Al and Leon Shim Sham
Trying the flavour of the bests:
We were trying to explore and get deeper into some of the masters' art, with a particular attention to absorb and learn as much as possible about Al Minns and Leon James. We saw many dancers dancing the "Al & Leon Shim Sham", but we had the impression that the routines mostly repeated the steps with little to no attention to the interpretation or the art. The line wall behind with the original clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zpkkjm4Nt4
In our performance, we tried to focus on the “how” they danced it and not just on the “what”, because that is what we found amazing. We are not entire familiar with the context surrounding this piece; it is indicative to see that when those great dancers were on TV, showing their art form, they did not present it themselves, but rather a white person is calling the steps. Same settings can be observed in this clip as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA-u7rp-SrU
Performed at Swing the Abbey, First Edition, Luxembourg, 2018.
-Martina Natella and Roumany Israil (dancers, teachers and organizers)
Updated 2 months ago
