This blog post is a companion to my Jazz Dance and Music History Lecture at You Should Be Dancing...! Studios on January 10, 2016. Below, you'll find the YouTube playlist of historical footage, a few songs that we listened to, and the PowerPoint slides from the presentation.

It’s the time of year when dancers take flight and escape their normal lives to attend numerous events.  It’s really easy to run ourselves ragged over a long weekend and stumble into work feeling seriously swungover.  Like clockwork, I used to get a very bad cold either at an event or in the days afterward.  In last half year, I’ve been making lifestyle changes to better take care of myself and prevent future injuries. In addition, I've significantly decreased the amount of times I've been sick (fingers crossed).  I wanted to share some of the things that I’ve done that have helped prevent sickness, increased my energy, and helped my body run at maximum efficiency during a long dance week or weekend.  

In honor of Frankie Manning's birthday month (May), I wanted to highlight a variation of a well-known line dance choreography. The Tranky Doo is usually attributed to Pepsi Bethel for the common version of the choreography....Frankie Manning also choreographed a version of the Tranky Doo

Lindy hop is a very athletic dance. We dance our best and have long nights of social dancing when our bodies are at their peak performance levels. Unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of standards and guidelines that teach us how to best take care of ourselves. It’s the nature of our dance, a creation from the street with more emphasis on the social aspects. By taking better care of our muscles, joints, and diet, we can become stronger individuals and better partner dancers.

This blog post is dedicated to dancers looking for some vintage inspiration in their closets. Specifically, I will be doing a brief overview of women’s fashion in the jazz era (1920s, 1930s, and 1940s). I am focusing on everyday looks - fashion statements that are danceable and not limited to a season.

There's always a challenge of how much I can fit into my suitcase. Every time I go to an event, I try to pack a carry-on bag and a backpack - no more, no less. Occasionally, I'll bring a bigger bag if the event is more than 5 days long. Given space constraints, how do you create multiple outfits everyday for the numerous activities at a Lindy Hop event?