By Chernicky on Saturday, January 11, 2003 - 06:00 pm: EditChernicky here. I saw this in the North County Times, and I thought I would post it:
When the Jivin' Lindy Hoppers jitterbug into the Poway Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, they'll be doing more than crossing the sands of time. They'll also be crossing the zones of time, since they hail from London.
Founded in 1983, the English dance troupe re-creates all the dances of the '20s, '30s and '40s in a very American "Big Band Dance Party" program that also includes live music by the Uptown Big Band.
The group ---- which got its start at a street fair in the Notting Hill section of London ---- is best known for its high-energy re-creation of the Lindy Hop, a jive dance craze that swept America after Charles Lindbergh's historic trans-Atlantic solo flight in 1927. The Lindy Hop originated in Harlem in the late '20s (historians say it was first performed at Harlem's Savoy Ballroom in 1926, but it didn't explode until it was renamed and further developed as a popular dance form in 1927). This and other jazz dance forms that originated in the black American community spread the popularity of the jazz form to a mainstream audience. Officials with the English multicultural dance troupe say their show authentically re-creates the history of this dance form in a program that tours internationally about 50 dates a year.
The Uptown Big Band, which will accompany the dancers, specializes in playing the music of Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller and Harry James. The band will take a musical tour of American history from the days of the 1929 stock market crash to the victories of World War II.
- PAM KRAGEN, Staff Writer
"Big Band Dance Party"
When: 7 p.m. Jan. 12
Where: Poway Center for the Performing Arts, 15498 Espola Road, Poway
Tickets: $25-$30
Info: (858) 748-0505
http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030108/preview/12411.html