Rabbits and Toasters was founded in 2010 and features manually selected articles from the best dance blogs on the web. The site is updated several times a day, check back often. Do you run a blog you think should be apart of the network? Send us an email.
DWTS Week 9: The Semi FinalsNovember 16, 2010Its official: the semi finals are here on DWTS and this week the dancers brought their A game to the dance floor. |
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Lindy Shock 2010: Giedre Paplaityte & Mindaugas J. Bikauskas…November 16, 2010By now, I believe all the Lindy hoppers on my feed have seen the 1st place Lindy Shock Showcase performance going around—William & Maeva dancing to, among other songs, the Muppet Show theme. This here is the 2nd place showcase, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. |
EBC 2010 Competition MusicNovember 16, 2010Another great year at EBC. Awesome competitions, great bands and always kick ass dancing. Following the great response to my ABW competition list, I am excited to post the complete competition list for EBC 2010. This time around, I decided to make it even easier for everyone to buy this great music by including Amazon links for every song (when available). Enjoy the list! |
Peter Strom & Heather Flock, Frim Fram (2010) Just a short…November 16, 2010Just a short one-minute clip of Peter Strom dancing with local instructor of awesomeness Heather Flock right as Frim Fram started. Apologies for the terrible video quality of my camera, everyone. |
Vintage Makeup TutorialNovember 15, 20101940′s Makeup Film – Face contouring / Lipstick and Hairlines |
Judging: A First Time Judge’s ExperienceNovember 15, 2010This past weekend I popped my judging cherry by judging for a local Jack & Jill at my college. It was a low pressure competition, that the rules barred anyone who has placed 1st in a regional Jack & Jill or who has competed at big competitions like Camp Hollywood, ILHC, and et cetera. |
Monochrome Monday: Al Minns and Leon James doing the Charleston,…November 15, 2010I mentioned Al Minns last week and just had to post a video showing him off today. Solo Charleston is one of my favorite things to watch and learn to do. I believe this is a signal that I’m going to go back to the advanced Lindy/Charleston class in December (woo!). By the time these two did this performance in the 50s, they were well past their Savoy days. And yet, the precision and control they exercise is top notch, even against today’s amazing standards. Not to mention, the itches starting @1:25 are wonderful. I need to toss in a bunch of these moves into my solo repertoire. |
Lindy Shock 2010November 14, 2010This was definitely one of my favorite events of the year, if not favorite. Marcell, the organizer, did a wicked-good job of covering all the logistics and knows how to run a tight shift. All of his past research clearly paid off. |
Catalina Jazz Camp – DetailsNovember 13, 2010Back in the day, Catalina Jazz Camp was the event to go to. International instructors such as Eddie & Eva, Lennart & “W”, Daniel & Asa, Steven Mitchell, Rob & Dianne, Ryan & Jenny, and a slue of other top instructors. Not only was it top level instruction, but the Casino Ballroom and the island itself was and is gorgeous. |
Intro to Big Band (a flirtation with Chick Webb)November 12, 2010Let's suppose for a moment that you take a random look at my music collection- we'll look at my "all jazz" playlist, to avoid too much dance-style bias. Suppose, then, that you search for songs with a trombone and a clarinet in them, and then sort by playcount (what? I don't know why you'd do it, but suppose.). If you look at the top 17 most-played tracks, you will find 17 that are new-orleans style jazz. Messy, polymelodic, hard-swinging. You will find exactly 0 neatly-arranged, larger-than-life big band tunes. At a quick glance, I'd estimate about 8 songs in the top 50... and several of those are choreographies (which bumps the playcount up). |
Fast Lindy Friday: Harlem Hot Shots, Basie Centennial Ball,…November 12, 2010The Harlem Hot Shots are one of the major reasons Lindy hop surged back into popularity in the late 90s/early 200s (and why it still remains awesome today). I believe they were formerly known as the Rhythm Hot Shots in the 90s, though. Anyway, this is a pretty wonderful take on the seminal Hellzapoppin’ performance by Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers. |
Guest Post: The Evolution of “The Evolution of Lindy Hop” Pt. 9November 11, 2010We had already set the choreography by Winter 2009, anticipating that we’d probably need to add a moment or two from that year before performing it at ILHC 2009. We chose to put a reference to the Silver Shadows’ Tribute to Frankie Manning from Frankie95. |
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