From Peter Loggins & Mia Goldsmith

I’ve got this emails about 2 years ago… Now, Peter and Mia live in New Orleans
Lovely Mia and Historian Peter, they are one of my favorite balboa dancers~!!!
I’d love to share this mail from Peter & Mia to all of dancers in Korea…

From Peter Loggins

Hello Korean Dancers,
I thought I would just write you a quick letter to support your great efforts in embracing old school dances.
My dance partner and I (Mia) hope someday to travel there and dance with everyone, we think it would be so fun to explore somewhere new with so much energy.
I’ve seen video’s of Korean’s dancing really good, and I have had some very good friends already travel there and say wonderful things.
I’m not sure what else to really say except “keep it real”!
I started dancing in the early 1990′s and i’m still going strong, so it’s a fun and addicting lifestyle!!!
Just remember to try and learn all the styles and dances you can and blend them together to make your own style, something that makes you stand out to express your self when dancing to the music. Never be afraid to be original, because thats what Jazz and swing dancing is all about!
Peace, Peter (and Mia)

From Mia Goldsmith

um, hello korea?
my name is mia goldsmith, i dance with peter loggins, both of us currently living in seattle, washington.

in our partnership, we focus on the historical aspects of jazz dances…we love teaching forgotten dances like the raccoon, the peabody, castlewalk, the varsity drag, also dances like fox trot, and showing ways to incorporate them into your dancing today, be it lindyhop, balboa, charleston…

we have a special love for balboa, and are very into the history of this dance, and teaching balboa as it was done, a separate dance from bal swing (when today it’s taught as one dance).
and with this, we show how using this original way allows you be very modern, with a lot of footwork and creativity. we love being crazy with our feet, but use this old technique to do so.

the concept is more to show the beginning of the dance, like showing an early swingout in lindyhop, and allowing the students to create what they want from it…like letting them evolve the way the dance evolved.

peter was very fortunate to learn from many original dancers from the 20s, 30s, and 40s and is a fountain of first hand information. i learned in a small town where the few that were there all taught each other, learning and growing together, so my background is very different. i bring a very lead/follow heavy social dance loving background to the partnership, i love to have something feel good on the floor. i also have a very big love for performance and while theres not a lot of opportunity for that in this scene, i get my kicks of performance through competitions. mixing that with peters amazing knowledge and a wonderful choreography background, its a nice well rounded partnership:)

well i don’t know what else to say. i’ve met some koreans in my travels, all of which are such fantastic dancers! really, i’m so impressed, i hope to dance with more of you in the future! you seem to be blessed with a really wonderful dance community.

mia

Inspiring Clip: George Lloyd

George Lloyd, Savoy dancer of the late 1940s & 1950s

George Lloyd…his dancing is very smooth, not much bouncy, and make a follower very comfortable…
He wasn’t a professional dancer but, one of best social dancers in Savoy ballroom…

Read more: George Lloyd by Margaret Batiuchok

Todd Yannacone – Part 1

All of Lindy Hoppers have their favorite dancers or inspiring dancers. I have been inspired many Lindy Hoppers in the world. Recently, Falty’s dance and his mind was very impressed. But, I can say that Todd is most inspiring dancer to me.

Seriously, I see swing videos for countless hour and think about lindy hop every monent. Yes~! Toddy made me crazy lindy maniac. About 3 years ago, some of good leaders in Korea did back-kicking swingout instead of rockstep swingout. I really wanted to do that style. So, I started finding videos on youtube, then I found two videos belows

I saw those videos repeat and repeat… uncountable…
I can’t believe that it was 3 years ago
It seems like I started dacning just a few days ago, now it’s not just hobby… part of my life

Todd has many strengths… I think…
- Physical (Very long)
- Highy Talented
- Creativity

Lately, I watched very impressed video. He outshines dancing with Naomi. -_-b
I don’t know that Todd keep partnership with Naomi now. But, I really love their dancing.

All Korean lindyhopers love Todd’s dancing, but some of them don’t like Todd’s attitude.
Not only Todd, but also other champion dancers’ attitude come in for criticism.
Teaching lindyhop around the world.. it’s not easy and very tiring.. different people, foods, jet lag…
We should know that..

My friend Todd…
he loves drinking Soju than beer because Soju is stronger. So he can get drunk faster.
Vegetarian… loves playing guitar…
Yeh.. He is a normal person who worry about future like Korean 20s

To be Continued…