Nagasaki - Alice Mei & Thomas Blacharz

Alice Mei & Thomas Blacharz have great musicality when they dance to the song Nagasaki at the International Lindy Hop Championships 2009.

I don't know for sure which artist performs the song, but it sounds like Wingy Manone to me. Do you know?

Update: justafish provided me with the correct artist: Putney Dandridge.

What do you think of the video clip? Please comment.

Jack 'n' Jill Final: Sweden Balboa Weekend 2008

I have had a great weekend participating in and organizing the Sweden Balboa Weekend 2008. Great classes, great people who came here, fun dancing in the evenings.

I'll post more about the weekend later on but first I want to show you the final in the Jack 'n' Jill balboa competition. Congratulations to Jessica Håll (Stockholm) and Ari Halinen (Finland) who won. Ari also won the SBW Jack & Jill last year.

The very last song was played by the band of the night: The Canal Street Syncopators.



Were you at Sweden Balboa Weekend 2008? What do you think of the weekend? Please comment.

The Battle in Stockholm

If you're in Stockholm tonight, there is a great event there called The Battle. It's a lindy hop competition at Kulturhuset and in between the rounds there are plenty of time to dance socially to the bands Stockholm Swing All Stars and George Nistor Swing Orchestra.

Expect a lot of dancers there that has just attended the Herräng Dance Camp (which ended on Friday). The dancing starts at 19 and ends 01. Tickets cost 250 kr.

What do you think of The Battle? Please comment.

Twentyfour Robbers: Skye and Frida at UHLS 2007

Last week at the Friday night dance at Uppsala Winter Camp I djed the late shift which meant: after the band stopped playing and until there were no people left on the dance floor.

I told the dancers that I was happy to take specific requests if they had any. Most times when you ask dancers what they like to hear, they answer: "Good music". Hmm. Then you ask: Ok, what tempo? Answer: "Just right" (In Swedish: Lagom). Not much direction to talk about.

I did get one request: "Twentyfour Robbers" by Fats Waller. Unfortunatly I didn't have it in my cd bag right then. Sorry.

The request was inspired by the video clip with Frida Segerdahl and Skye Humpfries dancing in a contest at the Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown 2008. Take a look at it.



Frida and Skye really makes the most out of this song, they acknowledge all the highlights in the music and their dance matches the dynamics in the song wonderfully. On top of that they also use the floor space very well. No wonder they won the competition.

What do you think about Frida Segerdahl and Skye Humpfries dancing to Twentyfour Robbers by Fats Waller? Tell me.

Harlem Hot Shots dances in TV4 Talang final

Tonight, the swing dance show group The Harlem Hot Shots will perform in the final of the talent show Talang 2007 on TV4. The competition is fierce so be sure to vote for them, so that they can win the first prize of one million swedish crowns.

In the final they will add some extras and one lindy hopper from Uppsala might be seen in the background. I'm also told that there will also be a live band performing the song they will dance to.

Watch Talang 2007 at 20 o'clock tonight on TV4. Vote for lindy hop!

Video clips with Harlem Hotshots: semi final and audition round.

Have you followed Talang 2007 on TV4? What do you think of Harlem Hot Shots chances of winning? Tell me.

TV4 Talang: Harlem Hot Shots dances Lindy Hop

Tonight it's the semi final in TV4's talent show Talang 2007. One of the contestants are the famous swing dance show group The Harlem Hot Shots.

Watch their performance in the preliminary round in the competition where The Harlem Hot Shots performed a dance number to Bugle Call Rag. You can see Hanna Zetterman, Mattias Lundmark, Åsa Palm, Daniel Heedman, Sakarias Larsson and of course Frida Segerdahl.



Vote for them so that they go on to the final, so we get more exposure of lindy hop in Sweden. Hopefully they'll win the first prize of one million kronor. Watch them tonight in Talang 2007 at TV4 20:00.

[Update: They won the jury's vote and will be going the the final in two weeks! Be sure to vote for them then.]

If you were inspired by them to learn lindy hop, you can take classes by The Harlem Hot Shots at their own dance studio in Stockholm: Chicago. If you live in Uppsala, get in touch with Swingkatten.

What do you think of The Harlem Hot Shots performance in the video clip? Do you know what version of Bugle Call Rag they are using? Tell me.