Integrated Rhythm

Bobby tells the story of four incredible dancers who were Frankie Manning's partners, and Chisomo and IR fam LAUREL RYAN join in and listen along.  

0:00 Frieda Washington & Creative Adventurousness 

19:00 Lucille Middleton & Tall Coolness 

28:30 Willa Mae Ricker & Fashionable Groundedness 

49:30 Ann(e)? Johnson & Powerful Smallness   

SOURCES:  "Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop" by Frankie Manning & Cynthia Millman, "Swinging at the Savoy: The Memoir of a Jazz Dancer" by Norma Miller and Evette Jensen, SavoyStyle biographies by Judy Pritchett, and 1930s and 40s Censuses and Death records. "Frankie And His Partners" by Anthony Wheaton via Swing Patrol website. "Willa Mae Ricker, The Patron Saint of Respect for Lindy Hoppers," an article on Swungover. Frankie's Air Step story came from Swing Dance San Diego's YouTube video titled "The First Air Step -- A Talk by Frankie Manning." 

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Welcome to Integrated Rhythm! Two Swing Dancing besties (Chisomo Selemani & Bobby White) navigate race and the Black Experience in the world of Jazz Dance and other Afro-centric social dancing. Our goal is comfortable conversations about uncomfortable things.

Our intro and ad music this week is by Barron Ryan, Laurel Ryan's brother. Check out firstofitskind.net, and www.barronryan.com.

Our podcast music is by Laurel Ryan & Michelle Stokes, our "We're back! song" was an improvisation by Steffanie AK Schilling, and the background drumming is by Bobby White.

Find us at your local podcast ap, or at: https://anchor.fm/integratedrhythm 

Please donate to help keep us in business:

Patreon: patreoncom/integratedrhythm

PayPal: [email protected]

Venmo: @bobbyswungover

(Where applicable, lease put the note "IR" in it, so that we know it's for the podcast.)

Another Chisomo & Bobby episode! This week, the parable of the Three Little Black Girls. What would you do? Let us know at [email protected]

0:00 Three Little Black Girls come up to us in the park…

6:00 "Too woke, Chisomo"

9:30 No one will see our dance if it's not out in the world…

20:00 Crucibles of talent

29:00 Independence vs interdependence

It's a Chisomo & Bobby episode, where they have a friend's talk that asks some questions about how Black culture relates to the dance and teaching, tells one of Bobby's most memorable Frankie Manning stories, and reveals which one of us is "the woman in the doorframe." 

0:00 Mentorship & teaching

5:00 LaTasha Barnes: Balboa dancer?

7:30 The Nuances of Cultural Embodiment

11:00 You don't get to erase my lived history

13:00 The woman with her foot in the door

17:00 Of rooms and vantage points

20:00 Bobby goes to a different country & his dad is proud

23:30 Bobby's Adventures in London

25:00 The early 2000s London Dance Scene (Editor's note: It might have changed a lot since then)

33:00 When you're young and scrappy and going on adventures…

35:00 Meeting famous people

40:00 Bobby's Most Memorable Frankie Manning Story

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Welcome to Integrated Rhythm! Two Swing Dancing besties (Chisomo Selemani & Bobby White) navigate race and the Black Experience in the world of Jazz Dance and other Afro-centric social dancing. Our goal is comfortable conversations about uncomfortable things.

Our music is by Laurel Ryan & Michelle Stokes, our "We're back! song" was an improvisation by Steffanie AK Schilling, and the background drumming is by Bobby White

Find us at your local podcast ap, or at: https://anchor.fm/integratedrhythm 

Please donate to help keep us in business:

Patreon: patreoncom/integratedrhythm

PayPal: [email protected]

Venmo: @bobbyswungover

(Where applicable, lease put the note "IR" in it, so that we know it's for the podcast.)

A Communal Circle.

In this episode, (part 2 of 2) JULIA LOVING discusses her intimate history with Black New York art forms, the dances she runs in Harlem, and a controversial opinion that will make some people in Queens wanna fight. Also, Chisomo, Bobby tackle an important question from Julia.

0:00 Julia's Question

4:00 Laws, acts, amendments, mindset, What are white people doing to change that opinion?

8:00 The knitty-gritty takes place on the local scene

11:00 About Julia's dances in Harlem

13:30 I learned in Harlem

18:30 Chisomo's hope with Integrated Rhythm…

20:00 A conversation across racialized identities

23:00 Appropriation, appreciation, and the need to follow the money

26:00 What Integrated Rhythm means to Julia

27:30 We all need…

35:00 Julia's controversial opinion

39:00 Important connections between Swing & Hip Hop

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Welcome to Integrated Rhythm! Two Swing Dancing besties (Chisomo Selemani & Bobby White) navigate race and the Black Experience in the world of Jazz Dance and other Afro-centric social dancing. Our goal is comfortable conversations about uncomfortable things.

Our intro and ad music this week is by Barron Ryan, Laurel Ryan's brother. Check out firstofitskind.net, and www.barronryan.com.

