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BIOGRAPHIES
First Generation:

Shorty George 
  Leroy Stretch Jones
  TwistmouthGeorge

The Golden Age:

Whitey's LindyHprs.
Sandra Gibson
Ann Johnson
Dorothy  Johnson
Norma Miller
Al Minns
Frankie Manning
Mildred Pollard
Billy Ricker
Willa Mae Ricker
Russell Williams 

The Spirit Moves

    Jazz Dance 
    from the Turn of the Century 'til 1950 



    Mura Dehn's life work, the documenting of African-American vernacular dance produced six hours of remarkable archival film. Formerly available only at the Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center in New York City and the Smithsonian.  The first 3 parts of this are now available on videotape at SavoyStyle! Part One, Jazz Dance from the Turn of the Century 'til 1950, is outlined below.

    1950
    Produced, directed, edited, and narrated by Mura Dehn.
    Camera: Herbert Matter
     
     

View QuickTime sample of Leon James, Al Minns and Pepsi Bethel
View QuickTime sample of Frankie Manning 
View QuickTime sample of Sandra Gibson.

See also Archive selections on Willa Mae Ricker, Al Minns and Leon James for more QuickTime samples from The Spirit Moves.  Learn about free QuickTime

 


MOVIES
 After Seben
The Big Apple
Call Of The Jitterbug
Can't Top the Lindy H
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
Outline Jitterbug Hist
Radio City Revels 
The Spirit Moves 
Stompin' at the Savoy 
Swing Kids 
Swingin'at the Savoy 
Symphony in Black
The first chapters of this remarkable archival film of African-American dance consist of studio demonstrations of authentic jazz dance forms by artists of the Savoy Ballroom of Harlem. Dancers: Original Index from the Film:
      Chapter I 
    Ragtime:
      Strut, Cakewalk, Breaks--steps in cakewalk 
Jazztime: 
Charleston (1920's), Jazz steps (1930's, including Boogie-woogie, Shimmy, Susie-Q, Snake hips, Black bottom, Fish tail 
Chapter II 
Blues: 
Rent party, Shakeblues, Speak easy, Male shake blues, Gutbucket blues 
Chapter III 
Savoy routines: 
Trunky doo, Aerial lindy, California (lindy), Big Apple. 
Postwar trends: 
Calypso, Apple jack 
Jazz Dance: 
Bethel, Pepsi. 
Berry, James J., d. 1969. 
Brown, Teddy. 
Gibson, Sandra
 

Written and researched by Judy Pritchett with Frankie Manning (C)1995,1996,1997.May be reproduced only with explicit written permission. Send your suggestions, corrections or comments to judyp@mcn.orgThis Archive is also part of the World Lindy Hop Federation Archives maintained by Keith Hughes.