Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop
by Cynthia Millman, Frankie Manning
List Price:
Our Price: $15.33
You Save: $48.17 (76%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $11.34 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Cynthia Millman, Frankie ManningEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-05-28
ISBN: 1592135633
Number of pages: 312
Publisher: Temple University Press
Book Reviews of Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop
Book Review: YAAAAY - Finally!
Summary: 5 Stars
Call me enthusiastic, but this is Frankie's story in his own words, therefore it's great.
I just received my copy yesterday, and have been dipping into it slowly, savoring a man - and a spirit - that is to be treasured.
Frankie himself is amazing for his ability to have been fully himself, and to have made his life's most powerful work be the expression of who he is through his art form, the dance.
Yes, it's a treasure-trove of wonderful stories, at which Frankie is a master. And, the value of story-telling is the insights it gives on what it is to be fully human.
I got to know Frankie in London and Sweden, and being able to sit and listen to him is, as Mickey Davidson says, the profound pleasure of sitting at the feet of the Elders. There is much wisdom in this man, as well as much fun. He has, as all great artists do, brought that wisdom, and his soul, into his work. He has, thereby, touched hundreds of thousands - if not millions - of people, dancers and non-dancers.
It looks like Ms. Millman largely made the wise choice to let his words and his story take front and center. If you've heard him tell stories before, you can hear his voice - and his infectious laugh - come through the pages. This book is worth reading for anyone interested in knowing what decency and grace people are truly capable of, no matter what people around them are doing.
If I have a gripe, it is that the end of the book (which talks about the resurgence of Lindy and Frankie in the '80s) does not truly do justice to how profound as well as international Frankie's reach has been. By simply being who he is and doing what he loves and does best, Frankie has been kept increasingly busy traveling around the world - to Australia, Japan, eastern as well as western Europe, throughout Asia - asked to share what he does and what he knows. There's no big celebrity machine grinding out PR and Marketing on him to set up these trips - dancers see or hear about him, are touched in some way by him, and want to know more about what he knows. So they call him up, and ask him to come to an event, and if he has time, you're in his schedule, solid. It's a simple process based on trust - he trusts you to do what you say, and you can count on it that he'll do what he's said.
The picture on page 192 of Frankie dancing with Norma is worth the price of the book in itself, for having captured on Frankie's face the sheer joy that comes from connecting to the music, your partner, your body's capabilities for expressing all that words are inadequate for. Thank you, Cynthia, for getting him out there at long last.
Summary of Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop
In the early days of swing dancing, Frankie Manning stood out for his moves and innovative routines; he introduced the 'air step' in the Lindy Hop, a dance that took the U.S. and then the world by storm. In this fascinating autobiography, choreographer and Tony Award winner (Black and Blue) Manning recalls how his first years of dancing as a teenager at Harlem's Savoy Ballroom led to his becoming chief choreographer and a lead dancer for 'Whitey's Lindy Hoppers,' a group that appeared on Broadway, in Hollywood musicals and on stages around the globe. Manning brings the Swing Era vividly back to life with his recollections of the crowded ballrooms and of Lindy Hoppers trying to outdo each other in spectacular performances.Dance Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Dance Books
Rasa: Performing the Divine in Indiaby Susan L. Schwartz
Columbia University Press; Published: 2004-08-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $21.41
Price in other shops:
The Dancer Defects: The Struggle for Cultural Supremacy during the Cold Warby David Caute
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2003-08-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $94.17
Dance and Drama in Baliby De Zoete
Oxford University Press,South East Asia; Published: 1986-12; Hardcover; Book
Second Skin: Josephine Baker & the Modern Surfaceby Anne Anlin Cheng
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2011-01-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.16
Price in other shops:
Physics and the Art of Dance: Understanding Movementby Kenneth Laws
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2005-03-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $142.30
Striptease: The Untold History of the Girlie Showby Rachel Shteir
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2004-11-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.04
Price in other shops:
Dance Anecdotes: Stories from the Worlds of Ballet, Broadway, the Ballroom, and Modern DanceOxford University Press, USA; Published: 2006-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.14
Price in other shops:
Isadora Duncan: The Russian Years,by Il'Ia Il'Ich. ShneIder
Harcourt; Published: 1969-06; Hardcover; Book
Physics of Danceby Kenneth Laws
Schirmer Books; Published: 1984-08; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
Dance a Whileby Jane A. Harris, Marlys S. Waller, Anne M. Pittman
Prentice Hall; Published: 1988-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $23.93
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Swingin' at the Savoy: The Memoir of a Jazz Dancerby Norma Miller, Evette Jensen
Temple University Press; Published: 1996-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $79.88
Jazz Dance: The Story Of American Vernacular Danceby Marshall Stearns, Jean Stearns
Da Capo Press; Published: 1994-03-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.16
Price in other shops:
Ultimate Lindy Hop Volume 2 - The CharlestonRelease date: 2010-03-30; DVD
Best price: $21.95
Price in other shops:
Ultimate Lindy Hop Volume 3 - Flash, Shine, and Advanced StepsRelease date: 2010-03-30; DVD
Best price: $21.95
Price in other shops:
Ultimate Lindy Hop Volume 1 - Fundamentals and Essential StepsRelease date: 2010-03-30; DVD
Best price: $21.95
Price in other shops: