Dorothy Dandridge - A Zoot Suit
Dorothy Dandridge - Cow Cow Boogie
Dorothy Dandridge, the Nicholas Brothers & Glenn Miller - Chattanooga Choo Choo
Hoagy Carmichael - Lazybones
A very young and very beautiful Dorothy Dandridge, exploding with talent and charisma... [more inside]
posted by y2karl on Oct 26, 2012 - 12 comments

94-year-old Mathilda Klein does not believe in letting age keep her off the dance floor. SLYT.
posted by kinnakeet on Apr 15, 2012 - 36 comments

Do you know The Treniers? Back in the 40s and 50s, they straddled the lines between jump blues, swing, early rock'n'roll, jazz dance, hep jive and comedy. They were a whole hella fun, and they happened to be the backing band for what must be the best dance performance Jerry Lewis ever gave the world. That particular clip, BTW, from a Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis "Colgate Comedy Hour" in 1954, is purported to be the first rock'n'roll performance on national television, and it may well have been.
posted by flapjax at midnite on Mar 28, 2012 - 14 comments

It seems cosmically appropriate that the Spider-man theme song (as recorded by Michael Bublé) should be used by swing dancers as well as solo performers. Here's a live rendition by the Russian group Mad Swing in Vladivostok, and (just for something different) here's a chronicle of Spider-Man's adventures set to Swing Swing by the eponysterical All-American Rejects. Previously and previouslier.
posted by Joe in Australia on Jul 8, 2010 - 15 comments

"Imagine, amid the grey serge of wartime France, a tribe of youngsters with all the colourful decadence of punks or teddy boys. Wearing zoot suits cut off at the knee (the better to show off their brightly coloured socks), with hair sculpted into grand quiffs, and shoes with triple-height soles - looking like glam-rock footwear 30 years early - these were the kids who would lay the foundations of nightclubbing. Ladies and gentlemen, les Zazous." [more inside]
posted by Paragon on Feb 8, 2010 - 15 comments

See Summer Swing Dance is dedicated to the art and spirit of Summer Brannin, a remarkable 21-year-old woman who died of cancer. And before anyone asks ...
posted by rcade on May 22, 2001 - 3 comments