Chester Whitmore

America Swings

From: Sallie Bodie
Length: 06:51

The Golden Age of Harlem dance comes alive in Seattle Read the full description.

Piece Audio

Playing: America Swings
From: Sallie Bodie

Chesterpic_small The styles of Lindy Hop, swing and tap set the dance world on fire in the 1930s. Fast forward to the Century Ballroom in Seattle today, where Lindy Hop star Norma Miller and big band leader, composer and arranger, Chester Whitmore, tell how the golden age of Harlem has come alive again. Reporter: Sallie Bodie, reporter and producer.

Piece Description

The styles of Lindy Hop, swing and tap set the dance world on fire in the 1930s. Fast forward to the Century Ballroom in Seattle today, where Lindy Hop star Norma Miller and big band leader, composer and arranger, Chester Whitmore, tell how the golden age of Harlem has come alive again. Reporter: Sallie Bodie, reporter and producer.

Broadcast History

KBCS/Bellevue, WA September 28, 2006

Transcript

(Nat sound :03)

(Norma Miller)
America swings, baby, and that's what...puts us head and shoulders above. Swing is a freedom....

IN HARLEM IN 1925, SWING WAS KING! COUNT BASIE, DUKE ELLINGTON AND BENNY GOODMAN, WERE GIANTS OF BIG BAND IN THAT ERA. BUT FEW OF US KNOW THE DANCERS -- OF SWING, LINDY HOP AND TAP -- WHO ALSO REVOLUTIONIZED THE WORLD IN MANY WAYS. RECENTLY, THE CENTURY BALLROOM IN SEATTLE CELEBRATED THE MASTERS OF SWING DANCE AND MUSIC.

HALLIE KUPERMAN, OWNER OF THE CENTURY, WANTS PEOPLE TO KNOW THE LEGENDS WHO CREATED LINDY HOP AND SWING.

(Hallie Kuperman)
Part of the history is getting young people to hear the stories and know the people so they want to bring that forth in later generations or else this dance has a good possibility of dying like many things. It's such a treat to hear the stories about what it was like in Harlem know what it was like in that ti...
Read the full transcript

Timing and Cues

ANCHOR INTRO: THE GOLDEN AGE OF HARLEM CAME ALIVE AGAIN, THIS TIME IN SEATTLE. THE MASTERS OF LINDY HOP, TAP, AND BIG BAND JAZZ BROUGHT MAGIC TO THE CENTURY BALLROOM. THAT WEEKEND, YOUNG AND OLD CROWDED THE DANCE FLOOR TO SWING TO THE SOUNDS OF AMERICA'S GREATEST MUSIC.

AND SALLIE BODIE HAS THE STORY.