Love this inspiring dance scene from "Malcolm X." So much of it is oh, so... Jitterbug! right down to the Harlem invented Zoot Suits.

​The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) was in dire need of a zoot suit for its collection some years ago. When this rare piece of clothing came up at an auction on the East Coast, the museum bid on it by phone. The opening bid was $500.00 but within minutes had jumped to "five figures." The museum's successful bid "set a new auction record for twentieth-century menswear." The museum is making this most magnificent suit of clothes (seen below) available as a garment pattern for free download as part of its Pattern Project: Undertaking the Making. You can learn more about the Zoot Suit here.

Ben Vereen has always been an influence on writing the dance numbers in Jitterbug! When The Vereen was doing Pippin on Broadway in the '70's-- where he won the Tony for Best Actor in '73-- he'd follow each show with nightclub performances. Here he is explaining how it all began, when he asked his dad for ballet slippers instead of cowboy boots. Choreography by Tony winner Michael Peters.