before noon, but the main point is to list all these fun places to visit. Read the rest of this entry »

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The Mobtown Ballroom Grand Opening: A Baltimore Homecoming

October 14, 2011 at 12:14 am (Dance, Jazz, Lindy Hop)

At the end of her second encore of the night, after playing for five hours, an exhausted Meschiya Lake motioned for everyone to kneel as she drew out her final chorus.  She then joined them on the ground, genuflecting to them as much as they were to her, and drew out a final breathless coda that brought everyone back to their feet, arms outstretched, and thanking her for helping them open this new house of a different kind of worship.

It’s hard not to make the religious parallels. The new Mobtown Ball is in what was formerly known as St. Paul the Apostle Episcopal Church and before that as Henshaw Memorial Church for almost 100 years. After the last congregation left a few years ago, the building was home to gutter punks who staged shows in the abandoned spaces. The neighborhood itself is known unglamorously as Pigtown, a name it got when there were slaughterhouses in the area to service the nearby rail road station now museum. The latest chapter of this eclectic history started on September 24, 2011, and centers on a bunch of Lindy Hoppers. Read the rest of this entry »

9 Comments

Back in the Day

October 10, 2011 at 10:31 am (Blues, Dance, Lindy Hop)

Update: I some how forgot to list my favorite performance from this era, Naomi Uyama & Matt Smiley’s Frenesi performance at ALHC 2001. I inserted it down yonder. Or check out the separate post I wrote about it back when I started this blog.

Over at Bug’s Question of the Day, someone asked for people’s favorite competition videos from 2000-2004. No one answered seriously, so I whipped out a post I wrote on Yehoodi a few years ago when they asked for the top American Lindy Hop Championship moments through 2006. I was just going to cut out the excess years and post that to Bug’s question, but then in a fit of late night random productiveness, I added a whole bunch of stuff I could remember.

I always wanted to turn the original post into a blog, and since I did all the legwork last night, I just made some adjustments and voila!  I’m probably missing a bunch, but this is a pretty long list anyway. This isn’t a definitive list, just a list of stuff that I grew up watching over and over while I tried to figure out how to dance.

The parameters are pretty straight forward. The list is limited to competition videos from 2000-2004, so there are no performances, jams or other informal social dancing videos. Also, the west coast will have to forgive me, but I never got around to traveling out there and never got any videos from Camp Hollywood or any other events from that time period. Read the rest of this entry »

8 Comments

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