International Women’s Day! Sugar Sullivan!

Happy International Women’s Day!
Women’s History Month: Sugar Sullivan!

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Today, a woman who particularly inspires/inspired me!

I was in this class with Sugar and Peter, and one morning early in the week Sugar self-corrected describing the leads as ‘he’ with the comment: “because these days girls lead too, and that’s alright!” I led in most of my classes that week, and she was one of the few teachers I’ve _ever_ had who’s been so encouraging of women leads.

Oh, and she was also badass that week with the First Stops routine

…and of course, years ago!.

Women’s History Month: Marie Bryant!

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Singing! Dancing! Best switches of all time. OF ALL TIME!

I actually love her most for her performance in the Bli Blip short for Ellington’s song: She is the queen of excellent facial expression _as well_!

That’s made particularly clear in her gorgeous delivery in the film They Live By Night.

Women’s History Month: WillaMae Ricker!

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How awesome? This awesome!

Read a little more about her here.

Check out the photos from the Life Magazine photo shoot(s) here

Edit: I’m going to try to add all the clips featuring a dancer I can find to each of these posts. Try.

“Jitterbug History” features the Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers from 2.01, and Willamae Ricker (with Al Minns) is the third couple (thanks to Bobby again for the cast list.

media coverage of the Big Apple in 1938

I’ve just hurt myself doing some dance work, so I’m going to sublimate my anxiety with some research into newspaper coverage of the Big Apple dancers’ tour to Australia in 1938/39.

Nine black American performers came to Australia (eight of whom were dancers, one of which was Whitey whatsit, their manager). The group included Frankie Manning. They were part of a revue performance – a series of acts presented in one program – called ‘Hollywood Hotel’.

Here are some interesting articles (I’ll add to this if I can be bothered):

Women’s history month:Josephine Baker!

While the theme is ‘Women in the Business of Food’ Womenshistory.com.au I’m going to see just how many brilliant women jazz dancers I can come up with. One per day. Is it possible? Will I need your help?

Josephine Baker!
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There’s an interesting issue of Scholar&Feminist Josephine Baker: A Century in the Spotlight.

prawn salad

prawn salad

prawn salad,
originally uploaded by dogpossum.


In the new red, plastic bowl.
This is pretty much all supermarket food, because we had to.
cos lettuce (not supermarket)
tomatoes (not supermarket)
baby asparagus (not supermarket)
avocado (supermarket)
yellow capsicum (not supermarket)
mushrooms (supermarket)
cooked prawns (supermarket! cheap! impulse purchase!)
cucumber (supermarket)

The best bit is the dressing:
– 1tsp grated lemon zest and
– 30ml/2tbsp lemon juice (supermarket)
– 1.5 tbsp fresh grated parmesan (not supermarket)
– 2 tsp chopped parsley (garden)
– 150ml olive oil
– 1tsp sherry vinegar
– 2 crushed garlic cloves (not supermarket)
– salt and freshly ground black pepper

This dressing is supposed to sit a while, but we love it fresh, when the zest is still perky, so I like to eat it when it’s freshly made. I especially like this dressing with avocado and fresh bread. But it is PERFECT with prawns.