Our podcast music is by Laurel Ryan & Michelle Stokes, and the background drumming is by Bobby White

Find us at your local podcast ap, or at: https://anchor.fm/integratedrhythm 

Please donate to help keep us in business:

Patreon: patreoncom/integratedrhythm

PayPal: [email protected]

Venmo: @bobbyswungover

(Where applicable, lease put the note "IR" in it, so that we know it's for the podcast.)

In this episode (Part 1 of 2), we're with dancer, historian, educator, promoter, instigator, designer, and business owner JULIA LOVING. We share Norma Miller stories, the historical Civil Rights legacy of Julia's family, and how both have shaped the design of Julia's incredible swing dance events.

0:00 Miss Norma enters the room…

6:00 Norma's memories

8:35 Empowerment and tough love

11:00 Norma asks you to come over and talk to her

14:30 The stories we don't remember

19:00 Continuums of Lindy

23:30 It's multi-dimensional and all tied together

28:30 The legacy of the Lovings

37:30 It's in my family

39:00 There's a continuum of Lindy Hop in Harlem

41:00 Julia's vision for promoting

43:30 There's nothing like having your own Black agency

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Welcome to Integrated Rhythm! Two Swing Dancing besties (Chisomo Selemani & Bobby White) navigate race and the Black Experience in the world of Jazz Dance and other Afro-centric social dancing. Our goal is comfortable conversations about uncomfortable things.

Our intro and ad music this week is by Barron Ryan, Laurel Ryan's brother. Check out firstofitskind.net, and www.barronryan.com. 

Our podcast music is by Laurel Ryan & Michelle Stokes, our "We're back! song" was an improvisation by Steffanie AK Schilling, and the background drumming is by Bobby White

Find us at your local podcast ap, or at: https://anchor.fm/integratedrhythm 

Please donate to help keep us in business:

Patreon: patreoncom/integratedrhythm

PayPal: [email protected]

Venmo: @bobbyswungover

(Where applicable, lease put the note "IR" in it, so that we know it's for the podcast.)

A room with a door...

Not just a great thing to have in a instructor contract, it's also a great thing to have in the swing dance scene as a whole.

In part 2 of 2, instructor, MC, and Lindy Focus meeting co-host LAUREL RYAN shares with us how the standards of Black Excellence give a warped door for Black instructors to enter the Instructor room, how the swing scene is designed like FaceBook, and how the women's bathroom is the secret to good allyship.      

0:00 The standard of Black excellence 

5:30 Every bad experience leads to a better rider

11:00 Lindy Hop is a folk dance

19:00 There's a huge difference in how Black men are treated in the scene, and how Black women are treated in the scene

22:00 Promoters and their Black teachers and follower privilege and leader privilege and children

28:00 The threat of marginalized people being edged out

33:00 The intersection of opposing ideas

39:00 How FB and the Swing Scene are designed similarly

45:30 Awkward Allyship

49:00 Women's bathrooms: The secret to Allyship

1:00:00 What do I like about the way that I dance?

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Welcome to Integrated Rhythm! Two Swing Dancing besties (Chisomo Selemani & Bobby White) navigate race and the Black Experience in the world of Jazz Dance and other Afro-centric social dancing. Our goal is comfortable conversations about uncomfortable things.

Special in this episode, our starting music is Barron Ryan. All other music is by Laurel Ryan & Michelle Stokes.

Find us at your local podcast ap, or at: https://anchor.fm/integratedrhythm 

Please donate to help keep us in business:

Patreon: patreoncom/integratedrhythm

PayPal: [email protected]

Venmo: @bobbyswungover

(Where applicable, lease put the note "IR" in it, so that we know it's for the podcast.)

A Sprinkle of White Supremacy...

In part 1 of 2, instructor, MC, and Lindy Focus meeting co-host LAUREL RYAN shares with us the fascinating tales of learning Lindy Hop, confronting its harmful teaching practices, and how Black people are constantly battling between being undervalued and tokenized. 

**Music in this episode by Barron Ryan! Go to barronryan.com and firstofitskind.net to learn more and get his incredible, new rights free album!**

0:00 Laurel grew up surrounded by exceptional people 

7:00 How Laurel got into Lindy Hop (in Tulsa, Oklahoma) 

17:00 The "path" to international teaching 

21:00 When the Black folks made space for Laurel in her home scene 

25:00 A trained teacher and creative artist takes a Lindy class... 

30:00 Polite gaslighting? 

34:00 Lindy classes: "It's not working for enough people" 

37:00 Neuro-diverse people are attracted to Swing dancing... 

40:00 "I started telling people, I don't want to hear about..." 

42:00 The danger of erasing difference in order to make people feel better 

45:00 The physical elitism of today's Lindy Hop contests  

47:30 Look at the gateway to international instruction 

49:00 "The times I have won competitions..." and imposture syndrome

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Welcome to Integrated Rhythm! Two Swing Dancing besties (Chisomo Selemani & Bobby White) navigate race and the Black Experience in the world of Jazz Dance and other Afro-centric social dancing. Our goal is comfortable conversations about uncomfortable things.

