SwingDJs

Swing Kids (1993)

Wow. More than 20 years ago, this film made a BIG impression on a lot of would-be dancers who were excited by the energy and the rebelliousness of the Swing Kids. They found their way into the then current scene and were catalystic in the growth of the scene back then.

Been years since I saw it once. I just watched the trailer for it. It seemed a bit oppressive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing_kids

I'm slightly ashamed to admit that I have yet to watch Swing Kids...

Surreal wrote:I'm slightly ashamed to admit that I have yet to watch Swing Kids...

Wellll....get 'er done!

ps - the worst thing about the film is that it sparked a generation of newbie swing kid dancers in the 90s yelling, "Swing heil" and using it as a tag line in their online posts. Haha..the dear dead days of the swing revival! ;(

I didn't get into swing until 2002, so (thankfully?) missed most of the revival phase. I miss some of that cheesiness, though neo-swing is still a bit of a guilty pleasure

Wow, that's crazy it's been that long. I never watched the film when it came out and didn't see it it was on late night TV a couple years after I started dancing.

I remember it seemed pretty cool from the trailer and I liked the music but I didn't have a clue at the time that was even considered jazz. I had pretty much forgotten about it until I encountered Lindy Hop in 2000 and got hooked. That trailer resonated with me much more than the Gap commercial a few years later. I guess it must have been because the music and dancing were both better.

Maybe we could arrange a screening at PLEX. I think a lot of current swing dancers haven't seen Swing Kids.

Sobering thought: a lot of the dancers weren't even born yet when the movie came out...

Surreal wrote:Sobering thought: .......

Tell me about it.

GAP ad - 1998 - I wanna read the comments.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knW1hGwmEXQ

So many catalysts kicking in - SWINGERS, THE MASK, GAP AD, SWING KIDS, All those TV shows featuring swing dancing with dancers you knew. It was a remarkable time. And in LA, there was good, actual swing music played by big bands. It was great!@

Surreal wrote:I didn't get into swing until 2002, so (thankfully?) missed most of the revival phase. I miss some of that cheesiness, though neo-swing is still a bit of a guilty pleasure

I don't miss neo-swing. I saw way too many neo bands live ( a shocker). So bad. So loud. Nostalgia time when I hear that stuff these days. But good memories of the times and the people in the scene here.

Yeah - by 2002, the scene was hemorrhaging here in town aka LA, CA. We felt it coming, we saw the signs, we didn't want it to be true...but it was.