The Lindy Hop genius, Dean Collins | Hollywood Style, Jewel McGowan, The Whip

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Күн бұрын

Dean Collins was a Lindy Hop dancer who was in more than 40 Hollywood movies. He learned to dance in the Savoy Ballroom and later he moved to Los Angeles, where he taught Lindy Hope to a talented generation of Californian dancers. His sophisticated style has had a big influence on modern Lindy Hop. In this video we analyse his career and style, without forgetting the other great names who made it possible, like Jewel McGowan or Irene Thomas, and we explain his connection to Hollywood Style Lindy Hop and the creation of the “whip” swing out.
0:00 - Introduction to Dean Collins
1:52 - Birth and early years
3:42 - The Dean Collins style
4:32 - The name change
5:08 - The Hollywood Style or Hollywood Style
6:22 - The smooth style or Smooth Style
6:54 - The Hollywood style of the 90s
7:41 - The control of the bounce and pulse
8:54 - The counterbalance
9:15 - The smooth style at the Savoy Ballroom
10:04 - Film career
11:17 - The dance style, dissociation and syncopation
12:00 - A humble genius, Hellzapoppin
13:37 - Airsteps and aerials
2:19 PM - Junior Prom (1946)
15:16 - Hello, neighbor! (1941)
15:52 - Jewel McGowan
5:46 PM - Buck Soldiers (1941)
18:24 - Dean Collins and Jewel McGowan: As couple
19:29 - Jewel McGowan's twists
19:50 - The follower as the protagonist of the dance
21:16 - The whip swing out
21:56 - Irene Thomas and the creation of the whip
23:21 - End of career in Hollywood
24:00 - Dean Collins as teacher
24:39 - The Shim Sham by Dean Collins
25:13 - West Coast Swing Attribution
25:56 - Last days and death
References:
swungover.wordpress.com/2011/...
jassdancer.blogspot.com/2009/...
Thanks Peter Loggins for further clarifications: "Hollywood style wasn't just california based style. Eric and Sylvia was most influenced by groovie movie, but they wanted to incorporate everything in the movies... day at the races, hellzapoppin, shag, everything... Arthur Walsh was a New Yorker who moved to LA, and of course Jeanie Veloz is from Central California and moved to LA with her brother. but they were just a inspiration, they was plenty others.
Once the term was used on the east coast of America, it started meaning something different. Sometimes people would joke and say its the way you dressed. Hollywood style means vintage clothes, and Savoy means addidas track suit and nike shoes. in the UK the meaning was LA vs NY... and it became a divide which was never meant to be."
We owe much of this information to the magnificent series of articles by Bobby White, available in Spanish on our website: estiloswing.es/guia-historica... and Peter Loggins by https: //jassdancer.blogspot .com / 2009/03 / thing-about-dean.html
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Пікірлер: 42

@charliewyler800 3 жыл бұрын

I am so happy that you mentioned Irene Thomas. She was such an innovator. I had the pleasure of dancing with her in 1998 thereabouts and even then she had plenty of "moxie"!!

@estiloswing 3 жыл бұрын

¡Yes, she was wonderful! Very underrated. We talk a lot about her in another video: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/eNOYqal3vcqRlKM.html But we are planning to produce another one just for her, she was a genius.

@eduardojaso7061 2 жыл бұрын

Perfecto balanceo y ritmo swingeante !!!!

@estiloswing 2 жыл бұрын

¡Un mago!

@araentrena1798 3 ай бұрын

❤❤❤❤❤

@estiloswing 3 ай бұрын

¡Gracias!

@martynelson2666 2 жыл бұрын

Jewel was gorgeous.....yessssssssssssssssss

@estiloswing 2 жыл бұрын

Yes, indeed!

@SwingthisMusic 4 жыл бұрын

Muy interesante el contenido y muy bien elaborado el vídeo. Muchas gracias!!!

@estiloswing 4 жыл бұрын

Muchas gracias. Vuestro canal es otro ejemplo de trabajo por amor al arte, seguimos en contacto. Un abrazo.

