Swingin' at the Savoy: The Memoir of a Jazz Dancer

Description

Dancer, award-winning choreographer, show producer, stand-up comedienne, TV/film actress, and author, Norma Miller shares her touching historical memoir of Harlem's legendary Savoy Ballroom and the phenomenal music and dance craze that "spread the power of Swing across the world like wildfire". It was a time when the music was Swing, and Harlem was king. Renowned as "the world's most beautiful ballroom, and the largest and most elegant in Harlem, the Savoy was the only ballroom not segregated when it opened in 1926. The Savoy hosted the best bands and attracted the best dancers by offering the challenge of fierce competition. White people travelled uptown to learn exciting new dance styles. Dance contest winner by fourteen, Norma Miller became a member of Herbert White's world famous Whitey's Lindy Hoppers and a celebrated Savoy Ballroom Lindy Hop champion. "Swingin' at the Savoy" chronicles a significant period in American cultural history and race relations, as it glorifies the popularised home of the Lindy hop, and the birthplace of such memorable dance fads as the Big Apple, Shag, Truckin', Peckin', Susie Q, the Charleston, Peabody, Black Bottom, Cake Walk, Boogie Woogie, the Shimmy, and tap dancing. Miller shares anecdotes about her youthful encounters with many of the greatest jazz legends in music history including Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Billy Holiday, Artie Shaw, Duke Ellington, Ethel Waters and even boxer Joe Louis.