A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE JIVING LINDY HOPPERS

June. '83 Terry Monaghan met Warren Heyes and suggested creating a professional performing company to bring the Lindy Hop back to life in the UK.

Sept. '83 Original workshop training by Warren Heyes and Terry Monaghan with Mama Lu Parks in basic Lindy Hop at the Albany Empire, Deptford. This was the first Lindy Hop Weekend in the UK consisting of two performances and various workshops. Mama Lu was in the UK following up the successful broadcast at the end of 1982 of the London Weekend Television "Southbank" TV documentary about her.

Jan. '84 The first regular UK Lindy Hop classes are begun by the newly formed Jiving Lindy Hoppers (although originally called "The Lindy Hop Jivers") at the St. Paul's Youth Club, Mile End, East London. Ryan Francois joins the classes after the first few lessons.

Easter '84 The first trial performance at Limehouse Studios as part of "The East End Festival" was poorly received and the dancers were treated so dismissively that they almost gave up.

Aug. '84 The JLH perform for the first time at the Notting Hill Carnival.

Sept'84 Warren and Terry lead the Jiving Lindy Hoppers who perform with the Mama Lu Parks Traditional Jazz Dancers on their return visit to the Albany Empire. The JLH dancers were Warren Heyes, Ryan Francois, Terry Monaghan, Joanne, Lesley Owen, Elgrina and Monica Feeney. Afterwards the JLH agree to work with Mama Lu's backing band "The Deep Sea Jivers" led by Pete Thomas.

Warren Heyes and Terry Monaghan learning
the Lindy Hop from Mama Lu Parks in
Deptford 1983.

The Jiving Lindy Hoppers winning the
Covent Garden Street Entertainers Festival.

 

March '85 JLH perform in London's first underwater show in the swimming pool of the University of London Union - Warren Heyes, Terry Monaghan, Lesley Owen and Angie Selby. The company makes its first TV appearance on every London regional news programme that evening.

March/April'85 First New York research visit by JLH - Warren Heyes, Terry Monaghan, Ryan Francois, Claudia Gintersdorfer & Lesley Owen. A major purpose was to meet Al Minns, but we were told the sad news he was in hospital and not expected to live for long.

Workshop/Performance with Mama Lu. Introductory discussion with Ernie Smith, Norma Miller, Frank Manning, Pepsi Bethel, Sally Sommers and Mura Dehn. Warren, Ryan and Claudia performed at Smalls Paradise, Harlem with Mama Lu Parks, Norma Miller and Honi Coles in the audience. The JLH also met the new New York enthusiasts who had just founded the "New York Swing Dance Society". Warren, Ryan and Claudia returned to Small's on the following week and met Frank Manning there.

May '85 JLH perform with the Syd Lawrence and the Herb Miller Orchestra's at the Lyceum Ballroom in the "Stage Door Canteen" celebrations to commemorate the anniversary of D-Day. The JLH get's its first press feature coverage in "THE DAILY MAIL".

July '85 Performance with the Count Basie Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall as part of the Capital Radio/JVC Jazz Festival. The orchestra is led by Thad Jones and the vocalists are Joe Williams and Carmen Bradford. THE STAGE review observes "… precision jive not seen since the 1940's."

Aug. '85 JLH won the Dance Award in the Alternative Arts "Street Entertainers of the Year" competition in Covent Garden.

Sept '85 Terry Monaghan and Eileen Feeney visit New York to arrange Pepsi Bethel visit to the UK to work with the JLH. Terry and Eileen stay with Norma Miller in the Bronx and mediate between Norma and the New York Swing Dance Society and arrange for Norma to attend the opening of their forthcoming regular swing night at the Cat Club. Subsequently Norma arranges for Frank Manning to attend the same venue.

 

Jan/April '86 The JLH collaborate with the education unit of the London Festival Ballet in a series of comparative ballet/lindy hop shows that are staged in different parts of London, which culminate in a sell out performance at the Waterman's Arts Centre after a feature on the JLH is published in THE GUARDIAN.

March/April '86 Terry Monaghan and Bob Crease organise the first international gathering of the new groups interested in the Lindy Hop in New York. Groups attending included Jonathen and Sylvia from Santa Barbara, Erin Stevens and Steve Mitchell from Pasadena, the New York Swing Dance Society and the Jiving Lindy Hoppers. JLH members included Warren Heyes, Terry Monaghan, Ryan Francois, Joseph Cristoph, Claudia Gintersdorfer, Jeanefer Jean-Charles, Angie Selby and Gina Plosjawski. Monica Feeney and Julie Oram came also to assist. There was one major performance of all the groups at the Cat Club and a second at the Latin Quarter, which used to be the downtown "Connies Inn" and then the "Cotton Club". The JLH also undertook two weeks training with Pepsi Bethel, two workshops with Frank Manning with Norma Miller assisting, and a performance and workshop with Mama Lu Parks.

