Shim Sham

Hat Trick Shim Sham Tutorial

25.01.2013 by Chris

If you've liked Kevin St. Laurent's tutorial for the Hat Trick Tranky Doo by Tips & Tops from last week then you will also dig this post!

Tips & Tops aka Kevin St. Laurent & Shesha Marvin — Tips & Tops @ Lindy Focus 2010. Photo: www.dabelynphotography.com

In the meantime I namely found out that Tips & Tops published another Hat Trick tutorial back in 2010 and both of them – Shesha Marvin & Kevin St. Laurent – are teaching in these clips.

Hat Trick Shim Sham Tutorial by Tips & Tops

Here it is. Have fun!

It's the Shim Sham by Al Minns & Leon James combined with hat tricks.

Thanks again Kevin & Shesha for publishing these great tutorials!

What about you. Will you learn the Hat Trick Shim Sham?

Let us know in the comment section below!

30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge: Your Favorite Group Dance

17.08.2012 by Chris

Every Friday for thirty weeks, I will write about a topic from the list of the
“30 Week Lindy Hop Challenge“.

As promised, I'm back on track. It's Friday again and the topic is

Week #6: Your favorite group dance
(Shim Sham, Tranky Doo, Big Apple, etc)

I'm really a bad group dancer because I never really learned any of them properly, unless the Shim Sham and the Jitterbug Stroll at the beginning of my Lindy Hop career.

Dean Collins' Shim Sham

There are various Shim Sham versions out there and many of the original dancers created their own.

Right now, the Dean Collins Shim Sham is my favorite one and I started to learn it. I like the different energy levels, sometimes it's very smooth, only to become more energetic in the next moment.

Especially the second part is packed with Dean Collins' typical jazz steps such as “Tabby The Cat” or the “Savoy Kicks“. These movements are fairly distinctive and I totally love them.

Clips

This clip is featuring Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra. In the first part they are performing “Hep And Happy” and you can see a few excerpts of the Shim Sham.

Another clip is from 1983. Dean Collins (on the right w/ white trousers) & Bart Bartolo are performing the Shim Shim to a quite slow song.

The last clip is from 2000 and shows Lisa Ferguson & Peter Loggins performing Dean Collins' Shim Sham at the London Lindy Hop festival.

Learn Dean Collins' Shim Sham

Nick Williams recently released his instructional DVD “Dean Collins' Shim Sham”. It's an easy to follow step-by-step guide through all the parts of Dean Collins' Shim Sham. You can get it from his website (USD 45).

<< Last Friday: #5 Your favorite Lindy Hop variation dance (Charleston, Balboa, Shag)

>> Next Friday: #7 Something you really want to learn

DJ Chrisbe’s Song of the Week #91: ‘Tain’t What You Do

28.11.2011 by Chris

When you are an experienced dancer, then you know this song for sure.

If you are a beginner, then here is a song you have to know!

It was one of Frankie Manning‘s favourite songs and it is very often used for the Shim Sham.

It Ain't What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It) was composed by Melvin “Sy” Oliver and co-written with Trummy Young. It was first recorded in 1939 by Jimmie Lunceford and his orchestra.

Sy Oliver (17.12.1910 – 28.05.1988) was a trumpeter, vocalist, composer and arranger. In 1933 he joined Jimmie Lunceford's orchestra to help to define their sound and he arranged many hits in the following years. In the fourties he changed to Tommy Dorsey‘s orchestra to modernize their sound from Dixieland to Swing.

In 1946 he attempted to lead his own orchestra before he became a freelance arranger and producer. From 1975-1980 he was regularly leading a band again.

And that you can sing along the next time, here are the

Lyrics:

When I was a kid about half past three,
My daddy said, “Son, come here to me”;
Says, “Things may come and things may go,
But this is one thing you ought to know!”

‘Tain't what you do, it's the way that you do it,
‘Tain't what you do, it's the way that you do it,
‘Tain't what you do, it's the way that you do it,
That's what gets results!

‘Tain't what you do, it's the time that you do it,
‘Tain't what you do, it's the time that you do it,
‘Tain't what you do, it's the time that you do it,
That's what gets results!

You can try hard, don't mean a thing;
Take it easy, breezy, then your jive will swing!

Oh, it – 'tain't what you do, it's the place that you do it,
‘Tain't what you do, it's the time that you do it,
‘Tain't what you do, it's the way that you do it,
That's what gets results!

Title: ‘Tain't What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It)
Artist: Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra
Recorded: 1939
Album: Harlem Shout
Tempo: 160 bpm
Dance: Lindy Hop, Shim Sham

Click the link to prelisten and/or buy the song (mp3/mp4a) at
iTunes CH/EU — iTunes US — Amazon.de — Amazon.com

Do you like to dance the Shim Sham to this song? Let us know in the comment section below!

Every Monday, I post a new “Song of the Week“. You can find the songs also on my Spotify playlist.

Song of the Week #90: “Stompin’ At The Riverside” by Spade Cooley
Song of the Week #89: “Rexatious” by Rex Stewart
Song of the Week #88: “Honeysuckle Rose” by Fats Waller
Song of the Week #87: “Troubled” by Frankie Trumbauer
Song of the Week #86: “Postcard To Fere” by Erich Nussbaum

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Shim Sham Flash Mobs in Bern

17.10.2011 by Chris

Last Saturday, 15. October 2011, the Lindy Hop association Swing Machine in Bern Switzerland organized two flash mobs at the train station in the middle of the city. Here are the two clips:

Shim Sham No. 1

Shim Sham No. 2

I especially like Shim Sham No. 1 because of the location. The destination board in the background is quite impressive.

Which one is your favourite?

Actually, we should also organize swing flash mobs in Zürich!

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Global Shim Sham

10.04.2010 by Chris

Vom 21.-26. Mai 2009 wurde in New York ein riesiges Geburtstags-Festival anlässlich Frankie Mannings 95. Geburtstag organisiert. Dieser Anlass ist allgemein als Frankie Fest oder Frankie 95 bekannt.

Leider verstarb Frankie Manning (16.5.1914-27.4.2009) einen Monat vor dem Anlass und das Geburtstags-Festival wurde kurzum zu einem inzwischen schon legendären Gedenk-Festival.

Die Organisatoren riefen im Vorfeld dazu auf, den Shim Sham in der lokalen Szene auf Video aufzunehmen und auf Youtube zu veröffentlichen, um einen Zusammenschnitt für das Festival herzustellen. Über 160 Videos wurden produziert, u.a. auch vom Schneeschuh-Shim Sham, aufgenommen im März 2009 während dem 1. Geneva Lindy Exchange:

Wie ihr seht, wurden Ausschnitte aus diesem schweizerisch/französischen Beitrag in den Global Shim Sham übernommen.

Jedes Mal, wenn ich den Global Shim Sham sehe, bin ich gerührt!
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