@Paelladeconejo 3 жыл бұрын

Vaya explicación!!!. Pienso ver todos tus videos. Y no he bailado en mi vida!!! Pero me encanta ver a los que bailan bien. Gracias por tus detalladas informaciones. Se puede hacer una tesis doctoral....😀👏🏻👏🏻

@estiloswing 3 жыл бұрын

Eres muy amable ¿Quizás estos vídeos te llevarán a bailar swing? ¡Ojalá! Muchas gracias por tus palabras, no pensábamos que estos vídeos pudieran interesar fuera del nicho de los bailarines. 🤗

@SirWickMusic 3 жыл бұрын

Pretty good video!!! Well done.

@estiloswing 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much!! We invite you to watch our other biographical videos: Al Minns, Norma Miller, Frankie... and more to come!

@davidalen2590 Жыл бұрын

Fabuloso. Gracias!

@estiloswing Жыл бұрын

You are welcome 🙂

@davidalen2590 Жыл бұрын

@@estiloswing Thank you!

@SQ_og 2 жыл бұрын

I went dancing in LA two weeks ago and everyone did the smooth style there. (the hardcore swing dancers were all there to see Dean Mora's band.) Not like that in Orange county which is a mixture of technique.

@estiloswing 2 жыл бұрын

Interesting. Thank you for the insight!

@sahidiyakmiau9110 4 жыл бұрын

Hagan uno dedicado a alguna mujer que haya dejado su huella, Norma Miller por ejemplo.

@estiloswing 4 жыл бұрын

¡Dalo por hecho! En este vídeo tienes ya a dos gigantes, Jewel McGowan e Irene Thomas, y aunque por desgracia no hay mucha información sobre ellas, hemos querido recordar que sin ellas nada hubiera sido lo mismo. Norma y otras grandes, están por llegar... ;)

@estiloswing 3 жыл бұрын

¡5 meses después, cumplimos nuestra promesa! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/m6qaarKW3Lywmas.html 🤗

@sahidiyakmiau9110 3 жыл бұрын

@@estiloswing muchas gracias, les quedó muy bien. 🎊✨💕

@PJE 4 жыл бұрын

¡Excelente vídeo! Yo sé hacer todo mejor que nuestro amigo Salomón, pero no me parece mal que el vídeo hable de él. 😅

@cavaleer 11 ай бұрын

Idk about Lindy Hop genius or dancer of dancers. Collins was one of several brilliant and gifted dancers in the Swing Era. The Savoy was the crucible and nexus and it spread across the country thanks to Benny Goodman and his cross country tour. That was the golden age of dance.

@estiloswing 11 ай бұрын

Yes, of course. We made videos about several classic Lindy Hop dancers, like Frankie Manning, Norma Miller, Al Minns... and all of them were genius in their own special way. Dean just had more footage to show his skills, as he was the most filmed Lindy Hopper of the Swing era. Thanks for your comment.

@BailaWestMexico 3 жыл бұрын

Al final se ve muy contento bailando west al ritmo de Michael Jackson

@estiloswing 3 жыл бұрын

¡Es verdad! Creo que todos a veces bailamos lo que nos echen... y lo pasamos bien! 😊 Un abrazo.

@mr_gamble_good 3 жыл бұрын

Como se llama la cancion del segudo :40?

@estiloswing 3 жыл бұрын

"Rockin & Reelin" Cantada por la increíble Ella Fitzgerald: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/eN-XmNZks9ird3k.html

@mr_gamble_good 3 жыл бұрын

@@estiloswing Muchas gracis por responder. Sabes que yo habia mirado este video en otro canal (Vintage swing) pero parece que no me di cuenta que la habia visto. pense que la cantante era patti Andrews y si supe que los Merry Macs eran ellos mismos. que sigas con mucho exito en tu canal!

@estiloswing 3 жыл бұрын

@@mr_gamble_good Gracias!! La película es "Ride 'em cowboy" y fue la primera aparición en cine de Ella Fitzgerald: estiloswing.es/ride-em-cowboy/ Un abrazo!

@petermusto3704 3 жыл бұрын

I like the fact that Dean Collins considered West Coast Swing as an abomination. The narrator even mentioned that it wasn't Swing. 😁

@estiloswing 3 жыл бұрын

We tried to share Dean's opinions, but not necessarily is what we think about WCS. Even if is actually done to music and rhythms which are not swing, WCS is an interesting and legitimate dance style which came accidentally from Dean's style.