July '86 The JLH receive a Gulbenkian Foundation Dance Award to bring Pepsi Bethel to London to devise, rehearse and perform a show called "That's It!" for one week at the Battersea Arts Centre. Ernie Smith also gives a film talk on Authentic Jazz Dance.

Aug '86 On its way to perform in the Edinburgh Festival the JLH makes its first proper TV appearance in the 'Saturday Show'. The dancers were Warren Heyes, Ryan Francois, Jeanefer Jean-Charles and Ellen Miller.

Dec '86 Warren Heyes teaches special series of workshops for the New York Swing Dance Society performance team, who eventually become known as the Big Apple Lindy Hoppers.
March '87 Five members of the Jiving Lindy Hoppers resigned, with legal advice from EQUITY - Ryan Francois, Jeanefer Jean-Charles, Julie Heath, Ellen Miller and Ali Jones - (plus two ex-members who told EQUITY a few "porkies" about them being still part of the company - Pearl Willie a.k.a. Jordan and Gina Plosjawski) and concocted or supported what amounted to an attempt to bankrupt the JLH.

This string of false accusations and empty legal threats were brought to an end in 1990 by a strongly worded legal letter on behalf of the JLH. Subsequently EQUITY lost their file on the case and the ex-members apparently abandoned their action without explanation. Thus four years of ultimately futile attacks on the reputation of the JLH nevertheless created a noxious legacy of bitter wrangling and hostility between dancers which dogged Lindy Hop in London for some time, but which thankfully has now died away. We only remind people of it as a warning about how such things can grow out of hand. It's better to settle any differences by thorough discussion, face to face!

 

April '87 Six members remained in the JLH, and new ones joined including Carolene Hinds (who took classes with Mama Lu Parks in Edinburgh in 1984), Teresa Jackson and Russell Sargeant (who come from Warren's home town of Chorley), and Kim Walker and Lee Morgan (who Warren trained previously in a youth dance project at the Albany Empire, Deptford.)

May '87 Four of the ex-members of the JLH who resigned in March form a new Lindy Hop company 'Zoots and Spangles.' Ryan Francois was "Zoots" and Tobias Tak, who originally had wanted to form a double act with Warren Heyes of the JLH was "Spangles".

August '87 The JLH are invited to perform in the Edinburgh International Jazz Festival with Jay McShann, Buddy Tate, Harry "Sweets" Edison and other major US jazz stars.

Sept. '87 "Love for Lindy" is screened on Thames Television starring the Jiving Lindy Hoppers.

Sept.'87 "A Night At The Cotton Club" originally devised by Terry Monaghan and Paul Munnery is re-staged in the Barbican Concert Hall, London and features Jazz artists Doc Cheatham and Benny Waters to a 2,500 audience. Many more performances have followed up to the present day.

 

Feb. '88 Lee Morgan and Kim Walker leave the JLH - Kim became a leading member a TV comedy series "Desmonds" - and are replaced by Temujin Gill, Maxine Green and Michael Beckford.

March '88 The JLH receive a NODM/Digital Dance Award to commission Frankie Manning to train and rehearse the JLH for a new show. Frankie returns to the UK for the first time since the early 1950's and trains the JLH for two weeks. He appears in the Cotton Club Revue show, which runs for two nights at the Riverside Studios Hammersmith. The JLH also bring to London for the first time the Rhythm Hot Shots from Sweden to appear in the show. Frank Manning appears with the JLH on the BBCTV show Blue Peter.

Dec'88 The JLH and the National Society for Dance Research organized a joint seminar on the history of the Lindy Hop featuring Terry Monaghan of the JLH and Bob Crease of the New York Swing Dance Society as main speakers.

Nov/Dec '89 JLH undertake their third research/performance visit to New York - Warren Heyes, Terry Monaghan, Michael Beckford, Temujin Gill, Carolene Hinds, Teresa Jackson and Judith Osborne. The JLH perform at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem and at the 70 birthday Celebrations for Norma Miller at the Cat Club organised by the New York Swing Dance Society. Whereas the A-team went to New York primarily for Norma's birthday the JLH B-team remained back in the UK to entertain lesser royalty i.e. a gig for the Princess Royal, Anne in Bath. The JLH in New York also completed a weeks training with Pepsi Bethel, a joint workshop with the NYSDS supervised by Frank Manning and paid what turned out to be their last visit to Mama Lu Parks in her Bronx apartment.

