Frankie Manning week

Imagine a young man in the 1930s going to the legendary Harlem’s Savoy Ballroom in New York City, he sees all those dancers and decides to join in and swing along, eventually becoming an elite dancer there, inventing new steps and moves (aerials) and shaping the dance as it goes on, becoming one of the members of the professional dancers group Whitey's Lindy Hoppers.This man is still alive and kicking today and this year Frankie Manning, one of the pioneers of Lindy Hop will celebrate his 95th birthday. His official birthday party will be in New York in May but in order to give Lindy Hoppers worldwide the opportunity to participate in the celebrations, Frankie Manning week starts today, lasting until 22nd of March. Also check out this choreography!

The Shim Sham

The Shim Sham Shimmy or Shim Sham originally is a particular tap dance routine. It is the Lindy Line Dance and there are at least five separate versions of it. However, the point of Shim Sham is getting together and any way you do it is just fine. When a group of people do the Shim Sham (especially a group of people from different cities), their steps will be largely similar with some variation and even some improvisation. Among the alternative choreographies of Shim Sham one is developed by Frankie Manning, another by Al Minns and Leon James (also called the "Savoy Shim Sham"), and a third by Dean Collins.

The Original Lindy Hoppers at the Savoy Ballroom had a considerable background in Tap and jazz dance. They used to warm up for dancing by doing traditional jazz and tap steps. Eventually, their warm-up became standardized and a group of them could be found on the floor warming up as the band was tuning up.

The Shim Sham was originated by Leonard Reed and Willie Bryant in Harlem in 1927 and has been a favorite of tap dancers and other entertainers every since. Frankie Manning has introduced it to swing dancers. It is undisputed that the Lindy revival of the late 1980s also brought back Shim Sham and no evening of swing dancing is complete without the Shim Sham.

Today in the Lindy Hop scene, when the Shim Sham is over , dancers typically grab a partner and break into lindy hop for the remainder of the song. During this portion of the song, the band or a DJ may call out "Freeze!" or "Slow!" instructing the dancers to either stop where they are or dance slowly, calling out "Dance!" to tell everyone to resumes normal dancing.