Browsing Category:

Hal Takier

Swing Jam at the Rendezvous – 1938
Balboa, Hal Takier, Look Magazine, Roy Damron

Swing Jam at the Rendezvous – 1938

I recently looked through some of my photo files, and found a cool photo I hadn’t shown you!
This photo comes from the 1938 LOOK Magazine spread about the Rendezvous Ballroom (posted here), and it shows a dance jam. Roy Damron is the guy in the middle doing the splits, and a couple of his friends are in the crowd. And do you recognize the couple dancing in the upper right (white jacket, white dress)? That’s none other than Hal & Betty Takier! Oh, what I’d give for a little video footage of this jam. 🙂
Photo from LOOK Magazine – August 30, 1938
Cal Bal Classic 2013
Balboa, California Balboa Classic, Hal Takier, Swing Dance

Cal Bal Classic 2013

The weekend before last was the California Balboa Classic, a new Balboa event in Los Angeles with classes and dances. Originally intended as a small event for locals, word about this one spread like wildfire and the workshops sold out within a week or two, even after an entire extra class track was added! And people even flew in from other states! I’m SO excited about this new event – I’ve felt for a long time that LA needs a dedicated Balboa event, and I’m so glad that the response was so good.

Like the hams we are, Chris and I entered the Open Balboa and Swing contest – “Balboa” and “Swing” here referring to their 1930s & 40s meanings where Balboa was only closed (chest-to-chest) position, and Swing is anything that separates from your partner.  I had a TON of fun with this contest – there were several rounds where we were told to demonstrate musicality, showmanship, etc. A lot of Balboa contests tend to emphasize one end of the spectrum or the other, but it was nice to have both in this one.  I just hope it didn’t go on too long for the audience!

Here are the videos I could find – they’re linked from Facebook instead of YouTube, so I hope they work for you.

Open Balboa & Swing Classic Finals – Warm-up

Open Balboa & Swing Classic Finals – Chris & Beth Spotlight

Open Balboa & Swing Classic Finals – Fast Battle

And finally, Chris and I got to take home these GORGEOUS glass trophies! First Place, and the couple featured in the photo are 2 of our dance heroes, Hal and Betty. We stole several of their moves for the Fast Battle, and I will proudly display this in honor of them and all of our old-timers.

Maharaja Costume

A few months ago, Balboa & Lindy Hop champion Laura Keat contacted me to ask if I would be interested in making a costume for a new routine she was working on. As a rule I don’t sew for other people (I don’t even hem Chris’s pants, he has to take them to the cleaners), but this was a special project that I was very interested in working on.
On Saturday night at All Balboa Weekend, Laura and her dance partner, Jeremy Otth, performed Hal & Betty Takier’s “Maharaja”, a musical short from 1943. This is one of only a few clips we have of LA Swing from the 30’s & 40’s, and this one is a wild ride – the energy and enthusiasm combined with their street dance technique has been hugely influential to modern balboa dancers. In honor of Hal’s recent passing, Jeremy & Laura wanted to represent this in their recreation.
Inspiration: 40’s Playsuit

Inspiration: High-flying skirt!

I worked with Laura to create a 40’s playsuit like the one Betty wears in Maharaja – unfortunately most of the footage we have is pretty blown out and details are hard to see, but that gave us some creative license in the design. For the top and the skirt I used a rayon twill, lined with a rayon satin (I’ve got a bit of a love affair with the drape and flow of rayon – perfect for swishy skirts!)

I draped the top and the skirt, and we decided to put buttons down the skirt so that it can fly open for this routine but be not as…revealing for others. 🙂

Cute, right? Well, get ready to be wowed – they NAILED the routine! Bummed I couldn’t be at the event in person, but so glad I got to be part of it anyway!

Jeremy Otth & Laura Keat perform Hal & Betty Takier’s “Maharaja” in tribute at the 2012 All Balboa Weekend

Photo by Shannon Sheldon

Photo by Shannon Sheldon

The Rendezvous Cup

I have a confession to make. I like dancing more than I like blogging. 🙂 At costume events, there’s always a lot of time for picture taking (which is at least 50% the reason for going. The other 50% is eating tea and cookies). But at a REALLY FUN dance event, it’s hard to remember to take pictures. I get wrapped up in the music and people and just forget. So it’s embarrassing that after Balboa Rendezvous, I walked away with zero photos.

BUT! We did come away from the event with The Rendezvous Cup this year! 🙂 We have to give it back next year (unless we win again 😉 but it’ll have our names and some witty saying added for 2012.

Giant thanks to Joel Plys for putting together the 9th Annual Balboa Rendezvous. As I mentioned in a previous post, Chris and I attended as in-class instructors, and we were in the Level 1 classes all day on Saturday, dancing with and working one-on-one with students. For Level 1 there were 8 in-class instructors, which sounded like a lot at first, but it worked really well – the students got a lot of personal attention, and they learned the material much faster. The main instructors were top-notch, and I recommend putting this event on your list if you’re interested in Balboa.

And the MUSIC!! Oh my goodness. We’re spoiled here in Los Angeles with our fantastic bands and frequent live music, but Glenn Crytzer and His Syncopators came down from Seattle and — holy smokes, they’re incredible. Every time I walked into the ballroom I thought a (remastered!) vintage recording was playing. The band’s balance was just perfect and the rhythm section felt like the Heartbeat of Balboa. Pop over to their website for a free listen!

And ok, here’s a contest photo I dug off Facebook. I guess the back of my head’s better than nothing?!

Photo by Douglas LeClair

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.