 

June '90 JLH invited to US by Washington Swing Dance Committee to teach and perform at Buffalo Gap in West Virginia, performs at the Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC and to be recorded for the forthcoming National Geographic TV programme "Jitterbug". Anne Townsend masterminded and actualised all these activities.

Sept'90 JLH invited as the best exponents of US 1930's vernacular jazz dance, at the suggestion of US dance critics, to the Lyons Dance Biennale celebrating 100 Years of American Dance. The JLH perform for one hour with Frankie Manning. Mama Lu Parks dies, the JLH send a wreath and Terry Monaghan writes obituaries for her, which are published in the Guardian and Independent (British national daily newspapers).

Jan'91 'Jitterbug' made by National Geographic TV is broadcast for the first time on US TV which contrasts Frank Manning and Norma Miller as original Lindy Hoppers with the Jiving Lindy Hoppers, Mickey Davidson and Clyde Wilder as it's continuators. As a result of this programme Norma Miller is commissioned to choreograph for the film STOMPIN' AT THE SAVOY.

Feb '91 Carolene Hinds and Terry Monaghan represent the JLH at the "Tribute to the late Mama Lu Parks" at the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts in the Bronx on 28th February. Carolene is one of the guest dancers along with, Jimmy Slyde, Van "The Man" Porter and the Mama Lu Parks Dancers organised by Tina Pratt the tap dancer.

March '91 JLH are invited to perform in a special Gershwin night at the London Palladium, and Warren Heyes choreographs a Lindy Hop finale including the US singer Bertice Reading and the casts of the major musicals in the West End at that time. The JLH also work alongside the Nicholas Brothers in this production.

June '91 Warren Heyes and Carolene Hinds of the JLH are guest teachers at Buffalo Gap.

July '91 The JLH win the second largest Sainsbury's Award for Arts Education to stage a comparative Authentic Jazz Dance/Ballet series of lecture/dems, and to commission Bill Louther, whose career has included many types of dance - Martha Graham, Ballet, Jazz etc - to choreograph and rehearse a new show for the JLH called "Harvest Moon Ball."

Aug '91 JLH are invited to the Edinburgh International Jazz Festival to perform with the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra who was on tour before returning to his home planet Saturn. It was a novel experience in that Sun Ra didn't believe in running orders, thus leaving Terry and Warren the task of instantaneously deciding on the suitable type of dance for each number by listening to the opening bars and the dancers having to run out and hit it immediately.

Sept/Oct '91 First Japan Tour with the Ray McVay Orchestra.
Dec'91 Having spent three months working with the JLH "Harvest Moon Ball" is performed for two nights at the Queen Elizabeth Hall with Bill Louther performing.

 

 

June '92 Warren Heyes and partner return to the West Virginia Swing Camp as guest teachers.

Aug '92 JLH perform to a total audience of 10,000 at one of New York most prestigious arts festival the 'Lincoln Center Out of Doors' held in Damrosch Park along side the Metropolitan Opera House in the Lincoln Center Complex. Mickey Davidson is a guest dancer with the JLH. Vishnu Wood heads up the accompanying band which includes the ace trumpet player Jimmy Owens. JLH also appear on USTV prog. 'Good Day New York'. JLH members take jazz tap lessons from Chazz Young.

Sept'92 Four JLH members return to the US to appear as guest teachers and performers at the 'Seashore Swing' dance festival, in Cape May, New Jersey.

Sept/Oct '92 Second Japan Tour with Ray McVay.

 

Feb '93 Tumujin Gill leaves the JLH to form his own dance company.

Sept/Oct '93 Third Japan Tour with Ray McVay.

Dec '93 The JLH is invited to New York to perform in the Alice Tulley Hall, in the Lincoln Center in 8 shows before 9,000 NY school-children as part of the "Community, Holiday Festival'. The kids loved the Lindy Hop! The JLH performs with Panama Francis and "The Savoy Sultans" at the Atrium, in New York.

May '94 Four members of the JLH are invited to participate in the 80th Birthday Celebrations of Frank Manning in New York 'CAN'T TOP THE LINDY HOP.' The JLH members also take lessons from "Phace" Roberts the only surviving member of the 5 Blazers who performed the One Man Dance in the Duke Ellington soundie 'Black and Tan Fantasy' and in the uptown Cotton Club.

Sept/Oct ' 94 Fourth Japan Tour with Ray McVay.

Oct '94 The JLH together with the London Swing Dance Society and the Chestnut Grove Lindy Hoppers organise the first London Lindy Hop Festival and bring over as guest teachers from the US, Frankie Manning, Chazz Young and Jonathen Bixby and Sylvia Sykes.

