Författare: swingzine.com

Jamin Jackson: ”Duke Ellington is my doppelgänger”

His style has been called “Flow and Flash” and Duke Ellington is his biggest inspiration. Six years ago, the Frankie Manning Foundation made him ambassador. Folks, meet Jamin Jackson! He has choreographed, performed and instructed for two decades and just recently took a new step in his career. As an artist, entrepreneur and incomparable dancer it’s not easy to label him though people have tried. “I care only enough to keep me growing,” he replies. Text: Annika Munter Editor: Odella Schattin At just eleven years of age, Jamin already knew what he wanted to do: he wanted to dance....

Read More

Why aren’t more Afro-Americans swing dancing 2017?

Americans are people of the now, birthing new art and ideas everyday. ”We are fundamentally individualistic. We are not preservationist like our European and Asian lindy hop family.” Jamin Jackson look upon swing dancings practitioners. – European and Asian lindy hop histories are much older than the USA and they have more sensitivity for knowing the origins of artistic moments in their unique cultures. This may be one of the reasons why Americans with brown skin don’t have swing dancing on their radar. We don’t celebrate our historic dances. In the states, we consider swing “some old dance” for everyone else...

Read More

Prevent sexual assaults–5 rules for all

You are a good person, you know what is right and what is wrong, right? Most of us do. Despite that upsetting stories of sexual assaults have hit the swing dance scene. ”We don’t have any swing community problems, we have individual problems”, Jamin Jackson says and argues that we all should: …recognize that we are recipients of swing culture not the originators. This means we have to hold ourselves accountable to “their” standard, the people who created it. We don’t have the right to change fundamental social ethics if we don’t like them, no matter how outdated we project...

Read More

Missing in the swing community–3 things

When starting swing dancing Jamin Jackson saw a flaw in the lindy hop scene. This three things he noticed:  Lack of professional dancers with his background. “Most major influences I noticed at the time were international teachers who started their dance journey in Lindy Hop. They were experts at preserving and replicating classic movements from the founding artists of the past. I felt my experience as a modern vernacular dancer would galvanize a culture shift toward individual creatively – building rugged individualism on the historical foundation.“ Need for a simple duplicatable teaching approach. I compare this concept to riding a...

Read More

Get your kids to love swing: 3 shortcuts

1. Hum songs to them when they are babies. 2. Cultivate their ears for higher quality music, as they get older. “Play swing music casually around the house to identity what kinds of emotional sounds your kids lean toward. My son for instance likes lower sounds such as the cello, a base, or a saxophone. I figured that out within a few months of him being born as he would hum certain songs and complete ignore others as I played them.” Jamin Jackson 3. Create good memories echoed by swing music in the background. “I started my professional swing dance training...

Read More

FREE! SUBSCRIBE VIA EMAIL

Easiest way to get updates from swingzine.com

LindyPlus

Swingzine in collaboration with LindyPlus.

LindyPlus connects dancers with swing dance events/festivals, dance schools and swing dance teachers. Join now!

FOLLOW SWINGZINE.COM

ABOUT

Swingzine.com is a online fanzine – portraying the culture of swing dance and the heroes who make it special. Follow us for reviews from the best swing events ever, personal stories and historical perspective. Swingzine.com mix swing things with good advice and content praising movements bringing out the good in people.

Get in contact
Advertise