Archives of Early
                            Lindy Hop



  

SavoyStyle Shop
Vintage Videos
Instructional Videos

BIOGRAPHIES
First Generation:
Shorty George
Leroy Stretch Jones
Twistmouth George

The Golden Age:
Whitey's Lindy Hprs.
Tiny Bunch
Congaroo Dancers
Sandra Gibson
George Grenidge    
Leon James
Ann Johnson
Dorothy  Johnson
Norma Miller
Al Minns
Frankie Manning
Mildred Pollard
Ruthie Rheingold
Billy Ricker
Willa Mae Ricker
Harry Rosenberg
Russell Williams                                   

 


Frankie 

Manning

The Ambassador of Lindy Hop

1914-2009
    

 

 

Over the Head
                            Aerstep



 


MOVIES
After Seben
Ask Uncle Sol

The Big Apple
Call Of The Jitterbug
Can't Top the LHop
Cootie Williams
Cottontail
Day At The Races 
Chicago &
All That Jazz 
Frankie Manning
 Instructional Videos 
Hellzapoppin'
Hot Chocolates 
Jammin'the Blues 
Jittering Jitterbugs
Killer Diller 

Malcolm X 
Manhattan
Merry-Go-Round

Queen of Swing
Radio City Revels
The Spirit Moves
Stompin' at the Savoy
Swing Kids
Swingin'at the Savoy
Symphony in Black

 

 

No one has contributed more to the Lindy Hop than Frankie Manning -- as a dancer, innovator and choreographer. For much of his lifetime he was an unofficial Ambassador of Lindy Hop. Originally touring as a dancer and choreographer with  Whitey's Lindy Hoppers in  the 30's and 40's, he helped spread the popularity of the Lindy Hop  through three continents.  Once again, since the swing dance revival that started in the 1980s, Frank Manning was a driving force worldwide with his teaching, choreography and performance. His own love of swing music and dancing was contagious as his dazzling smile.


Manning Australia 1938     Manning Australia 2002
Manning in Australia in 1938 

and in 2002 at age 88

View QuickTime sample: 
Frank Manning doing the Charleston,
from "The Spirit Moves."



      Films

 

Manhattan Merry-Go-Round (1937) 
Keep Punching (1938)
Hellzapoppin' (1941)
Hot Chocolates (1941)
Radio City Revels (193?)
Killer Diller (1948)
Malcolm X (1992)
Stomping at the Savoy (1993)

   



 

History
African Roots
Reading

BIOGRAPHIES
First Generation:
Shorty George
Leroy Stretch Jones
Twistmouth George

The Golden Age:
Whitey's Lindy Hprs.
Tiny Bunch
Congaroo Dancers
Sandra Gibson

George Grenidge    
Leon James
Ann Johnson

 

Frankie Manning started dancing in his early teens at a Sunday afternoon dance at the Alhambra Ballroom in Harlem to the music of Vernon Andrade. From there he moved on to the Rennaissance Ballroom, which had an early evening dance for older teens with the live swing music of the Claude Hopkins Orchestra.  Finally, Frankie "graduated" to the Savoy Ballroom, which was known for its great dancers and bands.

Competitive as well as gifted,Manning, became a star in the informal jams in the "Kat's Korner" of the Savoy, frequently won the Saturday night contests, and was invited to join the elite 400 Club, whose members could come to the Savoy Ballroom daytime hours to practise alongside the bands that were booked at the Savoy.

Frankie
                                  Manning Book
Ambassador of  Lindy Hop by
Frankie Manning and Cynthia Millman

   



 

Dorothy  Johnson
Norma Miller
Al Minns
Frankie Manning
Mildred Pollard
Ruthie Rheingold

 

Frank Manning's dancing stood out, even among the greats of the Savoy Ballroom, for its unerring musicality. Fast on his feet and with a keen ear, Frankie gave physical expression to the beat, the feel and the excitement of the swing sound played by the great Big Bands.

 

  



 

Billy Ricker
Willa Mae Ricker
Harry Rosenberg
Russell Williams

 

Frankie was inspired by first-generation Lindy Hoppers George "Shorty" Snowden and  Leroy "Stretch" Jones. However, in order to beat these two great dancers in the intense competitions held at the Savoy Ballroom, Frankie developed his own unique style. He is responsible for many innovations of Lindy Hop step and style, including dancing at a sharp angle to the ground like a track runner, instead of in the upright, stiff ballroom position of his predecesssors.  In a famous competition --really, a showdown-- Frankie Manning and his partner Freda Washington outdanced Shorty and his partner Big Bea-- and astonished the crowd of 2000-- with the first Lindy airstep ever done.
 

 

In a famous competition... Frankie astonished the crowd
 of 2000-- with the first Lindy airstep ever done

        In 1935, when Herbert White brought together the top Savoy Ballroom Dancers into a  professional performance group to be called Whitey's Lindy Hoppers , Frankie created the first ensemble Lindy Hop routines. This gave him an opportunity to expand upon his gift for transforming the swing music into exciting dance-movement patterns. When Whitey's Lindy Hoppers were in their heyday, Frankie was the chief choreographer, serving as what we today would call artistic director while Whitey was business manager.



Frankie Manning's 85th Birthday

Documentaries 
 The Spirit Moves 
 Call Of The Jitterbug
 20/20 - Back into Swing 7/23/89 
 National Geographic: Jitterbug 

           Swingin' at the Savoy (Living Trad.)

FrankieManning,NeverStopSwinging  



Books
FrankieManning, Ambassador of   Lindy Hop by Frankie Mannning and     Cynthia Millman
Swingin' at the Savoy by Norma Miller

Recent Stage Choreographies 

      Black'n'Blue - Broadway Show 

     Alvin Ailey Dance Company "Opus  McShain" with Norma Miller 

     American Ballroom Dance Theatre 

     Foot & Fiddle Dance Company 

Jiving Lindy Hoppers (London

      Zoots and Spangles (London)  
Rhythm Hot Shots (Sweden)  

     Big Apple Lindy Hoppers (NY) 


 

Major Awards 

     Tony Award for Choreography of Broadway show Black'n'Blue - 1989


       National Endowment for the Arts Grant for Choreography 1994 and 1995 

National Heritage Fellowship 2000