I grew up listening to and playing Big Band Music – Count Basie, Glen Miller, and Duke Ellington were some of my favorites in the genre, and she met and danced to them all live. Having read them both, I feel like they complement each other and help paint the picture of the early Lindy Hop scene from somewhat different perspectives. There is, unsurprisingly, a good amount of overlap between this memoir and Frankie Manning’s Ambassador of Lindy Hop. Miller jumps from the pain of the internal politics of Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers to the joy of dancing to Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman to tales of traveling overseas. I was especially touched by being able to catch a glimpse of what it was like to be a strong woman of color in a male-dominated world. It’s a real treat to see a slice of history that’s so important to American partner dancing through the eyes of one of its early practitioners. Miller was not only one of the dancers that defined Lindy Hop, but as Lindy Hop faded for a while post World War II, she launched a career as a Jazz Dancer. Swingin’ at the Savoy is a beautiful memoir of one of the greatest Lindy Hop dancers of all time.
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