Hellzapoppin' to "Jumpin' at the Woodside"

Hellzapoppin' routine to Count Basie's "Jumpin' At The Woodside" - as it was originally intended to be.

"For Hellzapoppin', I started from the beginning of "Jumpin' at the Woodside" and worked with about sixteen bars at a time, choreographing both the solos and the ensemble section as we went along. (Basie used to stay at the Woodside Hotel on 142nd Street when he played at the Savoy, and some of the jam sessions there inspired the song). I hate to keep saying I choreographed this and I choreographed that because it makes me seem egotistical, but for Hellzapoppin' I set up a routine for each team"
. . .
"By the second day, the musical director at Universal started sitting in on rehearsals to listen to the music and watch us dance.
His job was to create a composition for our number so the studio wouldn't have to get permission to use Count Basie's song."

-- Exсerpt from "Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop"

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Hellzapoppin
• Jumpin
• at
• the
• Woodside
• Frankie
• Manning
• lindy
• hop
• california
• routine
• whitey's
• hoppers

[notasharecropper]

awesome!!...when did this style of dancing fade out?

[xsubst]

@notasharecropper Lindy Hop faded out around late 40s. Right now it is experiencing a revival. :)

[Fillistar]

@xsubst whats the diff between Lindy Hop and Swing?

[xsubst]

@Fillistar Lindy Hop is a kind of Swing dance. As well as Balboa, East Coast Swing, Shag and others

[ABRBThierryHenry14]

This dancing and music is way better than the stupid dancing and music we have today.

[bboyFelix042]

@Fillistar lindy hop is awesome :)

[oooooMOEooooo]

looks fun 2 me!! i don´t know why people dislike?!?!?!!?

[7roach]

@zoep995 don't tell the original jitterbugs they were low energy. They'd show us all up on the dance floor. Check out "Groovie Movie" (1944) for starters. Watch out for all the jitterbug that's not just 6-count too =) Btw, the Groovie Movie jitterbugs in LA were inspired by these Whitey's Lindyhoppers from Harlem, NY.

[7roach]

@notasharecropper it faded out when bepop and the twist became popular.

[rutgersmike]

this is unreal. Not to mention.. amazing, cool, fresh, exciting. Thanks for putting this up

[PTE1110]

@zoep995 It's not the Lindy Hop either. It's Swing

[iamK1CKST4RT]

@guitarhero380 We here support you, though.

[zoep995]

Nope Jitterbug is the simplest of all types of swing. It's a 6 count dance and you'll often find older couples doing it because it's so low energy. This is Lindyhop which is classified by it's iconic "swingouts". Being dancing Lindy for quite awhile now myself and worship Frankie Manning, the best Lindyhopper there ever was!

[aarfeld]

@zoep995: Aren't the two terms essentially synonymous? At any rate, that's some of the finest dancing I've ever seen. I think the youngsters dancing were some of the star dancers from the Savoy Ballroom, who were brought out west to appear in this film.