Our music is by Laurel Ryan & Michelle Stokes, our "We're back! song" was an improvisation by Steffanie AK Schilling, and the background drumming is by Bobby White

Find us at your local podcast ap, or at: https://anchor.fm/integratedrhythm 

Please donate to help keep us in business:

Patreon: patreoncom/integratedrhythm

PayPal: [email protected]

Venmo: @bobbyswungover

(Where applicable, lease put the note "IR" in it, so that we know it's for the podcast.)

Pretend I'm Not Bouncing.   

Dancer BRANDON BARKER has his dance passion in three worlds --- the academy of a university where he is currently finishing up a BFA in concert dance, the legendary company of Black American dance Alvin Ailey where he has worked and trained, and the swing scene where he is a Lindy Hopper and Jazz dancer, performer, and teacher. See how those worlds criss-cross and collide in today's episode.

0:00 Brandon breaks down his dancing life for the discussion

6:00 Working with Clyde Wilder

8:00 What's it like being a student in your dance forms compared to each other

14:00 Bobby learns jazz and tap from a Ballerina

16:00 Performance and competitions background approaches

20:00 The art of throwing yourself into things

24:00 What's it like teaching those in the swing scene, especially with your background in concert dance training?

35:00 What are some of the things its hard to get concert dancers to do in jazz dance movement?

37:00 What happens when Hip Hop and House dancers swing?

45:00 Being a Choreography-trained dancer, what was it like when you started trying out improvisation?   

54:00 In all your dance places, are you treated differently? Anything you want to share about being a Black Man in those spaces?

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Welcome to Integrated Rhythm! Two Swing Dancing besties (Chisomo Selemani & Bobby White) navigate race and the Black Experience in the world of Jazz Dance and other Afro-centric social dancing. Our goal is comfortable conversations about uncomfortable things.

Our music is by Laurel Ryan & Michelle Stokes, and the background drumming is by Bobby White

Find us at your local podcast ap, or at: https://anchor.fm/integratedrhythm 

Please donate to help keep us in business:

Patreon: patreoncom/integratedrhythm

PayPal: [email protected] (Where applicable, lease put the note "IR" in it, so that we know it's for the podcast.)

Venmo: @bobbyswungover (Where applicable, lease put the note "IR" in it, so that we know it's for the podcast.)

It's a Chisomo & Bobby episode, where we discuss a few topics.  

0:00 A possible guest politely declined to be on our show, and we talk about it. It's all good, but we wanted to explore some things that brings up.  

12:30 The art of not talking over Follower teachers, and what that tells us about inclusion.  

28:30 We discuss Odysseus Bailer's great "How to Apologize" post, recently published on his professional FB page.

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Welcome to Integrated Rhythm! Two Swing Dancing besties (Chisomo Selemani & Bobby White) navigate race and the Black Experience in the world of Jazz Dance and other Afro-centric social dancing. Our goal is comfortable conversations about uncomfortable things. 

Our music is by Laurel Ryan & Michelle Stokes.  

Find us at your local podcast app, or at: https://anchor.fm/integratedrhythm   

Please donate to help keep us in business:  

Patreon: patreoncom/integratedrhythm  

PayPal: [email protected]  

Venmo: @bobbyswungover   

(Where applicable, lease put the note "IR" in it, so that we know it's for the podcast.)

This is part 2 of 2 of our second Block Party. We are honored to have with us, MC and instructor MICHELLE STOKES, MC and instructor LAUREL RYAN --- both of which do the amazing music for our podcast, by the way --- we also have incredible swing dance researcher and history lover LEWIS ORCHARD, and 1972 Harvest Moon Ball champion and Mama Lou Parks Dancer CRYSTAL JOHNSON.

Buzz Words

1:00 Question #2:  "When we come back together, it's not important that the swing scene simply be a space that is welcoming to Black people, but that it be more of a Black space." To you, what are some of the things that make it a Black space?"

3:00 It's easy to define a white space…

6:00 The heart of the question…

11:30 White spaces vs Black spaces

15:00 Generations and how much they wanted to Lindy Hop

17:00 Everyone should work together

21:30 Scarcity mindset in the scene

24:30 The dance is not a prescribed thing

26:30 On allies and each person's power

29:30 Question #3: What app do you wish existed?

30:30 Crystal's thumbs down app

31:00 Michelle's Buzzer app

36:00 Laurel's ADHD Priority app

39:00 Lewis's TV Is-it-worth-it app

43:30 The gang's answer app

45:30 "How to keep a man"

48:00 "How to split up with someone"

49:30 Single people in churches

54:00 Crystal's tips

60:00 Norma Miller, Darleen Gist, and Crystal all get into an elevator…

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Welcome to Integrated Rhythm! Two Swing Dancing besties (Chisomo Selemani & Bobby White) navigate race and the Black Experience in the world of Jazz Dance and other Afro-centric social dancing. Our goal is comfortable conversations about uncomfortable things. In this episode...

Our music is by Laurel Ryan & Michelle Stokes, and the background drumming is by Bobby White

Find us at your local podcast ap, or at: https://anchor.fm/integratedrhythm 

Please donate to help keep us in business:

Patreon: patreoncom/integratedrhythm

PayPal: [email protected]

Venmo: @bobbyswungover

(Where applicable, lease put the note "IR" in it, so that we know it's for the podcast.)