Tingling
Frankie Manning died yesterday morning. Because of that I'm very depressed and I'm sitting here, watching videos of him and feeling all tingly and close to tears. Most non swing dancers (that would be 99% of you) don't know who Frankie is, or what relevance he had in our lives. kopibren does a nice tribute to him in her blog here. In brief, he was a great dancer in the 30s and danced the Lindy hop and was famous in his time. He starred in Hollywood films and danced with Whitey's lindy hoppers. In the war, he took a back seat, and then worked in a postal office until the 80s, when a group of American Swing dancers ( Steve Mitchell and Erin Stevens? ), sick of watching old black and white videos, found the real man and brought him out of dance retirement, and helped begin the revival of Swing dancing throughout the world.
You see Swing dancing everywhere. Known as the Lindy Hop, we see it in the popular media like in the Gap Khaki ads, and even Strictly Come Dancing.
But there is something else that Frankie did which probably touches all 99% of you. He created the first 'aerial' in the 30s.
What's an aerial?
I quickly searched in you tube and found a salsa couple (the lady curiously dressed like Jodie marsh) who were doing aerials in a competition. An aerial is just a dance move done in the air.
Yup. Frankie's first aerial spawned a gazillion copycats and variations, but his was the original idea. So all the ballroom, tango, salsa, rock and roll dancers out there all have been touched by Frankie, in a tiny way, probably without knowing it.
Incidentally, this is Frankie doing the 'back flip' - the first aerial. He told us the story when he first did that move. he practised with his partner in his scummy room in Harlem and put a mattress on the floor. The poor girl kept on being slammed onto the floor until they finally learnt how to get it right, and on time. He told us that his mother was horrified to see his son sprawled on the mattress with a young girl when she came upstairs to check on the commotion! Then he unveiled the move in the Savoy ballroom in New York and won a dance competition (rather like those 'dance offs' we get in youth culture these days). I think even skinnypinny and ickleoriental did that aerial in their cheer leading routine when they were 14 without knowing that Frankie, an old black dude in America, created a move that gave them their winning routine. In the clip, he then proceeds to the 'the pancake', which is something Pman and I learnt in camp. Too bad i can't do it in a wedding dress.
Most of us dancers have met Frankie in his long illustrious career. He made an effort to travel and to continue teaching throughout his old age. His legacy lives on. I only mourn that Pman never met him as the classes of his we had planned to attend in Ireland were cancelled due to an illness last year.
Rest in peace, sir.
You see Swing dancing everywhere. Known as the Lindy Hop, we see it in the popular media like in the Gap Khaki ads, and even Strictly Come Dancing.
But there is something else that Frankie did which probably touches all 99% of you. He created the first 'aerial' in the 30s.
What's an aerial?
I quickly searched in you tube and found a salsa couple (the lady curiously dressed like Jodie marsh) who were doing aerials in a competition. An aerial is just a dance move done in the air.
Click to viewYup. Frankie's first aerial spawned a gazillion copycats and variations, but his was the original idea. So all the ballroom, tango, salsa, rock and roll dancers out there all have been touched by Frankie, in a tiny way, probably without knowing it.
Incidentally, this is Frankie doing the 'back flip' - the first aerial. He told us the story when he first did that move. he practised with his partner in his scummy room in Harlem and put a mattress on the floor. The poor girl kept on being slammed onto the floor until they finally learnt how to get it right, and on time. He told us that his mother was horrified to see his son sprawled on the mattress with a young girl when she came upstairs to check on the commotion! Then he unveiled the move in the Savoy ballroom in New York and won a dance competition (rather like those 'dance offs' we get in youth culture these days). I think even skinnypinny and ickleoriental did that aerial in their cheer leading routine when they were 14 without knowing that Frankie, an old black dude in America, created a move that gave them their winning routine. In the clip, he then proceeds to the 'the pancake', which is something Pman and I learnt in camp. Too bad i can't do it in a wedding dress.
Most of us dancers have met Frankie in his long illustrious career. He made an effort to travel and to continue teaching throughout his old age. His legacy lives on. I only mourn that Pman never met him as the classes of his we had planned to attend in Ireland were cancelled due to an illness last year.
Rest in peace, sir.