Entry tags:

dance, picture posts, swing exchanges

Finally! MTLX pictures!!!!
(I'm posting this again because a few people told me that this wasn't showin up on their friends list...)


These are waaaaaaay overdue, but such is life without a digital camera.

Those of you who've been reading for a while will remember that in August I got to attend the
MONTREAL LINDY HOP EXCHANGE. See Entry: (http://www.livejournal.com/users/kruszer/121449.html)

Lindy Hop (as well as Charleston which is typically mixed into lindy) is a major love of mine and if you have no clue why or what it really looks like, here are a few clips of the kind of dancing that I do: (minus the air tricks cause we're not allow to do those except during competitions or when the floor is mostly empty - for obvious reasons... but the ones I've done are a blast)

There were tons of clips I want you to see (see links below for more pages) I finally had to just randomly choose these ones. These aren't necessarily typical (competition pieces include stuff that can't be led) but they give you a brief idea of what lindy CAN be like.

1. http://www.one2swing.com/movies7/bensheri_sociallindyhop_hiQ.wmv - moderate speed lindy hop among really good dancers (instructors from NC) - with a few added flairs that I've never seen around here like the leg up kick and the guy's solo pirouette)

2. http://www.newmoveoftheweek.com/dsvideos/alhc03s.mpg - Sommers and Dorry - good glimpse of typical medium-slow lindy hop that we do on an average night (nothing too fancy)

3. http://grove.ufl.edu/%7Eswinguf/gallery/images/kc2.mpg - Yuval & Natalie, world champions = Lindy Hop at its best complete with arials

4. http://www.dcswingdancing.com/Video%20Clips/CCB-112505-Video%20Clips/CallieBlumberg&ReverendArnold(112505).wmv - a simple set of Charleston moves at a somewhat low speed

5. http://www.one2swing.com/movies7/hellzapoppin_hiQ.wmv - this clip from an old black and white 1940's movie features the original Whitey's Lindy Hoppers who started the original Lindy craze in North America - including Frankie Manning whom I got to meet and take lessons with in Oct 2003

6. And who could forget the classic GAP khakis commercial from 1998 that started it all?: http://www.hsiproductions.com/vid/vid.asp?vidID=59

7. And if that's still not enough, here are a ton more sites that I haven't even had the chance to browze through yet: http://www.eiraneiran.com/lindylinks.htm (and you can also check out the stuff on any of the afore mentioned pages

Anyhow, this post was supposed to be about my pics, so here they are:

“Swing L’ete” Hawain theme dance by the St Lawrence river






“And DIP”





A 200 person Shim-Sham (classic swing line-dance)





I am so proud of the timing of this photo! (Aiden and Swinging Air Force friends do a brief show)





This many people slept in Albert’s two-bedroom apartment… how swing dancers keep the price of exchanges to a bare minum





Guy, a guy from Australia with whom I spent the late night chatting outside (see entry)





Louis from France, and I… can you guess who wears sunscreen and who does not?





Me with a super girl from Montreal (whose unique name escapes me at the moment)





Kristine with phil from somewhere in the states, and Norman from Kingston





Once you start dancing, you just can’t get enough… Lisa leads me into a cute dip after we break into spontaneous dance on the sidewalk.





And still we dance… impromptu dance at a restaurant (yes I swing both ways ;)





Lisa and Jing (Jing was the one who housed me my first week in Toronto)[Photo 'courtesy of' KevinSue, cause it was too cute to pass up on]





* Those are all of my pics. There are some more great shots of dancers and the scene taken by other dancers (ie pics from the Friday night dance at the Polish hall, and shots of the longest congo line I've ever scene that broke out when the Saturday night band was playing stuff no one wanted to try lindying to... But I guess I was too busy dancing to take pictures of people dancing. eh well. :P

If you ask for the link to the other people's shots, you shall receive.





Toronto pictures coming soon (tomorrow I hope)