Beyonce vs Duke Ellington

What do you get when you mix Duke Ellington with Beyonce Knowles and all the single ladies? You get this. Brilliant mashup.

(Via Peter Loggins and Miss S)

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

Jassdancer - Blog by Peter Loggins

The swing dance historian and dance instructor Peter Loggins has just launched a new blog called The Jassdancer. Peter has a collected a lot of knowledge and information about swing dances and the swing era, so it will be very interesting to follow what he writes.

One of his first posts discusses the question: What is a jitterbug?

What do you think of The Jassdancer? Please comment.

Herrang All Stars / Folkets Hus Fem: Photos

I have now recovered from attending the Uppsala Winter Camp, it was a fun experience and in my opinion the best dance camp in Uppsala so far.

One of the things that made this year special was what happend Saturday night. In addition to the big band on the main stage, some of the instructors had decided to put together a band or more exactly to reunite a band from Herräng Dance Camp.

The band is called the Herrang All Stars / Folkets Hus Fem and consists of Peter Loggins (Washboard-Suitcase-Pots and Pans), Mia Goldsmith (vocals and kazoo), Todd Yannacone (guitar), Niklas Eriksson (clarinet) and Christoffer Alehed (trombone). Guest artist this night was Orvar Turegård on piano.



The played songs like: I Found a New Baby, After You've Gone, Aint she sweet (with Sean Hall singing and playing his Uke), Dinah, I Found a new baby, Lady Be Good , Saint Louis Blues. All these songs were recorded and you can listen to the Herrang All Stars / Folkets Hus Fem songs here.



Having one more band made it an awesome experience to walk around Grand and having music played everywhere you went.

Thank you guys for playing. Your performance made the camp very special.



The photos are taken by me and may not be published elsewhere without my permission. Contact me if you want to buy or license them.



What do you think of Herrang All Stars / Folkets Hus Fem? Please comment.

Sweden Balboa Weekend starts today

Sweden Balboa Weekend starts tonight. It'll be three days packed with lots of fun and lots of hard work.

We have a great lineup of teachers: Peter Loggins and Mia Goldsmith; Laura Keat & Jeremy Otth; Kate Hedin & David Rehm and Joana Ekeström and Andreas Olsson. I really looking forward to learn from them.

People are coming in from Denmark, Finland, France and Russia. It's great to see that the camp is becoming more and more international.

It's also really exciting that the weekend is fully booked. But there's still a chance to get into the dances at night if you volunteer during the weekend. If you're interested you should talk to the organizers at the registration desk tonight at Drabanten.

I hope to see you during the weekend.

Will you be attending Sweden Balboa Weekend? Please comment.

All Balboa Weekend 2008 + Swedish Balboa Weekend

Last weekend the All Balboa Weekend took place in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. This is the largest event for anyone who dances balboa. They have classes, competitions and lots of social dancing.

Big congratulations to my friend Jonas Pettersson who took first place in the Open Jack & Jill division together with Teni Lopez-Cardenas. I don't have any video clip of them so instead look at Mickey Fortanasce & Kelly Arsenault who won the American Classic Balboa Championship.

I haven't heard the song before, can anyone tell me what song that is?

The Sweden Balboa Weekend in coming up here in Uppsala September 26 - 28th. We've got some awsome balboa teachers coming: Mia Goldsmith & Peter Loggins, Laura Keat & Jeremy Otth, Kate Hedin & David Rehm. Come to Uppsala in September you too!

What do you think of the video clip from All Balboa Weekend? Please comment.

Balboa history: Interview with Dwight Lupardus by Peter Loggins

All of you that are intrested in dancing balboa will like this interview with balboa dancer Dwight Lupardus who talks about the history of balboa in southern California. He talks about the dance itself, the dancers and the social context of the dance. He is interviewed by Peter Loggins, a noted swing dance historian.



The interview is about 1 hour long and is divided into 8 pieces on YouTube:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5
• Part 6
• Part 7
• Part 8 (final)

If you want to know more about dance history, check out dancehistory.org which is run by Peter Loggins.

I don't have the time right now to give a summary of what is talked about in each part but if you have the time, please comment this post and write a summary yourself.

What do you think of the interview with Dwight Lupardus about the history of balboa? Tell me.

Play swing music for the best dancers

On Tuesday I dj:ed a set at Cats Corner and I felt it went successfully. Swing dancer Peter Loggins told me earlier this year: "Dj for the best dancers". He meant that if you play swing music that satisfies the best dancers and makes them happy, that kind of music will benefit all of the dancers in the dance scene. On Tuesday I looked out over the dance floor and some of the best dancers seemed inspired so I guess I did a pretty good job.

