Norma Miller Chats with Voices of the Jazz Era Ballroom
We caught up with the celebrated dancer, performer and comedienne Norma Miller on her recent book tour to chat about her memories of dance, VJEB which she was kind enough to promote, and about all of the many things that still keep her swinging at 90-years-young. Norma was an original Savoy Ballroom dancer and one of the early innovators of Lindy Hop. Her film credits include some of the most iconic sequences in swing, such as A Day at the Races (1937), Hellzapoppin' (1941), and Hot Chocolates (1941).
Norma, simply put, is a force of nature. At 90 she's doing more, and has more to say than most people a quarter her age. She told us about everything from entertaining guests at her mother's rent parties in the 1920's to her experiences of bringing lindy hop to Europe as a 15-year-old in 1935. Any musicians watching will surely love her tales about smuggling American jazzmen through Europe before big band swing had truly made the full leap across the pond. She also talks about the hard times--moving around when rent couldn't be paid, WWII, segregation.
Nowadays Norma is sharing the dances she loves with a new generation. Inspired by Michelle Obama's efforts to curb childhood obesity and promote youth fitness, Norma is pushing for dance in the curriculum of school children as the kind of joyful exercise that stays with you for life. She also recently authored a book about the history of swing, called Swing Baby Swing, and is the subject of the recent documentary The Queen of Swing. It was a joy speaking with her, and we wish her well with her many projects.
Voices of the Jazz Era Ballroom is open for submissions
We are so delighted to announce, after our many months of planning, programming, and talking with all kinds of wonderful people about dance and music "back in the day," that the project is officially live and looking good. This space on the site will be used to highlight your submissions, keep you updated on news about the project, and blog about the growing collection.
As you will see, a lot of material has been added to the photo archive and there are a handful of oral history interviews up, including the grandmothers of the project's founder--adorably enough their names are Lottie and Dottie and they talk about everything from skipping school to attend dance marathons in the '30s to some very strange burlesque in Detroit nightclubs in the '40s.
Kelly also sat down to chat with Norma Miller this weekend. Norma, an original Savoy Ballroom dancer and member of the famous Whitey's Lindy Hoppers dance troop based out of Harlem in the 30's and 40's, has a 75-year-long career dancing swing and lindy hop all over the world and in film. At the age of 90 she hasn't slowed down a bit, as she has just finished a new book on the history of dance and is working on a national initiative to keep school kids fit by introducing dance into the curriculum. We sat down together and talked about our respective projects and Norma told us some terrific stories about rent parties in Harlem in the 1920's and her impressions of dance and music in Europe when she brought lindy hop across the pond as a 15-year-old in the '30s after winning the Harvest Moon Ball Competition in New York. That video will be up shortly.
In the meantime, now that the site is open to accept the stories and photographs of your friends and loved ones with memories of the jazz era, we hope you will go have a chat of your own about the project with them.