Translator: Nadine Hennig Reviewer: Denise RQ
I have a confession, ladies and gentlemen.
I'm having an affair,
and it's changed my life.
It all began 18 months ago,
on a rainy Monday night, in a little pub in North London,
and ever since that minute, it's filled me with excitement,
and passion, and purpose, and pure joy.
I truly believe that this affair is making a happier, healthier,
and just generally, a better person than I ever was before
which is why I decided to share it with all of you today.
And so, ladies and gentlemen, I give you my love:
the Lindy hop.
(Swing music starts) ("In The Mood")
(Swing music ends)
We take our inspiration to dance the Lindy hop from Swing music,
that catchy style of jazz that you just heard.
It's almost-- no, it is impossible to sit still and listen to this music.
You have to get involved with it,
to click your fingers, to tap your feet, even just wriggle in your seat.
It compels you to dance.
And just in case you don't happen to have somebody to hand,
you don't necessarily need a partner to dance to Swing music.
When that rhythm makes you want to dance, you dance.
(Swing music starts) ("Doin' the jive")
(Singing) Clap your hands,
and you swing out wide.
Do the Suzy Q, mix in a step or two.
Put 'em all together, and you're doin' the jive.
You stomp your feet,
and you swing out wide.
Mess around awhile, shake it boogie woogie style.
Everybody's swinging when you're doin' the jive.
If you can't play Rummy or at Bridge, you're the dummy.
You don't let it bother you.
'Cause you'll be the King, when the band begins to swing.
You'll be a smarty and the life of the party.
If you do a bump,
and you swing out wide.
Truck a little bit, beat it out, make it fit.
Everybody's happy when you're doin' the jive.
(Swing music ends)
(Applause)
We are completely addicted to Lindy hop.
And why?
Because it makes us really happy.
Because when that music starts to play,
boom!, it's like the blood lights up inside your veins.
And when you start to dance,
you can feel the joy coursing around your body.
And just for three minutes, you are free;
free from the burden of making mistakes or getting stuff wrong
because the wonderful thing about Lindy hop is there are no mistakes.
There are only variations.
(Laughter)
There's just you and your partner
- when you have one -
and the music, and the moment, and the momentum to dance.
Of course, there are some basic moves that we use as a starting point,
and those look something like this.
(Voice over) And now, the basic step, it's easy to follow and goes like this:
girl left, white one, boy right, black one.
Girl - white, black to a boy - black, white
girl, boy, (indistinct talk).
Oh, well! You see how it goes.
(Swing music starts) ("Take it easy, greasy")
(Singing) Take it easy, greasy,
you gotta a long way to slide.
Take it easy, greasy.
Oh, daddy, don't start no jive.
Come on, baby, let me have my swing,
'cause you got all night to do that thing.
So, take it easy, greasy,
you gotta a long way to slide.
I mean, you gotta a long way to slide.
(Swing music ends)
(Swing music starts)
("I like pie, I like cake" by The Four Clefs)
I like pie, I like cake, I like anything you bake.
I like your crackers too, crumbled up in chicken stew.
When I see your jelly roll,
then I lose my self-control.
But of all these things, I like you best of all.
(Swing music ends)
(Applause)
(Voice over) Solid! Now, let's hit that jive!
(Swing music starts) ("One girl and two boys" by Marilyn Maxwell)
Undecided,
undecided ...
That is a story
of one girl and two boys,
one girl and two boys.
She thought both were awfully cute
The boy in the tux, and the boy in the khaki suit.
But the boy in the tux felt blue so he went and joined that too.
And now she's whacky 'cause both went khaki,
so what can a boy or a girl do?
She's back where she sat,
in a lonely, tendered flat.
Undecided,
undecided ...
And that's the story,
the sad, sad story
of one girl and two boys.
(Swing music ends)
(Applause)
Frankie Manning, the ambassador for Lindy hop,
once said that If the whole world could do the Lindy hop,
there would be no war.
Actually, I think he had a point.
This is a really special dance.
It's a dance that builds communities
and brings people together from all walks of life.
It's a dance that pays no attention to gender or to age.
And it's a dance that really everybody can do.
When it very first appeared in the Harlem ballrooms of the late 1920s,
this dance caused a cultural phenomenon.
It crossed the boundaries of class and race
at a time when segregation was rife.
Rich and poor, black and white, by the end of the 1930s,
Americans from Harlem all the way to Hollywood were doing the Lindy hop.
Nowadays, it has global appeal.
There are Lindy scenes everywhere,
from San Francisco to Siberia, and from London to the Lebanon,
and of course, right here in Hong Kong.
Every single night, somewhere in the world,
Lindy hoppers are gathering together.
Loud, joyous rooms
full of ridiculously happy and really very sweaty people
(Laughter)
having an outrageous amount of fun.
So, ladies and gentlemen, we dare you to join us.
Thank you.
(Swing music starts)
(Swing music ends)
(Applause)