Dance Scene
Swing pioneers to show fancy footwork
By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer
Norma Miller is Frankie Manning's biggest fan.
Ralph Gabriner
And oldest friend.
Frankie Manning is credited with creating the Lindy Hop, a craze inspired by the big band swing sounds of the '30s and '40s.
The dancing duo have known each other for more than 70 years, cuttin' the rug in Harlem as teenagers.
"He's just phenomenal," she gushed over the phone from Vegas. "There's nobody like Frankie. I wonder how the hell he does it myself, doing what he does better than anybody else in the world. When you're fortunate enough to do what you love for the rest of your life, it's not work."
Living legends and Lindy Hop pioneers, Manning and Miller are Harlem's royalty of swing. Manning is credited with inventing the Lindy Hop, a craze inspired by the big band swing sounds of the '30s and '40s; Miller took that quick step to higher heights — literally. And even in their 80s, the two jitterbugs are still cuttin' it up.
"It's always what I've done," Miller said. "I do whatever I have to do. This isn't work. It's what I've always done. Dance. I still feel fortunate to be a part of it."
| 'Dance! Dance! Hawai'i ... We Dance!' | |
| • | Kick-off dance 5 p.m. today |
| • | Ala Wai Golf Course Clubhouse, second floor, 404 Kapahulu Ave. (also known as The Palladium) |
| • | $10 adults, $5 students |
| • | 485-0038 |
| • | Also: Three-day dance workshop package, Saturday through Monday, $120 Workshops: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday at The Palladium; 7-9:45 p.m. Sunday at Studio 2 at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday at The Palladium; 7 p.m. Monday at Zanzabar Night Club. Instructors: Frankie Manning, Norma Miller, Nancy Goldberg, Jim Minty, Drene Martin, Shiloh Warren, Jim Haverlo and Tamara Allen |
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The club, which started in 1996, holds workshops or dances at least once a month. With about 50 members, ranging from high schoolers to senior citizens, event organizers wanted to give dancers of every age, skill and interest level something to learn.
The goal: "To get everyone to dance," said Sondra Blake, who handles public relations for the club.
And that's exactly what Manning and Miller want: Everyone just get up and dance.
"I've done it all my life," said Miller, who also yukked it up with Redd Foxx for 10 years. "There's nothing I don't like about it. It's what I do."
Too young to set foot in the Savoy Ballroom, Miller, at 14, would Lindy Hop on the sidewalk outside, surrounded by the overflowing music from inside the club. Soon after winning the first dance contest she ever entered that year, Herbert "Whitey" White invited her to join the famed Whitey's Lindy Hoppers.
At the same time, Manning's happy feet met hers at the famed Savoy. His fancy footwork landed him roles in movies, including "Everybody Sings" with Judy Garland. He also toured the globe with jazz legends Ethel Waters, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Cab Calloway.
"That was the best time of our young lives," Miller reminisced. "But that was another life. The biggest bands, the biggest stars. We were part of that great swing movement."
Harlem was bustling with creative energy, with romantic intentions. But as the neighborhood deteriorated, so did its allure as the center of black culture. And Miller doesn't want people to forget what Harlem was, what Harlem could be again.
"I want to let people know what it was like," said Miller, who is putting together a documentary and writing a book, both called "Swing, Baby, Swing," about the neighborhood. "I was depressed about the fact that we've done so much there and I wanted people to know what we did."
But people do remember.
"I'm personally excited to see all of (the instructors), especially Frankie Manning," said Andrea Messer, a 25-year-old salsa instructor and biological oceanography graduate student at UH, who will be teaching and performing Latin numbers at the conference. "He's a legend. He's the grandfather of the Lindy Hop. He actually danced in the Savoy Ballroom."
Dance is as much a part of Messer's life as textbooks, phone bills and groceries — it will always be there.
"Of course I'll be dancing for the rest of my life," she said. "It's a balance. I like science and exploring my brain, and dance lets me explore my body and movements, the other side. I probably wouldn't be happy doing one or the other."
