Sunday, July 09, 2006

I haven't done much in the way of predictions but here's one I'd like to make.

Remember in the mid-late 1990's there was that resurgence of swing music? It was kind of affected and seemed to be largely an upper middle class, white kind of activity, kind of a charming anachronism.

I just get the feeling that we are in for not a revival precisely but more like a re-birth. Not white kids aping the past but non-white kids who believe that they are inventing something new but which looks remarkably familiar.

There's a dance in Chicago now called Wild 40's. It's a wiggly leg move, similar to the Charlston (the dance's name references the decade, not malt liquor) and I can't find an example on YouTube. But kids here know Wild 40's just as much as they know how to dance the Lean With It, Rock With It.

If you watch the Ken Burns multi-part Jazz documentary, well, bless your heart, but there is some fantastic dance footage. And it shows how swing dance is not just partnered, jitterbug-style dancing but full of individual footwork and expression. Footwork and expression that looks remarkably like contemporary clown walks.

Between the new Christina Aguilera single and the upcoming Outkast movie, it's swinging.