GuruReuben wrote:Greg Avakian wrote:how do you explain the sucess of Lindy Groove?
Accessibility/Location
Beginner friendly
Timing (Thursday Nights)
No competition
Thank you for supporting the thesis that the music does not matter. I'm sure all those conveniences are why people drive 2 hours to go.
yedancer wrote:I don't know much about the east coast scene from personal experience. But I do know that 5 or 6 years ago or more Lindy Hop was brought back en masse thanks to the high-energy neo swing bands. At least, that's what it seems like. It was only after the dance had begun to gain popularity that large groups of people began doing it to consistently slower music. The groove scene grew out of the old high energy neo swing scene.
At least, that's the way it was in San Diego. It could have happened totally different in other cities. Anybody care to prove so?
The closest thing I can offer to proof is this:
My Minidisc collection.
The first 4 are labeled " East coast swing" (1-4). They include artists like:
Red and the red hots
Belvue cadillac
Big time operator
Steve Lucky
Indigo Swing
Louis Prima
Count Basie
Gene Krupa
Cammaros
Will Bradley
Les Brown
Benny Goodman
Mighty Blue KingsLavay Smith
Jimmy Lunceford
CPD
Duke Ellington
Mitch Woods
Anita O'day
Wynonnie Harris
Jesse powel
Bill Elliot
ESC 1 tempos range from 156-196
ESC 2 tempos range from 146-206
ESC 3 tempos range from 164-280
ESC 4 tempos range from 146-196
I also have a MD labeled "Kids" that is all stuff over 220BPM -specifically for the "swing kids" wanna-be types (all arials, no rhythm).
The next 16 Minidiscs are Labeled "Lindy 1-16"
Lindy 1 adds:
Carmen McRae
Al Cohn/Zoot Sims
Lots of Basie/Ella
Sarah Vaughn
Alberta Hunter
Tempos range from 112-160
Lindy 2 adds:
Nina Simone
Oscar Peterson & Count Basie
Ella & Louis
Tempos range from 120-192
Lindy 3 adds:
Dinah Washington
Diana Krall
Betty Roche
Lena Horne
Louis & ella
I don't have all the tempos marked, but the fastest song is 156
Etc. I'm not going to list 16 MDs to prove my point.
I think the "big change" happened about 4+ years ago and took place over the course of a year. I remember being frustrated with my ECS gig and wanting to start a Lindy gig. I was teaching 8-12 classes a week: 1 ECS, 2 WCS, and the rest were Lindy.
However, Lindy didn't take off until the club I was teaching ECS in got wiped out by a flood: then I started a "Lindy" venue which introduced slower music people could actually practice their Lindy to.
WITH A MIX OF MUSIC, but a good deal of the music that Paul, Bill and others turned me on to. Like I said: the biggest weekly DJed dance almost immediately.
Here is where I sort of agree with ye dancer:
Any change will turn off a lot of ECS dancers.
Within a year of my starting PLP (Philadelphia Lindy Project), Philly went from 5-6 nights of dancing to 2-3 nights of dancing.
But NOT because
Lindy hoppers weren't enjoying themselves. It was because many ECS dancers had no intention of learning Lindy, weren't willing to put in the effort, and felt lost when they couldn't do ECS to Maxine Sullivan.
That is the danger and that is why changes must be made slowly and why the music has to be a mix to please everyone.