TX Tommy History - Lindy Hop and Swing Dance

[@eckdavid2472]

I LOVE your dramatic reading of those old quotes!

[@LauraGlaess]

Lol! Thanks for indulging me.

[@satchelmouth1]

... "But the feeling is gone". That is right.

[@cyclingbob2114]

My wife and I are new to swing dancing, Lindy Hop specifically. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. This video was very educational and well done. Thank you for all your hard work on this and all your other videos.

[@zalaktas4298]

Appriciate the amount of editing went into this video. Great content as always! ❤️

[@austintippetts3790]

This video is awesome. I was just informed of this dance from an older black gentleman. I went to a westie thing and this fella explained it to me. What he explained lines up directly with your video. Very accurate stuff here 👍👍 thank you! ❤️

[@MissCroft2006]

Amazing video, Laura! Also, I love the voices you used for the old quotes hhahaaha

[@jefsut]

Such a great video, Laura, so much to think about. Thank you!

[@andrewmass1414]

You are fabulous

[@miltonenglish1679]

Nice work

[@ania7930]

I'd like to start a little conversation on this appropriation stuff. The original black dancers took some parts of their cultures, of older dances, and made new ones. And those new ones also had countles variants, everyone was dancing something slightly different, because the dance, like everything else, evolved over time and land. Now I became a teache in Europe and I find there are two basic approaches: either one preserves the dance as it was, or one tries to change it. I am in the changing camp where we mainly try to find ways to dance stuff in more comfortable, balanced and conneted (between partners) ways. Those ways sometimes differ from what we see on old videos. I think of it as a further evolution of the dance, a natural course if people are using it. We are teaching our students where the dance came from, but I think now it evolved into something much bigger and different and I regard the other approach as basically subscribing historical reconstruction teams. I like historical reconstructions, but it's not dancing the dance that's living today. I am curious of what other people might think about it.

[@LauraGlaess]

It sounds like this is a conversation about innovation vs recreation - I could be totally wrong. My only time in Europe is during workshops and events, so I don’t have the best sense of what is generally taught in a local scene. I know preservation vs continuation is a challenge in a dance with strong historical roots, for sure. Finding the balance between innovation in a way the original dancers would recognize and appreciate, vs innovating into a totally different dance (ex West Coast Swing coming from Lindy Hop, and is currently a totally different animal).

[@XL-co4li]

omg the hip hop plie clip killed me

[@LauraGlaess]

The hip hop clip is legend.

[@darinaanguelova2528]

Was just going to say the same thing, the cringe is strong with that one....

[@timothychristopher9669]

I actually want to learn this dance!

[@LauraGlaess]

Right? Rebecca Strickland, the person who wrote the thesis, actually lifted the dancing from that one historical clip with a partner. Other than that, I have no idea who has experiance with it.

[@thuyuong1696]

hahahahaha i do love all the quotes too! LOL

[@LauraGlaess]

They are so extreme!

[@GordonBeckles]

She's not appropriating (stealing and profiting) from this distinctive part of Black/African Diasporic history/culture. She's sharing her loving (and respectful) appreciation of this form. Here's an example of appropriating Black/African diasporic culture... ...back in the day, a man named Louie Jordan innovated and popularized a forrm of Jazz/R&B called Jump Blues. A Country and Western band saw the rising populariy of Black/African American R&B among White/Euro American youth, hired writers, arrangers, and producers employed by Louis Jordan and profited from the hit songs they wrote along with (then) current hit songs by Black/African American artists... without giving due credit to the culture or artists that inspired them. THAT... was the type of rip off enabled by the racism and abuses of power dominant in 1940s/1950s U.S. The band who profited by the rape of culture was Bill Haley And The Comets. This woman is not profiting by raping my ancestors culture. She's sharing her love and respect for it. Any profit she gains dur to respectful, loving, regard for my kin's contribution (as the foundation of popular culture) is DUE TO HER. There is a big difference between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation. A vast difference. Leave her alone. The affects of cultural appropriation are real and very serious thing today. I myself (and my kin) don't need the distraction of someone "sounding the alarm" because someone who's White loves what we've done... with pure intention and integrity.

[@LauraGlaess]

I appreciate you. I know my participation at all can be problematic for some - especially since I have a big microphone in the community and come from a place so far from the culture. I’m really trying to be respectful and do as much good while doing as little damage as I can.

[@GordonBeckles]

@LauraGlaess You respect, treasure appreciate, and preserve it. There's nothing for you to "feel a way" about. Keep up the good work.👍🏾

[@eckdavid2472]

It’s always interesting to find out more about our country’s long history of racism. It’s easy to think that it’s a thing of the past but that couldn’t be further from the truth: racism is alive and well today, though it can be harder for people like me to see (middle-class white), for example, Blacks and Hispanics have fewer opportunities regarding education and employment, and they’re more likely to be unfairly jailed. Today we see more overt racism towards the Chinese, who we want to paint as unsavory characters. Because of their prosperity, they pose a threat to the US Empire so we may try to subjugate them via war, and to make sure we’re all on board, the MSM habitually portrays them in the worst possible light.

[@LauraGlaess]

Yeah - racism and economics you're together very well. It's much easier to be racist you feel financially at risk, or you have something to gain from dismissing a group of people.

[@ptfountainhead]

Pew pew!

[@SonofDaVinci4]

Geez. It sounds like each incident of a lady falling into an orchestra pit during a Texas Tommy would rate a crash site investigation.

[@EsquireR]

i have plenty of time, pls tell more (:

[@LauraGlaess]

lol - I'm in the middle of a few other research projects. More is on the way ;)

[@nineteenfortyeight]

Don't you feel a LITTLE hypocritical lecturing us about appropriating black art? You can lecture us, or make money off it; not both.

[@GordonBeckles]

@nineteenfortyeight6762 She's not appropriating (stealing and profiting) from this distinctive part of Black/African Diasporic history/culture. She's sharing her loving (and respectful) appreciation of this form. Here's an example of appropriating Black/African diasporic culture... ...back in the day, a man named Louie Jordan innovated and popularized a forrm of Jazz/R&B called Jump Blues. A Country and Western band saw the rising populariy of Black/African American R&B among White/Euro American youth, hired writers, arrangers, and producers employed by Louis Jordan and profited from the hit songs they wrote along with (then) current hit songs by Black/African American artists... without giving due credit to the culture or artists that inspired them. THAT... was the type of rip off enabled by the racism and abuses of power dominant in 1940s/1950s U.S. The band who profited by the rape of culture was Bill Haley And The Comets. This woman is not profiting by raping my ancestors culture. She's sharing her love and respect for it. Any profit she gains dur to respectful, loving, regard for my kin's contribution (as the foundation of popular culture) is DUE TO HER. There is a big difference between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation. A vast difference. Leave her alone. The affects of cultural appropriation are real and very serious thing today. I myself (and my kin) don't need the distraction of someone "sounding the alarm" because someone who's White loves what we've done... with pure intention and integrity.

[@musing_wdb]

Incredibly dumb take. If anyone (making money) in an industry can't suggest anything about how that industry functions... where does any change come from? Also, if you feel like you're (your words) 'being lectured,' go figure out where that feeling comes from and why.