On Friday, June 29th, the Harlem Speaks series collaborated with the Riverside Theatre’s New York Family Arts Festival to present a tribute to a living legend of swing dance, Frankie Manning. The evening began in the Riverside Theatre (located within the Riverside Church in Morningside Heights) with Jazz Museum Executive Director, Loren Schoenberg, interviewing the 93 year old lindy hop master. Cynthia R. Millman, co-author of the auto-biography, Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop, joined them on stage.

“This is the first time I’ve seen so much of my family in one place,” said Manning in response to the standing ovation he received upon his entrance.

Born on May 26, 1914, Manning lived in Jacksonville, Florida until the age of 3, at which time his mother Lucille brought him to Harlem, the birthplace of the Lindy. “She was the dancer of the family,” he recalled. Manning says that she danced the more formal social dances such as the fox trot and the tango, but that he most enjoyed seeing her get down on “blues nights” at Harlem rent parties doing the Charleston, the Black Bottom, and the Mess Around.

And it was at one of those famed rent parties that Manning made a key finding. An older woman took him onto the dance floor to slow drag, also known as “the grind.”

“That’s when I discovered I was a man!”

He also talked about growing up in the midst of this Swing Era playground, and his role as part of a group of dedicated dancers that inspired the dance styles and music of the 1930's and 40's. Based at Harlem's Savoy Ballroom, he took his talent on the road as a dancer and chief choreographer for Whitey's Lindy Hoppers.

From Harlem's ballrooms at age 13, dancing at the Savoy Ballroom and the Cotton Club, to the elite Whitey's Lindy Hoppers as a dancer and choreographer, Frankie Manning has always been a major force behind the development of the dance that’s truly an American art form. He is credited with not only creating the first airstep, but also the first ensemble Lindy Hop routine.

A thrilling clip from the 1941 film Hellazpoppin’ was shown as evidence of his choreographic genius.

He discussed how he developed his lindy hop innovations—dancing to records, practicing and adapting variations on the moves of others to his own style, and his unique upper body movements, where he would be almost horizontal. “You look like you’re flying” he’s often been told.

His influence can be seen in the moves of Michael Jackson, and in the fast-steppin’ of the Brooklyn-based The Jitterbug Kids, who danced up a storm in honor of Manning.

Manning also recalled the great big bands and musicians he adored—Jimmie Lunceford, Jo Jones, Chu Berry, Ben Webster—and witnessing jam sessions ‘til the wee hours of the morning among Louis Armstrong, Charlie Christian and Benny Goodman. He told us about the call and response between himself and Dizzy Gillespie, and a command performance for the Queen of England. “I was so flustigated that I curtsied!”

He said that there were 5,000 dancers inside and as many outside of the Savoy Ballroom the night of the iconic battle between the orchestras of Chick Webb and Benny Goodman. Although he gave the nod to Webb, Manning said that the dancers were the real winners that night.

The same holds true for the hundreds in attendance, many of whom stood in line to get an autographed copy of the aforementioned biography, or who danced in the South Hall of the Riverside Church to the sounds of the Jazz Museum in Harlem Big Band. After he finished the book signing, Manning led the crowd in a shimmy shaking soiree so swinging that the blues just gave up.