Frankie Manning
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| Frankie Manning | |
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Herräng, 2005 |
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| Born | May 26, 1914 Jacksonville, Florida, United States |
| Died | April 27, 2009 (aged 94) |
| Other name(s) | Frank Manning "Musclehead" Manning |
| Occupation | Choreographer, dancer |
| Official website | |
Frankie Manning (May 26, 1914 – April 27, 2009)[1] was an American dancer, instructor and choreographer. Manning was considered one of the founding fathers of Lindy Hop.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early years
Manning was born in Jacksonville, Florida. He frequented Harlem's Savoy Ballroom in the 1930s, eventually becoming a dancer in the elite and prestigious "Cat's Corner", a corner of the dance floor in which impromptu exhibitions and competitions took place. During a dance contest in 1935, Manning and his partner Frieda Washington performed the first air step (often referred to as an aerial) in a swing dance competition against George "Shorty" Snowden and his partner Big Bea, at the Savoy Ballroom. The air step he performed was a "back to back roll" and was danced while Chick Webb played "Down South Camp Meeting", which was Manning's request after having heard the song earlier in the evening. The airstep went flawlessly to the music and astonished over 2,000 audience members watching.
[edit] Career
In 1935, Herbert White organized the top Savoy Ballroom Dancers into a professional performance group which was eventually named Whitey's Lindy Hoppers. Manning created the troupe's first ensemble Lindy Hop routines and functioned as the group's de facto choreographer, although without that title. The troupe toured extensively and made several films. Whitey's Lindy Hoppers disbanded around WWII when many of the male dancers were drafted. After the war, in 1947, Manning created a small performance group called the Congaroos. When the Congaroos disbanded in 1955, Manning settled into a career with the United States Postal Service.
[edit] The Lindy Hop
The Lindy Hop is popularly thought to get its name from famed aviator Charles Lindbergh, nicknamed "Lucky Lindy" in 1926.[2] After Lindbergh's solo non-stop flight from New York to Paris in which he "hopped" the Atlantic in 1927, Shorty George Snowden was dancing in a marathon contest at the Manhattan Casino in Harlem when a reporter asked him what dance he was doing. The headlines in the newspapers in 1928 read "Lindy hops the Atlantic", so he told the reporter, "I'm doing the Lindy Hop," giving the Lindy Hop its official name.[3]
In 1982, Al Minns, a former member of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, started to teach Lindy Hop at the Sandra Cameron Dance Center where he introduced a new generation of dancers to the Lindy Hop. Before he died in 1985, he told his students that Manning, another surviving member of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, also lived in New York City. In 1986, Erin Stevens and Steven Mitchell contacted Manning to ask him to teach them the Lindy Hop. He first said no before agreeing to meet with them. The two returned to California and helped spread the dance to the West Coast and other areas in the U.S. That same year, Lennart Westerlund contacted Manning and invited him to Sweden to work with The Rhythm Hot Shots. Manning traveled to Sweden in 1987 and returned to Sweden every year from 1989 to teach at the Herräng Dance Camp.
[edit] Recent years
In recent years, Manning's annual birthday celebrations have drawn together dancers and instructors from all over the world. His 80th birthday, in 1994, was commemorated by a weekend-long celebration in New York City; his 85th culminated in a sold-out party at New York's Roseland Ballroom, where a pair of his dance shoes were placed in a showcase along with those of dancers such as Fred Astaire. For his 86th birthday, a huge gala was feted in Tokyo in his honor, which included workshops taught by the maestro himself. The climax of the festivities featured a live orchestra. Manning drew a huge crowd of Japanese and foreign expatriate swing enthusiasts for this memorable occasion. Dedicated cruises were organized for his 89th and 90th birthdays. For his birthday dances, he followed his custom of dancing with one woman for every year of his life, partnering 89 and 90 women in succession, respectively. He taught Lindy Hop around the world. Frankie first visited Melbourne, Australia in 1939 to perform at the Princess Theatre. Swing Patrol brought him back again in 2002 which was his first visit to Melbourne in 63 years. Before his passing, he was planning to celebrate his 95th birthday in New York City, the proceeds of which will be used to create a Frankie Manning Foundation.[4]
Manning received the Tony Award for co-choreography of the Broadway musical Black and Blue. In 2000, he was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship.[5]
Manning 's autobiography, Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop, published in May 2007, contains a collection of stories about the early days of swing dancing and his experiences dancing with Whitey's Lindy Hoppers. The book continues to recount his experiences up through the revival of swing dancing in the 1980s.[3]
[edit] Filmography
- Radio City Revels (1938)
- Keep Punching (1939)
- Hellzapoppin' (1941)
- Hot Chocolates (1941)
- Jittering Jitterbugs (1943)
- Killer Diller (1948)
- Malcolm X (1992) - choreography
- Stompin' at the Savoy (1992) - choreography
- Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns (2000)
[edit] See also
- Savoy-Style Lindy Hop
- African American vernacular dance
- Lindy hop
- History of lindy hop
- Herräng Dance Camp
[edit] References
- ^ Monaghan, Terry (April 28, 2009). "Frankie Manning, the Ambassador and Master of Lindy Hop, Dies at 94". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/arts/dance/28manning.html. Retrieved on April 28, 2009.
- ^ "Fad to Fundamental: Airmail in America: Pilot Stories: Charles Lindbergh". Smithsonian: National Postal Museum. 2004. http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/airmail/pilot/pilot_contract/pilot_contract_lindy.html. Retrieved on 2007-07-23.
- ^ a b Manning, Frankie; Cynthia R. Millman (2007). Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Temple University Press. pp. 79. ISBN 1592135633.
- ^ http://www.frankie95.com/
- ^ "2000 NEA National Heritage Fellowships: Frankie Manning". National Endowment for the Arts. http://www.nea.gov/honors/heritage/fellows/fellow.php?id=2000_07. Retrieved on 2008-04-02.
[edit] External links
- Frankie Manning at the Internet Broadway Database
- Frankie Manning at the Internet Movie Database
- Frankie Manning and the Lindy Hop, SavoyStyle.com
- FrankieManning.com: a site devoted to Frankie's life
- Frankie Manning: Lindy Hop Pioneer, KUOW, 26 October 2006. 30-minute audio interview by Amanda Wilde.
- The King of Swing, FLYP Media
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