THE INTERNATIONAL SWING KIDS
A COLLABORATION OF JOY!
Chinese and African children unite during a global pandemic to show THE WORLD that dance can bring us together. And they were 7-12 years old. If they can do it, so can we!
CREATED THROUGH A JOYOUS ALLIANCE OF INDIVIDUALS FROM:
Africa • China • England • Singapore • USA
HOW IT ALL HAPPENED:
From Rusty Frank, December 2, 2021:"It's one of these stories that could only happen during 'these times' - these Pandemic times when everything changed. When we learned to reach out and stay connected with people in new and enormously meaningful ways. It is one of those stories that moves me so deeply and affects me more than I can say.
One night in early 2021, in the wee small hours of the morning, I found myself scrolling through Facebook and came to a halt upon seeing a video of children swing dancing in the village of Kampala, Uganda! Wow! I couldn't stop watching the video. I wondered who was teaching them? With the miracle of the internet, not even an hour later, I was talking to their teacher, Okurut George. Right away we started a collaboration involving Zoom classes with the kids and a big birthday fundraiser to help him bring dancing to other villages in Uganda (Thanks Tom Koerner & Debra Sternberg from Gotta Swing for the use of their non-profit for the fundraiser which raised $7,000!). Here's a video of one of the collaborations:
Some months later, the same thing happened - late at night coming across children dancing the Charleston, this time in Inner Mongolia! I'm stunned and moved once again to see the joyful dances of the Jazz Age in another far flung place of the globe (far flung, that is, from the 1920s American Jazz Age). Who are they? How are they learning these dances? I reached out to my long-time Lindy Hop friend, Sing Yuen Lim over in Singapore, and she told me that, not only did she know the teacher, Yeezy she had actually taught her at a dance event in BeIjing. Yes, the swing dance world is small!
My Lindy By The Sea co-teacher, Ron Campbell and I then surprised Yeezy, by having our adult students do her choreography with her kids. How did this happen? One of our students had a friend who was an editor, Liên Thành Kratzke (who is also a doctor) and she volunteered to edit the footage together!. You can see it:
But it doesn't stop there! Sing then suggests we enter the kids together as in the Youth Team division for the International Lindy Hop Competition 2021. We checked with all who would need to be involved - Okurut George, Yeezy, and Liên - to see if they were game. A rousing YES. So then the music. The stipulation was that the music chosen had to be played by a modern/current band. Well... right away I thought of my dear friend, Alex Mendham in England. He has one of the premier orchestras in the world playing music of the 1920s-1930s. The 2020 Alex Mendham Orchestra recording of "Shake That Thing" was just the perfect peppy piece for these kids. Just one thing - we were using Yeezy's choreography, but that one was to a 32 bar chorus and this song was a 12 bar blues. Quickly I did an adaptation of her choreo, filmed it, sent it to the teachers, and we were on our way. They taught it to the kids, filmed it, and sent the footage on to Liên. She brilliantly cut together this that you have just seen or about to see. And what happened? The International Swing Kids placed 1st in Youth Team at the competition.
So now we can finally share this video and this beautiful project with the world! I am overwhelmed by this film, by what it represents. My friend, 94-year old Helen Geller, watched it and said, "It makes you believe there is hope for the world." I agree.
I want to thank everyone who was involved to make this happened. It truly was an international collaboration of joy."
PRODUCER
Rusty Frank
Los Angeles, California, USA
COORDINATOR
Sing Yuen Lim
Singapore, Asia
TEACHERS
Yeezy - Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China
Okurut George - Kampala, Uganda, Africa
CHOREOGRAPHER
Yeezy, Up Studio
Dance Adaptation: Rusty Frank
MUSIC
“Shake That Thing"
Recorded by Alex Mendham & His Orchestra
2020, London, England
EDITED BY
Liên Thành Kratzke
Aiea, Hawaii
THE INTERNATIONAL SWING KIDS
THE HOHHOT INNER MONGOLIA SWING KIDS:
Ailiga, 艾丽嘎, 8
Charun 查润, 8
Qigeqi 奇格祺, 8
Ziyan Zhang, 张紫妍, 8
THE UGANDA SWING KIDS:
Ajuna Joshua, 9
Akello Emmanuella, 10
Ayena Calvin, 11
Kaggwa Derrick, 11
Maganda Jamila, 11
Mulumba Henry, 7
Nabanda Aisha, 10
Nabunya Maria, 11
Naisanga Joseline, 11
Namaganda Jamila, 12
Nandudu Vivian, 11
Naziwa Prim Rose, 10
Sonia Dita, 12
Ssali Sheebah, 10
Ssekandi Arafat, 10
Yoacheal Ray, 11
Filmed on location in
Kampala, Uganda, Africa
Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China
Copyright 2021
For more information
rusty@rustyfrank.com