Lindy Hop Collective

Sup folks, it’s that day of the week again. Monday. Hurray! Work! Yes! Fun! Yes! Well, not really. More fun for me some times and not for others. Today is one of those fun days. I'm doing jack diddly at work. Well not necessarily jack diddly; I did happen to browse through youtube.com today. I don't even know what I was looking for. I was searching for some Japanese clips, then I tried searching for some bboy clips, and lastly I searched for Culture Shock clips. Too my surprise, the search brought me to this classic clip from a film called Hellzapoppin'. Dude, these guys are fresh. The whole jazz collab plus the dancers are nasty. Pure enjoyment. So much enjoyment that I did more searches and these are the recommended clips that I found. Enjoy them as I did!


This first clip is from Hellzapoppin' featuring The Harlem Congaroos (dancers, AKA Whitey's Lindyhoppers). The scene begins with workers moving props and finding instruments. They begin with a cool jam session which attracts maids and chefs to come out and dance the lindy hop. My favorite clip!


This clip has very little dancing but the music is outstanding. "Oh shit, I'm a poet and didn't even know it" (that's what Andrew Tran said to me in the Bay). Just check it out. Awesome musicians like legendary Lestor Young on tenor sax, Barney Kessel on guitar (I'm a jazz guitar fan), and Jo Jones on the drums. Also, Marie Bryant kills it on the vocals.


This clip is from the movie Don't Knock the Rock. Who said white folks can't dance. These guys are mean on the dance floor. And the track in the film is on fire. My favorite dancers are the first pair to go out in the circle (he's the one wearing the glasses who trips in his routine, pure flavor).


The last clip I checked out, before going back to do some real work, was from a sound short called After Seben. It stars Chick Webb & "Shorty" George Snowden. I guess from the synopsis they say this clip features the early beginnings of lindy hop. This clip is very cool but not as exciting as the others I have featured. However, there is one particular dancer in this clip that I wanted to point out. His name is James Barton. In this clip he plays the emcee performing in blackface. OMG this guy is freakin the nastiest dancer to live. Just check out his moves towards the end of the clip. He's a straight up bboy. I recognize some of his dance moves to be associated with breakin'. And that pogo action is bonkers. Haha it's crazy. Peep it!