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Balboa

Hal’s Roll

Last Saturday night we went out to Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association’s annual Harvest Moon Swingout. Due to other conflicts we only made it to the Saturday night dance, but we had a blast! It was packed. And sweaty. 😉 Stompy Jones from San Francisco played, and they always draw a crowd.

I nabbed this photo of us during a jam from Facebook (thanks Steve Hwan!). Right here we’re doing the move we call “Hal’s Roll” – named for its inventor, the amazing Hal Takier. Hal doesn’t call it “Hal’s Roll” of course. 🙂 He just calls it the “Roll”.
 ï»¿

(I’m spinning when Chris jumps, so I’m always impressed
when I see later how much height he gets!)

What makes this move really exciting and stand out compared to most LA swing/bal-swing movements is the “pop” of energy on beat 2 (captured beautifully in Steve’s photo above) – most bal-swing turns happen on beats three and four, but the Roll pushes it forward and the lead pushes the follow to reverse the direction of her turn on beat 2. This unique timing requires practice (and it helps if the follow is familiar with the move), but it’s a real crowd-pleaser.

I don’t think anyone’s found footage of Hal doing the Roll in the 30’s or 40’s, but there is 70’s footage of it. Maybe he didn’t invent it until later? But even in his earlier days, Hal frequently used beat 2 to jump into his flashy moves, and that’s part of why he looks so much more energetic than other dancers.

There’s no sound in this clip unfortunately, but you can see Hal and Marge do the Roll, starting at 1:22.

CH 2011 – “A Day at the Races” Outfit

I only made one new outfit for Camp Hollywood this year, for Friday night. The theme was A Day at the Races but it was also the night of the Balboa contest finals, so I didn’t want to be too “theme-y”. I decided to wear some 30’s daywear but was still undecided as to exactly WHAT –  until Kate posted some Summer Inspiration from 1938. The Sunback Dress (4th picture down, #7754) caught my eye and I knew that was the way to go.

I have a similar sundress pattern that I’ve made several times, so I grabbed that and headed to Jo-Ann’s – and actually found some cream rayon herringbone there! Miracles do happen. The striped fabric was hiding in the upholstery section, but it softened up after washing.

Sundress
Hollywood Pattern #1788 – c. 1939
Bolero
Simplicity #2762 –  c. 1938

And here’s an action shot – the belt kept spinning around all night – I think I need a well-placed snap.
Doesn’t rayon just move the best though? 🙂

Photo by Alex Vasallo
And last but not least, here’s a video of the Balboa contest finals. Can’t leave that out, I guess!
Camp Hollywood 2011 – Balboa Finals
Video by Sandra Carranza

Camp Hollywood 2011 – Balboa

This past weekend was the 14th annual Camp Hollywood, and as usual we packed up the car and drove 20 minutes to the LAX Marriott hotel for our “big” summer getaway. Hey, a couple days off work? I’ll take it.
Out of all the swing dance weekend camps, Camp Hollywood is particularly dear to me. Not only is it the biggest swing event in the region, and is kind of a “family reunion” with longtime friends whom we don’t get to see much, but it’s also the camp where I first learned sugar pushes and swivels, took my first Balboa lesson, and saw Groovie Movie and Buck Privates for the first time. Way back in 1998, when I was a senior in high school. Without a doubt, that weekend changed my life.
This year Chris and I competed in Balboa, and won 2nd place (congrats to Jacob and Valerie for beating us again! 😉 We were watching footage this morning at 4am when we got home, and I was particularly excited about how we danced in the prelims – I couldn’t remember much about this dance after it happened, so I was surprised at how much I like it! 
Camp Hollywood 2011 Balboa Prelims
(I’m unfortunately blanking on the name of the guy who filmed and was awesome enough to pass us a copy)
And for those who are wondering, I’m wearing the trousers I made from Wearing History 30’s Trousers pattern (blogged about here). I got so many compliments on them that I must make more soon! 

