A Living Legend, or, The Other Reason I Went to Seattle
So, you who have been with me through it all will, perhaps, recall an enthusiastic entry I wrote about taking a dance class with Sugar Sullivan.
Sugar was in Seattle this weekend, along with eight other famous dancers of the early days of swing. She's had her knee replacement surgery, in case you were wondering, and yes, she can still dance up a storm.
So, if you remember that entry, you may remember I made you go and watch a dance clip on Youtube before reading any more. I'm about to do it again. This clip, from the movie Hellzapoppin', was shot in 1941. Watch for the last couple to solo; the guy's in denim overalls, and the girl's in a maid's uniform.
There, did you watch it? No, I mean it, watch it. It's good dancing. And that guy in the overalls? He taught me to dance this weekend. That's Frankie Manning.
Who is Frankie Manning, you ask? Ah, friends, you may just as well ask who William Shakespeare is. While you're at it, ask who Ludwig van Beethoven is. Ask who Mikhail Barishnikov is. (Or go read the Wikipedia entry.)
Now that you know, go watch this clip. That was shot in 2006, at Frankie's, um, 92nd birthday. Yeah, I typed that right, and no, you didn't misread it. Ninety-two. Which makes him 93 this year, and still going strong. If you look closely at both clips, you can see that while the dancing is slightly less energetic, the enormous grin hasn't changed.
Wednesday night, hrmortcia accompanied me into the city so I could take a Lindy hop lesson with him. He began by saying, "Gentlemen, this lady across from you--she's the Queen. And what do you do when you meet the Queen? That's right, you bow. And if you do it right, she says, 'yeah, I am the Queen!'"
(Incidentally, he did meet the Queen once, on a tour to England in 1937. Of all the dancers in his performance group, only he had his hand shaken. He was so flustered, he curtsied instead of bowed! But he bought a white glove to wear for the rest of the trip, because that was the hand that had shaken the Queen's!) (Eat your heart out, Michael Jackson.)
Sugar was in Seattle this weekend, along with eight other famous dancers of the early days of swing. She's had her knee replacement surgery, in case you were wondering, and yes, she can still dance up a storm.
So, if you remember that entry, you may remember I made you go and watch a dance clip on Youtube before reading any more. I'm about to do it again. This clip, from the movie Hellzapoppin', was shot in 1941. Watch for the last couple to solo; the guy's in denim overalls, and the girl's in a maid's uniform.
There, did you watch it? No, I mean it, watch it. It's good dancing. And that guy in the overalls? He taught me to dance this weekend. That's Frankie Manning.
Who is Frankie Manning, you ask? Ah, friends, you may just as well ask who William Shakespeare is. While you're at it, ask who Ludwig van Beethoven is. Ask who Mikhail Barishnikov is. (Or go read the Wikipedia entry.)
Now that you know, go watch this clip. That was shot in 2006, at Frankie's, um, 92nd birthday. Yeah, I typed that right, and no, you didn't misread it. Ninety-two. Which makes him 93 this year, and still going strong. If you look closely at both clips, you can see that while the dancing is slightly less energetic, the enormous grin hasn't changed.
Wednesday night, hrmortcia accompanied me into the city so I could take a Lindy hop lesson with him. He began by saying, "Gentlemen, this lady across from you--she's the Queen. And what do you do when you meet the Queen? That's right, you bow. And if you do it right, she says, 'yeah, I am the Queen!'"
(Incidentally, he did meet the Queen once, on a tour to England in 1937. Of all the dancers in his performance group, only he had his hand shaken. He was so flustered, he curtsied instead of bowed! But he bought a white glove to wear for the rest of the trip, because that was the hand that had shaken the Queen's!) (Eat your heart out, Michael Jackson.)