Category Archives: Women in History 2011

First couple, dancing with Johnny Innis in A Day At The Races (1937):

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From the 1935 film Hooray for Love

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And in the 1937 film Swing Is Here To Stay

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aka Mildred “Boogie” Pollard, aka Lindy hopper!

In Radio City Revels in 1938, the second couple in the jam, but the first couple after the cut from the singer at the beginning (ie there’s another couple in the jam before Gibson and partner ‘Shorty’ Davis).

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In Spirit Moves in 1950 with James Berry:

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Norma Miller: author and lindy hopping queen.

Miller and Leon James are the second couple in this sequence from Day at the Races (1937):

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Miller (dancing with George Greenidge) is half of the sixth couple in the jam during the jitterbug contest section of Keep Punchin’ (1939):

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Miller dances with Billy Ricker, as the second couple in the iconic scene fromHellzapoppin’ (1941):

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Miller is in the Hot Chocolates/Cottontail (1941) soundie, but I’m not sure which dancer she is:

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There are some interesting photos of Norma Miller, Frankie Manning and other dancers in the Getty Images collection.

[Once again I’m using Bobby’s article about iconic clilps to identify dancers.]

Ryan Swift’s Photo of Dawn Hampton at LindyFest 2011 decided me on Dawn Hampton for today’s Woman Jazz Dancer.

Hampton played a bundle of instruments in her family’s band and has had a long career in music and dance. But she’s best known today for her musicality classes, and there are a couple of clips of her scaring teaching dancers about musicality at Lindyfest this year. I really like these clips because she does the sort of nuanced dancing that reminds me of dancers like Leon James – stillness and minimalism combined with sharp, dramatic movements.

A demonstration dance with Virgine Jensen, Steven Mitchell and Frida Segerdahl:

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Teaching a musicality class:

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I have a fondness for female dancer-comedians. Bea was an excellent dancer, and the ‘shorty’ part of George ‘Shorty’ Snowden’s joke wouldn’t have worked without her.

(from the 1937 film ‘Ask Uncle Sol’)
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Whitey’s Lindy Hopper of awesome!

Second couple in this scene from the 1947 film Boy! What a Girl!:

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At 3.00 dancing at the Savoy with Leon James (from 1950 Mura Dehn docoSpirit Moves):

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In a whole series of sequences from Spirit Moves, wearing a shiny skirt and strapless shirt:

• at 2.00 doing the California routine
• at 4.16 doing the Big Apple routine

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[Thanks again to Peter Loggins for helping me figure out who’s who in the clips, AND for suggesting Esther!]