Roy Damron & Mitzi Mayfair

Do you remember Roy Damron from my post about the Rendezvous Ballroom? I came across a photo of him from The Milwaukee Journal, March 10, 1944. (Google News Archive is my new toy! 🙂 

Roy Damron with Mitzi Mayfair, one of the stars of Four Jills in a Jeep (1944)
I haven’t seen Four Jills in a Jeep in several years (our copy is VHS, and we don’t have a player anymore!), but I checked on YouTube and there’s a clip of them dancing together! So far as I know, no one has attributed this clip to Roy previously — it’s not on his IMDB profile. Does anyone know how to add it?
Enjoy!

6 A.M. Swing Party – Rendezvous Ballroom

In honor of last week’s post about the Balboa Rendezvous, I thought I’d share a 1938 Look Magazine article with you about some of the incredible dancing that used to take place there! The Rendezvous Ballroom was huge, roughly 1 city block wide and 1 city block long – but I think 5,000 kids in there would still have been crowded! No wonder they could only dance chest to chest. 🙂
5,000 Young Californians Rise at Dawn for a… 
6 A.M. SWING PARTY

On June 18 in Balboa, Cal., the amazing swing music fad in the U.S. hit a new high. On that day some 5,000 “cats” and “alligators” rose at dawn to “cut rugs” and “kick out” at 6 o’clock in the morning. The occasion was a “jam session” or “swingaree” staged by radio station KEHE to celebrate the end of the school year.
The night before the party, “ickies” and “jitterbugs” started arriving. Many came in parties composed of members of local swing clubs. Most of them came by car, some by foot. One young man drove 396 miles from Tonopah, Nev. One came on crutches.
From 6 to 8 in the morning, the ballroom of the Balboa Rendezvous shook with their dancing of the Big Apple, the Varsity, the Suzie-Q while the orchestra and a phonograph “gave out” with “licks” and “solid senders.”
Those shirts! Those ties! So terrible, and so AWESOME!
Dancing in a hat and gloves…but no stockings. Those wild jitterbugs!
This photo has been one of my personal favorites since I was 16 years old – 
I wanted to be her SO badly.
Still do. 🙂

Balboa Rendezvous 2011

Last weekend Chris and I headed down to San Diego for Balboa Rendezvous – the last time we attended this event was 5 years ago, on our honeymoon (sightseeing during the day and dancing at night? Yes, please!), so it was nice to go back. We squeezed a lot in this weekend – some shopping, sightseeing, and lots of dancing!

For any of you who read my blog for vintage fashion and get all confused when I talk about different dances, here’s the 30-second explanation: Lindy Hop was invented in New York in the late 20’s/early 30’s, and is the most popular swing dance with large movements and death-defying stunts. But as swing music was sweeping the airwaves in the 30’s, people all over the country wanted to jitterbug so they invented different dances – Balboa was invented in the crowded ballrooms of Southern California and is characterized by a close body position and fast footwork. The two dances are contemporaries and are often danced to the same music.

Anoinetta and me hamming it up at the Loco Lindo booth
– I’ve got my J&J ribbon

The main thing that makes this event different from other weekend Balboa events is that everyone caravans up to Newport Beach on Sunday, and the dance is held near the location of the Rendezvous Ballroom on Balboa Island, which was ground zero for Balboa. We’re also joined by many of the original Balboa dancers for a panel discussion and dancing. Their numbers are becoming smaller and smaller, and Chris and I treasure every opportunity we get to spend time with them!

We also competed this weekend in the International Balboa Championships and the pro Jack & Jill. (I still find it funny that I’m a “pro” in my hobby! 😉  The dancers in the finals of the IBC were a really good group, and everyone had a distinctive style. We all walked in thinking that anyone could take it, and they would deserve it! Chris and I earned second place in the IBC – Huge congrats to Jacob and Valerie for their first place win!

The video from this weekend is already up – here’s a peek of what happened at the finals! I’m in the B&W polka dot dress, and Chris is wearing white pants. I love that the video goes into slo-mo at :45 so that us mere mortals can see Chris’s footwork – he blows me away! (I’m allowed to be proud of him, right?)