 

July '95 JLH invited to perform in the "Celebrate Brooklyn" Festival and perform with "Panama" Francis at the Savoy Sultans in Prospect Park. JLH perform with the Clarke Terry band at the Lincoln Centre Festival "Mid Summer Swing"

Oct. '95 The London Lindy Hop Festival '95 features Frankie Manning and his son Chazz Young (a member of the top jazz tap team the 'Copasetics) teaching along with Jonathen Bixby all from the US.

March/Aug'96 Terry Monaghan wins a Wingate Scholarship to undertake research in the US to write a book on the relationship between Jazz Dance and Jazz Music. Terry travels to Washington DC, New Orleans, Illinois and Florida. In April Terry Monaghan reads a paper at dance conference at the University of Illinois organised by the US Congress for Research in Dance called "African American Dance, Researching a Complex History". The paper co-written with Mo Dodson is called "Modernism and African-American Dance".

August '96 The JLH undertake their fourth research/training/performance visit to the US, to train and work with George and Sugar Sullivan the 1955 Harvest Moon Ball Lindy Hop Champions in Florida. The members of the JLH are Warren Heyes, Terry Monaghan, Russell Sargeant and Carolene Hinds. The JLH also perform in the Lincoln Centre's "Mid Summer Swing Festival" with the Mama Lu Parks Traditional Jazz Dancers. Carolene and Russell stay on to learn choreography from Norma Miller and Mickey Davidson in preparation for Norma's forthcoming visit to the UK.

Oct '96 The London Lindy Hop Festival '96 is centred round the European launch of Norma Miller's book SWINGIN' AT THE SAVOY. A major show is staged at the Bloomsbury Theatre in central London which Norma hosts and includes Frankie Manning, Chazz Young along with former co-cast members with Norma in Cab Calloway's Cotton Club Revue, Will Gaines and Joe Chisholm. The Clarke Brothers are in the audience to watch the show as are representatives of most of the rest of the UK Lindy Hop scene plus the three tap dancers from the hit show 'Riverdance'.

Oct/Nov '96 The JLH embark on a 16 engagement tour with Will Gaines, one of the last great Be-Bop tap dancers in the show HOT FOOT FROM HARLEM.

 

Aug '97 The JLH are invited back to the Lincoln Center Out-Of-Doors Festival in Damrosch Park to perform their new show, FLYING HOME, with the Irish band Sin É and the US tap dancer Diane Walker. Combined audience of 9,000, plus a good review in the New York Times and a well received children's show by the fountains.

Jan '98 Terry Monaghan receives a CARTER-BERGER scholarship in recognition of the work he has done at the Institute of Jazz Studies, at Rutgers University, New Jersey. The award is named after jazz musician Benny Carter and historian/sociologist Monroe Berger.

Sept. '98 Terry Monaghan registers for a PhD. on Harlem's Savoy Ballroom at University College, London.

Oct. '98 The Fourth London Lindy Hop Festival, featuring Frankie Manning, Chazz Young and "Sugar" Sullivan in the UK for the first time.

 

May/June '99 The JLH is invited to perform with the Boston Pops Orchestra in Symphony Hall, Boston. Ann Hampton-Calloway, the star of the forthcoming Broadway musical "Swing" is the vocalist. The second show is recorded for broadcasting on PBS in the USA in the Summer.

July '99 Carolene Hinds and Russell Sargeant of the JLH are invited to teach and perform at the closing night of the Lincoln Center Mid-Summer Swing Festival. They will be performing with other New York dancers including Tyrone Cooper and Beverly Moore of the Mama Lu Parks Dance Company.

August '99 The JLH will be invited back to perform with the Boston Pops Orchestra on a mini tour of the East Coast.

Jan-March 2000. First Coast-to-Coast tour of the USA with the New York City All-Star Jazz Orchestra led by Warren Vache.

July 2000. Tenth anniversary tribute to "Mama Lu" Parks during the Lincoln Center Out-Of-Doors Festival, in which eighteen dancers took place including three from the JLH - Carolene Hinds, Teresa Jackson and Russell Sargeant - and five members of the Sinapore Dance Ensemble.

 

February-March 2001 Symphony Tour in the USA, which comprised 11 gigs with the Boston Pops Orchestra and two with the Wheeling Symphony Orch.

July 2002 major JLH choreographic/educational residency "Out For the Count" as part of the Southbank Summer Festival in the foyer of the Royal Festival Hall in which 50 school children took part for a week and performed on the final day with the JLH and Paul Lacey's "Back to Basie" Orchestra.

August 2002 - JLH return to New York for the Lincoln Center Out-Of-Doors Festival and two educational performances that continue the work of the London residency.

Jan-Mar 2003 - JLH work with CAMI starring in the Big Band Dance Party tour of USA.