In this compact, vivid hybrid, Govenar transforms his taped and
transcribed interviews with dancer Norma Miller into her account of
life as a globe-traveling Lindy Hopper in the 1930s and '40s. Young
Norma danced the Charleston at her widowed mother's 1920s rent
parties, peeked into Harlem's hopping theatres and clubs and
entered every possible amateur night. Her determined apprenticeship
and eight decade (and counting) career spanned the jazz and swing
eras, took her to Europe and Rio and led to comedy, choreography,
TV and film. Govenar captures both Miller's remarkable experiences
(including incidents of racism on the road) and her sparkling
evocation of American music and dance when swing was king. French's
pictures pull out all the stops: bold, gestural strokes,
chiaroscuro, canted perspective and art deco elements rekindle the
era's excitement. Lacking documentation beyond Govenar's brief
introduction, this begs to be paired with recorded music and film
footage of the period. (Nonfiction. 9-13) (Kirkus Reviews)
Through extensive interviews with jazz dancer Norma Miller,
acclaimed author and filmmaker Alan Govenar captures the vitality,
wry humor, and indomitable spirit of an American treasure.
When she was just five years old, in 1924, Norma Miller knew just
what she wanted to do for the rest of her life: she wanted to
dance. It was the Jazz Age, the Harlem Renaissance, and Norma lived
behind New York's Savoy Ballroom, the only dance hall in a
still-segregated America where blacks and whites could mingle on
the same mahogany floor. It was in this majestic "home of happy
feet" that twelve-year-old Norma first brought the house down,
swing-stepping with Twist Mouth George, one of the premier dancers
of the day. Before long, the feisty Norma would rise to fame as one
of the first performers of the Lindy Hop, an acrobatic dance style
named for Charles Lindbergh's first solo flight (or "hop") across
the Atlantic. With the celebrated dance troupe Whitey's Lindy
Hoppers, a teenage Norma would cross the Atlantic herself on a tour
of Europe and even strut her stuff on the silver screen.
In this invigorating, humorous, and thought-provoking oral
autobiography, Alan Govenar captures the sound and spirit of Norma
Miller's voice as she recalls her early years and coming of age as
a determined young dancer during the heyday of swing. Augmenting
her lively narrative are Martin French's jazzy, singlecolor
illustrations, evoking the vibrant style of vintage poster art.
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