So, what kind of music did I play?

I was happy to play a couple of songs by the swing band 4beat6 from the Netherlands. I was happy to for the first time introduce the crowd to swing songs sung by Nikki Yanofsky: "Betcha Nickel" and "Lullaby Of Birdland", which she recorded last year when she was 12! Amazing! I can't wait to hear more songs from Nikki Yanofsky.

I featured some songs from the vocalese group Lambert, Hendricks & Ross: "A Mellow Tone" and "Twist City" from the great album "The Hottest New Group In Jazz".


It was good to hear the new swing dj, Dietmar, dj for his first time. It's always refreshing to hear someone else's music selections.

When the set (and the swing night) was over I played one song just to amuse the crowd that was still there: "Pussy, Pussy, Pussy" by the Hot Club of Cowtown from a live album called Continental Stomp.

Were you at Cats Corner on Tuesday? What do you think of my music choices? Tell me.

Speedlinks: Mentions and interview tip

Speedlinking is just me collecting small bits an pieces of information into one larger blog post. I've borrowed the term "Speedlinks" from David Hobby's excellent blog about off camera flash lighting called Strobist.

So, what's the news?

• Bryant Gover found my blog post about his swing dance photos. Read his blog post.
• Carl Nelson over at Carl's Dance Blog listed a couple of dance and swing blogs where this blog was mentioned. He reports from different dance events, including the recent Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown (ULHS).
• Speaking of ULHS, there is a good interview with dancer Peter Loggins in the most recent Yehoodi Talk Show taped at ULHS. Start at 24 minutes into the podcast and listen to minute 43 to hear a more about his background and how he got interested in dance history. If you're not a member of Yehoodi, you can safely skip the rest of the show. Download the talk show here.

Got any other interesting web sites that I should check out? Tell me.

dancehistory.org: Learn about swing dance and jazz dance history

Are you interested in the history of swing dances and jazz dances that evolved from the 1920s to the 1940s? Then you should visit dancehistory.org which is a website dedicated to just that.


From the mission statement:

Dancehistory.org is a collective of dance historians and enthusiast researching, sharing and promoting the history of American Jazz dance.

Dancehistory.org got a discussion forum where you can disuss both the history as well as dancing of these dances today. You can also learn about jazz and swing music.

This is a great resource that dancer and dance historian Peter Loggins has founded. Yay!

What do you think of dancehistory.org? Tell me.

Swing Dancer Magazine: June Edition

The June edition of Swing Dancer Magazine is now online.

It features an article by David Graybill about how to organize and promote dance events that has several kinds of swing dances at one time. Noelle Gray writes about the levels you go through as you become a better swing dancer. There is also an interview with Mary Ann Nunez who appears in this video clip with the Dean Collins Lindy Hoppers from 1983 (provided by Peter Loggins).



Editor Christina Oppold has also written a review of Frankie Manning's autobiography: "Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Swing".

What do you think of the June edition of Swing Dancer Magazine? Tell me.

Royal Crown Revue concert at Debaser

The neoswing band Royal Crown Revue is out on an European tour and is coming to Debaser (Slussen) in Stockholm tomorrow.

Neo swing is not classic swing but it's a style of swing that is influenced by rockabilly and jump blues. Neo swing became popular around 1997-1998 when there was a swing music revival and a lot of people started swing dancing.

Here is a video with Royal Crown Revue performing their song Zip Gun Bop. In the video you can see Peter Loggins dancing lindy hop.



The evening starts at 19 and before Royal Crown Revue goes on stage the Swedish band Nosey Joe and the Poolkings will play. I hear that RCR is an awesome live band, so if you have the opportunity I think you should go there.

Buy tickets at Ticnet. 145 kr.

Interesting fact: Royal Crown Revue was featured in the film "The Mask" where Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz dance to their song "Hey Pachuco!".



What do you think of Royal Crown Revue? Tell me.

GNQ plays at Uppsala Winter Camp tomorrow

Today the large dance camp in Uppsala starts: Uppsala Winter Camp. Tonight there will be a taster lesson in balboa with Jonas & Jennie and then a small workshop with Peter Loggins followed by djing by Mohan Pakkurti at Drabanten.

Tomorrow the band GNQ (George Nistor Quartet) will play at the welcoming party at Grand (starts at 20). Entrance fee: 80 kr.

During the camp I'll be responsible for all things that concerns lighting but I'll also dj some sets (not yet decided when).

Welcome!