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Re:Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2... by dumb1224 on Thursday January 21, 2021 @06:55AM (#25857967)
Second time seeing lindy hop related thread on HN. Are there many practitioners here? Very excited and sad as I don't see I can go back to this hobby anytime soon.
Re:Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2... by viraptor on Thursday January 21, 2021 @07:09AM (#25858053)
At least one here :-) I've been to Herrang a few times as well, but unfortunately after Frankie Manning's retirement. I got to listen to Dawn Hampton though which was great. It's pretty popular with tech people (at least in Australian and UK circles) so I'm sure there are more of us on HN.

(Herrang is a small village (pop 400) in Sweden which becomes an international swing dancing festival / camp for 5 weeks each summer)

Frankie Manning has a good autobiography published - https://frankiemanning.com/book.php well worth reading for an idea of what his days looked like. He was at some historic events like battle of the bands with Count Basie and Duke Ellington.

Re. missing the dancing: I know it's not the same as the real thing, but have you tried joining some "local" zoom classes? I found it really fun to drop in to a random one across the world.

Re:Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2... by any1 on Thursday January 21, 2021 @08:00AM (#25858356)
Yeah, Herräng is actually a big networking event for engineers and scientists disguised as a dance camp.
Re:Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2... by dumb1224 on Thursday January 21, 2021 @09:52AM (#25859379)
That's my experience when exploring locally...most of the people I met are from a very tech/scentific related area.
Re:Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2... by Tomte on Thursday January 21, 2021 @11:14AM (#25860443)
It heavily depends on the city, of course.

My scene seems to be dominated by teachers (the older participants) and social sciences/pedagogy/psychology people (the students): the local university is strong in those fields.

Re:Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2... by thangalin on Thursday January 21, 2021 @12:39PM (#25861592)
Danced the Lindy for nearly 20 years. About six months into it, I visited Herräng. Picture the main dance house: a huge spacious hardwood dance floor, cute decorations over the walls, a custom-built DJ booth at the back, and standing at the front was Dawn Hampton.

Dawn was a short woman whose talents spanned dance, music, songwriting, and anything Cabaret. Her favourite song was Count Basie's Splanky.

I had arrived at Herräng during setup week, and got to know some of the crew who run the show, plus a few secrets---password for free Internet, less-frequented shower areas, and to avoid laundry duty at all costs.

Between the DJ booth and Dawn were countless dancers sitting, mostly cross-legged, eating up her every single word.

So on that afternoon while Dawn was holding the crowd's attention, I was up in the DJ booth, gazing over everyone, a clear view of Dawn at the other end. When she asked, "Who wants to do Splanky with me?" nobody budged. It took me a half-second later to shout, "I do!" I launched myself off the platform, leap-frogged over people's heads, and managed to score a dance with Dawn Hampton to her favourite song.

See when Dawn danced with you, she danced _with_ you. She held your gaze, recognized you as a person, played with you, back-led with you, showed you how to embody the music with your movements. She adapted to your level and made you look like a pro. She and Frankie Manning were Lindy Hop.

Re:Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2... by unimpossible on Thursday January 21, 2021 @03:21PM (#25863705)
The really awesome part about Dawn (and musicality) was how open she was to the beat and the sound. One of my favorite videos is of her dancing to Bhangra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwsTIp2KDfc
Re:Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2... by froh on Thursday January 21, 2021 @02:44PM (#25863212)
Dawn's "musicality" class in Herräng is legend.

https://youtu.be/HYql477fb8w

Re:Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2... by akdor1154 on Thursday January 21, 2021 @07:15AM (#25858095)
Checking in from Melbourne, similarly missing it.
Re:Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2... by agravier on Thursday January 21, 2021 @09:32AM (#25859163)
Knowing Melbourne, there surely must be lindy hop groups.
Re:Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2... by akdor1154 on Saturday January 23, 2021 @07:50PM (#25887673)
There surely are, but we’re still in covid-control mode for a few things, and social dancing is probably one of the most effective infectious disease spreading activities I could imagine. :)
Re:Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2... by froh on Thursday January 21, 2021 @02:35PM (#25863107)
Met my wife at lindy, grew together into balboa, blues, lindy, evolved into fusion groove swing, we miss social dancing, too.

This snapshot video to me is nicely capturing the spirit of "what's lindy hop?"

https://youtu.be/zbhgzVfYoOQ

Re:Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2... by msluyter on Thursday January 21, 2021 @10:50AM (#25860120)
Was very much into it from like 1999-2008. Taught lindy classes locally for a number of years. Frankie, and notably Dawn Hampton as well, were huge inspirations. Until knee problems forced me to quit, lindyhop/dancing was probably the most joyful activity I've experienced.
Re:Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2... by westopheles on Thursday January 21, 2021 @02:47PM (#25863242)
Swing dancer from Honolulu here -- primarily Balboa, followed by Lindy, Charleston, and Blues. Really looking forward to dancing again, which hopefully be safe again before too many more months go by.
Re:Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2... by pathsjs on Thursday January 21, 2021 @09:35AM (#25859191)
Lindy hopper from Italy! We keep following some Zoom lessons, although it's not like the real thing, but at least we spend some time dancing! :-)
Re:Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2... by CalChris on Thursday January 21, 2021 @11:17AM (#25860478)
Salsa. I did swing a long time ago and even did some ariels (which I've never done in salsa). Zoom classes ain't cutting it.
Re:Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2... by KerryJones on Thursday January 21, 2021 @11:46AM (#25860893)
Yep! I was Los Angeles based but traveled (including Herrang) and SF area now.
Re:Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2... by wdfx on Thursday January 21, 2021 @08:25AM (#25858542)
Yup! Took up learning before I got married, continued for 5 years after :)
Re:Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2... by wdfx on Thursday January 21, 2021 @08:26AM (#25858552)
The dancing that is... The marriage is still very much in progress
Re:Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2... by Darkstryder on Thursday January 21, 2021 @07:16AM (#25858106)
Lindy Hopper from France here! Looking forward to dance again... someday.
Re:Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2... by aldanor on Thursday January 21, 2021 @11:19AM (#25860513)
+1, lindy hopper from Dublin :)
Re:Frankie Manning's dancing skills made him famous twice (2... by jganetsk on Thursday January 21, 2021 @11:30AM (#25860677)
NYC lindy hopper here.