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Excerpt from Interview with Frankie Manning |
R/S: Herbert White is described as the originator of the Lindy Hop and the Suzi Q. In Life magazine, thereÕs photos of you and Ann doing the ÒCongeroo,Ó a cross between the Conga [a Latin American dance] and the Lindy Hop. Is the ÒCongerooÓ a name that Life made up? FRANKIE MANNING: Actually, I coined that phrase. At the time, the Latin dance, the Conga, was very popular, and the swing world used the term Òswingeroo,Ó So we invented a dance that was a combination of ÒcongaÓ and Òswing.Ó I just put the two names together; instead of saying Òcongeroo-swingerooÓ I just said ÒCongeroo.Ó So itÕs a swing and conga. Herbert White was like our teacher, our mother, our father, our brother, our benefactor and everything — he actually got the group together, picked out the dancers, helped the dancers to better themselves, and I was very close to him — I was like his right-hand man. I did most of the choreography for the dancers. He would do all the booking for us. It was his group; thatÕs why they called it ÒWhiteyÕs Lindy Hoppers.Ó R/S: Is this a fair description: ÒFrom the Cuban Conga, the new Congeroo retains a good deal of Latin shoulder-shaking and heel-clacking. From the old-time Lindy Hop it retains the improvised solo cadenzas and general yanking around of one partner by anotherÓ? FM: [Chuckles] Yes . . . The Savoy did open in 1926, but I didnÕt start going to the Savoy Ballroom until the early Õ30s. R/S: Well, you were young— FM: But also I was afraid. There was a bunch of us, and we felt we werenÕt good enough to go to the Savoy, because the Savoy had a name for having the best dancers in the world there, and that was true. We were just youngsters and we didnÕt think we were good enough to go up there. Finally we got up enough nerve. R/S: In this photo, youÕre wearing pants that go up very high, with suspenders— FM: They were part of the pants. We started out wearing low-cut pants, and our shirts were coming out of our pants all the time. So we started to wear these high-belted pants with built-in suspenders, and that kept the shirts in. It was both an innovation and a costume. R/S: What kind of shoes were you wearing? They almost look like tennis shoes— FM: They were. We wore them because we would go to hotels and dance, and most of the hotel floors were very, very slippery. Before that, we just wore ordinary shoes — we didnÕt know anything about dancing, you see, and weÕd be slippinÕ and slidinÕ all over the place! For what we were doing, throwing a girl over our shoulders, if you canÕt stand up on the floor, you canÕt be doing those kind of steps. ThatÕs when I decided to wear tennis shoes with rubber soles. None of the girls wore big necklaces or that type of jewelry during a performance, because it would be dangerous. Your hand could accidentally catch, and that would be disastrous. R/S: YouÕre wearing a shirt with larger collar points— FM: Well, all you have to do is get a shirt made like that, thatÕs all! Then somebody else might see it and go, ÒMan, thatÕs cool!Ó and they go and get themselves one, and before you know it, theyÕre back!
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Other excerpts from Swing! The New Retro Renaissance: |
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