Ever wonder where Michael Jackson got the inspiration for his dance moves from? This video, “Origins of the Moonwalk”, takes a look back at the dancing greats from the jazz era.

Lindy Hop legend Frankie Manning passed away today. He was an inspiration to many and memorials are in the planning.

As a tribute, here is Frankie (in overalls) dancing in 1941′s Hellzapoppin’.

In memory of Frankie Manning: May 26, 1914 – April 27, 2009

For those of you who are glued to TV channels like History and Discovery like we are, you may have seen this last week. For those who aren’t, the Discovery show “Time Warp” did a brief segment on Lindy Hop where they filmed a few moves with a high speed camera and then showed them in super slow motion. It featued dancers Nick Williams and Carla Heiney. Some of you may remember them as we brought Nick to Orlando for a workshop a number of years ago, and Carla was in Tampa a few years back. If you want to catch the show, just keep an eye out on the Discovery Channel as they re-air stuff over and over and over again.

This guy gives Rob a major run for his “dancing with two follows” money. He really is an amazing lead to do all those moves with 2 follows. This is a good example of good West Coast dancing also. You can really see how West Coast came right out of Lindy Hop. Enjoy

50 years ago today, in 1959, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson died in a plane crash after performing at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. In 1971, Don McLean immortalized the event as “the day the music died” in his song “American Pie”.

In tribute, here is a clip of Buddy Holly performing on “The Arthur Murry Dance Party” in 1957. Ironically (or not), there is no dancing in this clip of the show.

This is Perry Como and Martha Stewart doing “Dig You Later” from the 1946 movie “Doll Face”. Many of you will recall this as the song I would often play as the last song of the night. Thanks to Natch for the link!

I’d love to embed the video, but it’s been disabled by YouTube… don’tcha hate it when that happens? Anyways, click the image below to play.

And remember… “It’s always fair weather when hepcats get together!”

One last video clip to get you in the mood for the Halloween dance. This is Ella Mae Morse and the Kirby Grant Orchestra doing the song “Quoth the Raven” from the 1944 movie “Ghost Catchers”. Dance choreography by Dean Collins. Dancers include Irene Thomas, Lenny Smith, Betty Stoy, Mike Tremini, Gil Fernandez, Bob Ashley, Venna Archer, Johnny Archer, and Dean Collins.

Here is a classic for the season:

The Halloween dance is just around the corner. Here’s a vintage cartoon clip to get you in the mood. It’s from the 1933 Betty Boop short “Snow White”. The voice should sound familiar as the song is sung by Cab Calloway and Koko’s dance number was rotoscoped from Cab too.

And here is a non-toon version of the same song by Cab.

Here is some footage of Dawn and I working out a disagreement about dancing:

Just kidding! After mentioning Apache Dancing last week, I thought I would post one of my favorite clips of it. It’s from The Crazy Gang’s “Okay for Sound” (1937). The simulated violence takes an amazing amount of coordination and practice to get down pat… and the stunts rank up there with the most difficult swing aerials. And if you are wondering, this dance is where the Apache move comes from in Lindy Hop.

Oh… and don’t try this stuff at home kids!