Frankie Manning
| Frankie Manning | |
|---|---|
Manning in 2008
|
|
| Born |
May 26, 1914 Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. |
| Died | April 27, 2009 (aged 94) Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
| Resting place |
Woodlawn Cemetery The Bronx, New York, U.S. |
| Other names | Frank Manning "Muscle head" Manning |
| Occupation | Choreographer, dancer |
| Children |
Chazz Young Marion Manning Frankie Manning Jr. |
| Awards |
Tony Award for Best Choreography 1989 Black and Blue |
| Website | frankiemanning |
Frankie Manning (May 26, 1914 – April 27, 2009) was an American dancer, instructor, and choreographer. Manning is considered one of the founders of Lindy Hop.
Manning was born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1914. After his parents separated, at the age of 3 he moved to Harlem with his mother, who was a dancer.
Manning began dancing as a child. Manning's mother sent him to spend summers with his father, aunt and grandmother on their farm in Aiken, South Carolina. On Saturdays, farmhands and locals would come to the farm to play music on the front porch with harmonicas and a washtub bass. Manning's grandmother encouraged the bashful boy to get out in the yard and dance with the others. Once he got in the dance circle, he developed a feel for dancing and did not want to stop.
Back in New York, he started attending the dances at the Renaissance Ballroom in 1927 after his mother invited him to help her decorate the ballroom for a Halloween dance and promised to take him to the 9:00 dance that night. Watching from the balcony, he was surprised to see his mother dancing formal ballroom styles such as foxtrot and waltz, having only seen her dance before in a much looser and casual style at neighborhood rent parties. He danced with his mother later that night and she told him afterwards that "Frankie, you'll never be a dancer, because you're too stiff." Manning really loved his mother and wanted to do things to please her, so that is why he wanted to learn how to dance. He started listening to records on a Victrola in his bedroom and would practice dancing with a broom or a chair trying to get "un-stiff". When he was older, he started going to Harlem's Savoy Ballroom, which was for better dancers, and was also the only integrated ballroom in New York. He frequented the Savoy in the 1930s, eventually becoming a dancer in the elite and prestigious "Kat's Corner," a corner of the dance floor where impromptu exhibitions and competitions took place. During a dance contest in 1935, Manning and his partner, Frieda Washington, performed the first aerial in a swing dance competition against George "Shorty" Snowden, the inventor of the term Lindy Hop, and his partner, Big Bea, at the Savoy Ballroom. The airstep he performed was a "back to back roll" and was danced while Chick Webb played "Down South Camp Meeting," which was Manning's request after having heard the song earlier in the evening. The airstep went flawlessly to the music and astonished the more than 2,000 audience members.
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