Jittrbug.net
  • Home
  • News
  • Blog
  • Screenplay
  • Jitterbug! Songwriting Team & Creative Directors
  • Music
  • The Story
  • The Dramaturgy Behind The Story
  • Jitterbug Dance Origins
  • Get Your Choreography Right Here!
  • Map of historic locations in play
  • Playwright
  • The Director
  • The Choreographer
  • Jitterbug! NYC Pixs
  • Emerging Artists Theatre (EAT)
  • Tada! Youth Theatre
  • National Black Theatre
  • The National Black Theatre Cast
  • Follow-up to the NBT radio reading
  • Books
  • Educator Resources
  • Royalties
  • Everything Jitterbug! Store
  • Gallery
  • Contact

Fundraiser for Norma Miller Headstone

11/27/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Help Mark Norma Miller's Place in Jazz History

"Born in Harlem on December 2nd, 1919, Norma Miller is one of the only jazz women buried at Woodlawn Cemetery’s famous Jazz
Corner in New York. Along with Frankie Manning, she is the only other original Savoy Ballroom lindy hopper laid to rest among many of the musicians she danced to and worked with. It is important to bring attention to her grave as both a female and a jazz dancer.

By raising funds for an attractive headstone, the Frankie Manning Foundation  hopes to educate the world about this amazing
woman and the history she was part of. We want to honor her with a monument that will be a companion to Frankie Manning’s
headstone, nearby at Woodlawn."-- Houston Swing Dance Society

To learn more and to donate to a great cause, please click here.

FYI, our proposal to NYC re erecting a life-sized or larger bronze sculpture of Frankie dancing with his early partner Ann Johnson in the street across from where the Savoy Ballroom use to be, went nowhere but it would have cost a lot more than Norma's headstone. 
Picture
You can learn more about that proposal seen above here. 
0 Comments

Voguing at the Savoy

11/14/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Voguing at the Savoy. Pretty sure it never happened. But it does happen in Jitterbug! during the dance's break in the play and screenplay. The writer has always encouraged choreographers to "reach into the future" for dance steps that will win the climatic dance contest at the Savoy Ballroom for its hero and heroine, Billy Rhythm and Tharbis Jefferson. Anything that will blow the minds of the jaded Savoy regulars who have seen it all. That also includes dubstep, hip hop, breakdance, and more.

These dances are performed against music from the future, too. Duke Ellington's symphonic jazz piece Harlem from 1963 is used to signal something magical, heroic, and romantic is happening on the dance floor as the music segues from Chick Webb's drum and horn driven signature piece Liza (written by the Gershwins). 

The image above reflects how Billy and Tharbis are being slashed with razors and knives as they dance close to the encroaching dance and music crazed crowd that includes the legendary street gang The Jolly Fellows who want Billy and Tharbis to lose so their champions George "Shorty" Snowden and Big Bea can win. 

To see how powerful voguing is on it own merits and how its culture refers to their "balls" as "wars," check out the video below. Now envision using the dance in a duet with Billy and Tharbis mirroring each other while, with stone cold faces, fearlessly staring down those surrounding them who want them dead.
0 Comments

    DC Copeland

    Multi-hyphenate with a penchant for writing.

    Archives

    February 2022
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    December 2020
    September 2020
    May 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    February 2015
    January 2015
    January 2013
    July 2012

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.