dogpossum

pig

pig, originally uploaded by dogpossum.

Of course I’m into Drawsome. How could you have imagined otherwise?

You know what my username is. Bring it.

We’re teaching a heap of Frankie stuff in classes this month, in the lead up to his birthday on the 26th May. Last night it was pecks in promenade, points and other important things. Teaching these steps I was struck by just how complex and wonderful they are for new dancers. Pecking gets a lot of flack, but it’s pretty challenging to peck and walk if you’re totally new to dancing.

My favourite pecks are in the Hellzapoppin clip:

Whiteys Lindy Hoppers .. Helzapoppin.

blues DJing

Blues sampler from dogpossum on 8tracks.

linky
image from shorpy

I did some blues DJing last night. Here are some songs from that set. Not entirely in order. It’s really just a bunch of women singing. That’s ok by me.

Hear Me Talking To Ya? Ella Fitzgerald acc. by Roy Eldridge, WIld Bill Davis, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, Gus Johnson 98 These Are The Blues 1963 3:02

Amtrak Blues Alberta Hunter (acc by Doc Cheatham, Vic Dickenson, Fran Wess, Norris Turney, Billy Butler, Gerald Cook, Aaron Bell, Jackie Williams) 95 Amtrak Blues 1978 3:24

Back Water Blues Belford
Hendricks’ Orchestra with Dinah Washington 71 Ultimate Dinah Washington 1957 4:58

Wee Baby Blues Count Basie and his Orchestra (Mahalia Jackson) 64 Live In Antibes 1968 1968 3:14

Fine And Mellow Mal Waldron and the All-Stars (Billie Holiday, Roy Eldridge, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Milt Hinton) 79 The Sound Of Jazz 1957 6:22

Kitchen Blues Martha Davis acc. by unknown 80 BluesWomen: Girls Play And Sing The Blues 1947 3:05

Frosty Morning Blues Cecile Mclorin Salvant and the Jean-Francois Bonnel Paris Quintet 70 Cecile 2010 4:50

Jungle Blues/Love In Vain Leigh Barker and the New Sheiks (Matt Boden, Don Stewart, Alastair McGrath-Kerr, Eamon McNelis, Heather Stewart) 81 The Sales Tax 2012 5:42

capybara is my power animal

source

charleston

Make your charleston look like this:

(Frankie Manning — Charleston — Spirit Moves (1950))

or like this:

(Charleston — Original Al & Leon Style!!)

Yeah, you’re actually kicking there. The kicks are cool.

teaching with gender

This week I was mocked for describing students’ ‘beautiful basics’ with too much enthusiasm. I admit, I was cooing and gushing a little, but I have Strong Feelings about beginner dancers doing basics. So next week I’m going to experiment with using manly words to describe swingouts.

“Great! What ruggedly masculine triple steps!”

“What hairy-chested bounce!”

“I like how you let her in close and then pushed her away!”

“Hey, you almost emoted there, but then suddenly shut down and repressed – great stuff!”

Perhaps I should just go ‘Proper Man’ and just do taciturn.

“Grunt.”

That’ll totally inspire the students.