@petermusto3704 3 жыл бұрын

@@estiloswing -Yes, as I watch Dancers doing West Coast Swing, I must say they 'gay it up because its looks gay and somewhat effeminate. Sorry, but my eyes don't lie.

@charliewyler800 3 жыл бұрын

@@petermusto3704 That's the Ballroom influence. Check out some very early WCS vids, like from the 80s or before. That look of the movement quality that you are referring to is not present in those times.

@heldermacedo8737 3 жыл бұрын

This short documentary is in general very pleasent to watch and well made! However I personally don't agree that you, instead of being inclusive with the all swing community, chose to put Lindy hop in a box by allegedly saying that Lindy hop is only danced "technically" with big band swing. If you dig into history you find that culture evolves relating the past with the present depending the time period, the place and country. So the names have change over the years and the music too! Other styles of swing flourish with new concepts inspired by diferent people. I think Dean lived is live in a crossroad of swing dance styles, being very influential for diferent people with diferent swing backgrouds even if he has his own tastes. Complements

@estiloswing 3 жыл бұрын

Hello Helder!! Thanks for your feedback. Maybe there's something wrong with the subtitles, since we haven't tried to say that lindy hop is only danced technically. We are just emphasizing that Dean Collins in particular was a master of technique. Of course other dancers of the time had other traits, and today things are very different too. We only tried to express Dean's personality and preferences in his historical context (hopefully). It has no other implications. Thank you for your input!

@heldermacedo8737 3 жыл бұрын

@@estiloswing Yes, but in the last part of the film you have marked drastically the separation of west coast swing from the family of all swing dances, creating or reinforcing to the public eye the notion that that dance specifically, doesn't belong to the culture that some of us are in (even if nowdays, "wcs" can be seened very diferent, specially because of the contemporary music of today). So, in that sense, you start to put labels instantly in the peoples minds, creating and carving the separation between styles. I'm a swing dancer, I used to travel a lot, and I love the be able to adapt my dancing depending on the music played independently, even if I' m in a Lindy, wcs, Balboa, shag, etc, party. I think people should be educated in diversity and inclusion. If people prefer one style over other, fine, but let's try to give them the right to choose and be welcome to every one interested to become a swing dancer first. Over the years, the swing dances have lost the opportunity of bringing people together because of that restricted "label or style thing". During the 70's and 80's, people used to get together more often, regardless styles, sharing it's own differences, marking the boundaries between one another and the things they have in common. Dean Collins, Jack Carey, Annie Hirsh, Hall & Marge Takier, Willie Desatof, Natalie Esparza, Bart Bartolo, Tom Boots, Shermon, Mary Ann Nunez, Mario Robau sr & Junior, Sylvia Sykes, Jonathan Bixby and many others, have shared swing venues in the 80's with a mixture of jitterbug, wcs, shag, Lindy hop, styles. Best regards!😀

@estiloswing 3 жыл бұрын

@@heldermacedo8737 I agree with you! Swing dacing, nowdays, it's a mix of everything we had before. But the statement about WCS is not my opinion, it's Dean's opinion when he was alive (According to Willie Desatoff's wife). There's a historical context, i don't try to proclaim some universal truth from it :). This video just narrates what historians and biographers have told us about Dean Collins. I agree with the rest of your message, i don't mind how people get to swing, about labels or prejudices. In fact i always try to explain my students that classical dancers did not make the distinctions or systematizations that we do now. They just used what they had. But again, the film was about Dean's life and opinions, not mine. Thanks again for giving your point of view. 🤗

@ljeffery6419 3 жыл бұрын

Shim Sham didn't "develop" in California, it was created by Leonard Reed. Leonard Reed was African American which may account for the failure to acknowledge his choreographing of Shim Sham

@estiloswing 3 жыл бұрын

Hello! Thanks for your comment. Of course you are right. In the video we say literally "Another one of his legacies is his magnificent VERSION of the Shim Sham". We explicitly say that Dean made up a version, not the original one. Regarding the Leonard Reed and Willie Bryant original Shim Sham we produced another video while ago: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hdaWmqeItLmqmqs.html Finally, if your comment implies that we don't acknowledge the African American origin of this dances, you are wrong. We made some videos regarding the african roots of the dance. Regards!! 🤗