The Real Group - It Don't Mean A Thing

It Don't Mean A Thing is almost the definition of a classic swing song. Here is a acapella version by the Swedish vocal group The Real Group from a concert at Stockholm Concert Hall in 2005.

I really like how the bass lines are sung and I'm also very fond of the way they layer their voices (starts at ~ 2:00 into the video clip).

What do you think of The Real Group singing It Don't Mean A Thing? Please comment.

Blues dancing at Blues night at Herräng Dance Camp

Herräng Dance Camp, the worlds largest swing dance camp, has soon finished the fourth of five weeks this summer. Each week one night is "Blues night" where slow blues is played all night in the main ballroom. In the first years of this tradition only blues was played that night but in the last couple of years there has been tango or balboa on the other dance floors.

The Blues night is opened at midnight with a blues dance performance, take a look at these sexy women at the opening blues performance from 2004.



The kind of blues you hear in this video clip is very typical of the music you will hear all through the Blues night.

Have you been to a Blues night at Herräng dance camp? Do you like blues dancing? Tell me.

Steal dances or cutting in

Steal dances or cut-in dances are dances where your dance partner get stolen away from you in one way or another.

Here is a steal dance performed at the Thursday night cabaret at Herräng Dance Camp in 2003 by Tommy Blacharz, Andrew Sutton and Rabéa Lahlou. The song they dance to is (of course ironically chosen) "They can't take that away from me" performed by June Christy.



Andrew Sutton often teaches techniques for steal dancing and has written an article about steal dancing.

There is some information about "Cut-in dances" in Ralph G. Giordano's book Social Dancing in America: A History and Reference Volume 2 Lindy Hop to Hip Hop, 1901-2000.

In the section "Fashion, flappers and the great Gatsby" on page 59 Giordano writes about 1920s college campuses:

"The Charleston and the Varsity Drag were quite popular on college campuses. Also popular on campus was the "cut-in" dance. The idea was that more men than woman would be invited to a dance. The men were expected to "cut-in" during the course of a dance as many times as possible with a different female during an evening."

On page 96 he writes about American movies during the second world war:

"Many [movies] had a dance scene with a slow Foxtrot that also had an individual "Cutting In" on a couple. The scene was especially prevalent during World War II when there simply were not enough women partners at military dances. Although the custom could be annoying to leave a partner that you were enjoying dancing with for either a partner you did not like or possibly no partner at all, it was continually reinforced that it was a patriotic thing to do. "

What do you think of the video clip with steal dancing? Tell me.