Past & Present
Past
“The entrance to the Savoy was at street level. You went down one flight to check your coat, then you walked back up two flights to the ballroom, which was on the second floor. As I was climbing the steps that lead to the ballroom, I could hear the swinging music coming down the stairwell, and it starts seeping right into my body. I got to the top step, went through the double doors, and stopped for a moment with my back to the bandstand, taking it all in. When I turned around and faced the room …well, I just stood there with my mouth open. The whole floor was full of people-and they were dancing! The band was pounding. The guys up there were wailing! The music was rompin’ and stompin’. Everybody was movin’ and groovin’.”
~Frankie Manning co-author with Cynthia R. Millman of
“Frankie Manning Ambassador of Lindy Hop“
Present
“It was just as I remembered, though the location had changed- people stood outside, leaning against the metal railing that went up the center and both edges of the stone steps that lead into the foyer and main floor of the Norse Hall. They were dressed in a dapper fashion that mimicked an era I longed to embrace once more, though most of us had always dressed a bit more casually. And here I was, entering with a fresh start through the windowed doors. My heart was caught by the pulse resonating in the walls and floor boards around me. That beautiful beat, that serenading swing, that captivating clapping and tapping was an ever living sight that I thought I’d never have the privilege to see again. Yet here I was, entering a wide doorway to an old song and dance in a new and embraceable home where swivels and tuck-turns covered the dance floor from front to back. Old friends gathered as they did before, and new friends awaited me at the offer of a
hand as they each asked me, ‘would you like to dance?'”
~Sammy Walker- a present day dancer
writing of her returned to Sunday Swing at Stumptown Dance