Local couple bring swing dance back to the masses
Jeff Moses
The Savoy Hop Cats are a husband and wife swing dancing tandem that has been entertaining, and educating Phoenix area dance enthusiasts for more than two years. Nathaniel and Elizabeth Smalley met through swing dancing and now are doing their best to “bring Lindy Hop back to the people” according to Elizabeth.
Lindy hop is a form of swing dancing that became popular in the 1920’s; its name is derived from the famed pilot Charles Lindbergh, and his 1927 flight across the Atlantic.
Nathaniel became a swing enthusiast after seeing the movie “Swing Kids” as a teenager and said that he “was really impressed with the energy the flash and the style of the dance.”
Elizabeth found the swing through nineties Ska bands like the Cherry Poppin Daddies, Royal Crown Review, and Less Than Jake, and said that “they were new bands on the scene and they were playing swing, and so you had swing dancers and skankers out their together”
The Hop Cats are so ardent in their mission that they don’t even perform in competition though they admit they think they are quite good.
The history of swing dancing also drew the Smalleys toward the often over looked art form “swing was born in the 1920s in the Savoy Ball Room in Harlem New York hence are name Savoy Hopcats . hop referring to Lindy Hop . and cats refers to the specific art of the Savoy ballroom where all the best dancers used to hang out was the cats corner,” Nathaniel said.
The Hop Cats are promoting the history of swing through their Mobsters Ball on May 2.
The event will consist of a live swing band The Kings of Pleasure, a backroom Black Jack tournament, drink specials, and an overall speak easy feel hosted at the historic Hotel San Carlos in downtown Phoenix.
Elizabeth Smalley also said that ” there’s no events like ours, hosted in a venue like this that was built in the 20s with live music . there’s a lot of things going on in dance studios around town.”
According to the Smalley’s the studios offer a much more narrow lesson teaching basic east coast swing and only playing traditional swing music.
“You (have got to) remember that in the twenties and thirties the kind of music they were playing and the kind of dance they were doing was pushing the envelope. I mean this was shocking ground breaking stuff, and so we try to do that same thing today we can’t play Duke Ellington to be groundbreaking so we play Kg Elephant, Lady Gaga, and still that good classic swing,” Elizabeth said.
The group that showed up ranged in age from the early twenties to late fifties, one Hop Cat veteran Linda Moore of Phoenix said she comes “for the pure fun of it all.”
James McCammon said he likes “everything about it, the music, the company, and the swing.”
The Smalley’s stood in the center of the room and showed the group of about 20 the basics of swing and encouraged their pupils to rotate partners so everyone would get a chance to try out the moves the Hop Cats were showing.
The Smalley’s also said that they were the recent subject of and HBO documentary. The HBO people contacted them last minute and asked them to produce a regular Monday night that would be jockeyed by Nathanial and Elizabeth into a live music night where the Savoy Hop Cats could perform to the best of their abilities.
The Smalley’s happily complied and eagerly await an opportunity to view the footage taken by HBO.
