In the spirit of our upcoming live events that are all about sharing some favorite dance clips- this is the finished product video of the International Lindy Hop Championship's Invitational Solo Jazz Finals. I was honored to get an invite and dance alongside and against some amazing dancers from around the world. The entire event was virtual last Fall. What a HUGE undertaking!
Instead of having a standard one-after-the-other dance contest- they decided that this division would be battle style, originally planned for us to virtually go head to head live on Zoom just 2 weeks before the big event. Well as everyone knows Zoom doesn't always cooperate and after the first round of the finals took 2x longer than was planned for all 4 rounds, we ended up submitting our dancing for rounds 2, 3, and 4 later on, without knowing if we'd make it or not.
It was a real personal challenge for me. I feel like I'm not the best technician of the bunch by a long shot, but my superpower is reacting to other dancers' ideas. Here I was alone with a camera, not even knowing who I was going to be battling on screen (plus being pandemic out of shape didn't help). It's the kind of thing I could talk myself out of but I'm glad I didn't. It's a privilege to be invited and I don't want to take that for granted. My one lifeline was listening to the music, made by me and my band especially for the contest. It always brings a smile to my face when I hear a great solo and I think of my friend who is playing it.
After the Zoom idea didn't work I had no idea how the final video would turn out and MAN, I was blown away. It was so fast paced and exciting I didn't even have time to cringe as all dancers do when they see themselves. It was just super hype with lots of good dancing. I was genuinely dance-excited after watching it, a feeling I haven't had enough of during the pandemic. If you haven't seen it yet, get ready for a whirlwind.
-N
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