My goal for this year’s Savoy Cup was to showcase a routine with Areski Stichweh. We had created a solo jazz piece last summer while teaching alongside each other at Swing Summit which we performed at Blue Skies Lisbon Lindy Exchange.

Working with Areski is a dream! It’s super easy and I feel equal in our partnership, both of us bring ideas to the table and actively listen to each other. Not to mention our shared love of all things silly, most training sessions start with Ariana Grande or RuPaul, with us pretending to be contemporary dancers rolling on the floor or drag queens on a runway.



After our solo performance at Blue Skies we wanted to do a partnered showcase and Savoy Cup seemed the perfect place to do it. I want to share some of the deliberate decisions we made in creating this piece.* Enjoy!



*Obviously this is just my perspective on a project which had more than just one person in it. These are just my thoughts and I’m sure Areski has his own story to share.



What story do we want to tell?

The first step of any routine for me is deciding what story I want to tell. Is this going to be a recreation piece where I want to be heavily influenced by vintage dancers? Are we going for high energy with crazy aerials? Are we going to commit to a particular theme?

Honestly, we were not trying to create a competitive piece as our goal was to create something that was very “us”. It was important to us that we showcased who we were as dancers above all else.

The sweetest feedback we got from our Blue Skies performance was that you could see our friendship through our routine. That really stuck with me and I wanted to leave the audience with that same feeling again.

We also looked at previous routines which had inspired us and why they inspired us. I absolutely adore this routine by DK Tail Oh & Dwapoo Byun from KLHC 2016.

KLHC 2016 Lindyhop Worldcup Showcase Division (1st place) – 테일 & 드왑푸



I love how much they committed to the theme they were going for and that they weren’t afraid to be silly. They told a story through their dance and it’s one of my favourite showcases of all time. It’s also why When the Quail Come Back to San Quentin is one of my favourite songs.



Music Choice

As we had already decided we wanted to showcase our art, we were less concerned about picking a super fast, high-energy song. We focused instead on finding a song with dynamic changes and weird bits. I love the weird bits.

We bounced ideas back and forth, I wanted something which had a similar feeling to When the Quail Come Back to San Quentin. We had both agreed that we wanted to max out at 180bpm and the song had to be around 2 mins or have sections we could cut out to make it 2 mins.

In the end Areski suggested Dark Eyes by The Shirt Tail Stompers (STS). I had done a routine earlier in the year to The Shirt Tail Stompers version of Buck Fever, and I love their version of Dark Eyes, so it was a no brainer.

(I am fully considering going for the hat trick and doing another showcase to a STS song)



Influences

When it came to actually putting down the choreography I was very keen to have few specific moves in there. These are moves I had been working on for a long time and I wanted to show them off. I found inspiration for some of these moves in other dancers outside of Lindy Hop.

The Split Drop – West Coast Swing

I have a secret confession to make, I’m a little bit obsessed with Victoria Henk, a West Coast Swing dancer. I think she is absolutely incredible and I love how much she takes charge and makes stuff happen in a dance. Henk is my idol when it comes to follow voice and being empowered to take risks in a dance. I’ve watched every mix and match she has been in, and she just happens to be boss at split drops as seen here at 1:15:

Since I started taking ballet classes in March 2018, my teacher Hulya Levent has been encouraging me to work on my splits and flexibility. It’s taken me a year but I’m very pleased to say I can now do the splits.

I had the inspiration, the skills, and a willing partner. So the split drop had to happen.

Inside turn into switches – Waacking

This one isn’t a secret, I love Waacking. I’ve posted about it publicly sharing IBUKI videos and posting about my experiences trying out waacking classes.

I clocked this one move by BABY ZOO in a waacking battle that I knew I wanted to put into my lindy hop:



I have to thank Mike Grosser for helping me figure out how to properly integrate the shape. I had been playing with it on the social floor unsuccessfully trying to put it into a swing out before Mike suggested we try an inside turn into switches. The clouds parted and BOOM, a new favourite move was created.

The Dress

It may seem a bit frivolous or vain but the outfit I wore for this routine was was a very deliberate choice. As the ever fabulous Jo Hoffberg has reminded me, it’s important to feel f’ing fabulous in the outfits you’re performing in.

Photo by Tommasi Giuntini

I don’t wear dresses often and they’re not something I ordinarily reach for in my wardrobe, but this routine has so many spins and turns in it I wanted to have a garment which showed off that movement. I had spent so long working on my arm movements I wanted to highlight them with something long sleeved.

I specifically wanted a balloon sleeved dress with a high neckline and a skirt above the knee which had some movement to it.

Like I said, it was a very careful decision.

I failed to find the perfect dress after searching for weeks, I asked my friend Colbert Newsome if she’d seen anything like it. I was about to make my peace with my back up option, but Colbs saved the day with a £16 steal on ASOS. For everyone who complimented me on my dress, I can highly recommend Colbert as a personal stylist.



And while I’m at it, here’s a long list of humans I’d like to thank for their awesomeness: Areski, duh. Katka Orlovska, Kris Blindert, Ana Maeso, Jan Karen Campbell, Jo Hoffberg, Ben Cook and Louis Caruthers. Thank you for watching our routine, giving us notes, cheering us on and for sending me a million Victoria Henk videos. <3