Would you take a swing at it?

I have really been rediscovering Swing Music and my love for it. And the other day on Facebook, the social networking website, I came across one of the "superpoke" options as giving somebody Frankie Manning, which I promptply gave to everyone I am friends with on Facebook. To which one of my friends asked, "Who is Frankie Manning?" It's unfortunate that is a question. Frankie Manning is one of the people who helped to put Swing Dancing on the map as one of the integral part of American Culture (as shared by all American people regardless of race, creed or color). Particularly he was known for his days when he was part of a Lindy Hop Troupe. If you would like more info on him you can check out this website.

In the meantime, and before you go read about that here is a quick demo of the Shim Shim dance by the same Frankie Manning and friend:



And more exciting, than that basic clip from an instructional video (which I would love find and purchase!) here is another clip from the annals of TV history from some show that demonstrated some of the great things one can do with Shim Sham...


... and which I would argue begins the demise of couples dancing when Shim Shamming became more of a freestyle dance, than with one's partner. It's all about "the lead and follow!"

But, and I loved the previous post on this, here is what the Lindy Hoppers where famous for, including Mr Frankie Manning:



I don't know about you, but it is quite a beautiful dance with much of the ingenuity and joy that constitutes the American lifestyle at its best... so says I. What do you say?