Cliptomania: (Mostly) Not Lindy Hop edition

I missed the US Open Swing Dance Championships for the second year in a row. I am lame. Directly below are two clips from the early days of West Coast Swing.


Lance Shermoen and Mary Ann Nunez on Dance Fever in 1985.

Mary Ann Nunez is a fairly big name in the West Coast Swing world. Lance Shermoen I mainly have known behind the scenes at Camp Hollywood as the guy who makes sure the judging goes right. I don't remember ever having seen him dance in person. Here they are tearing it up!


Jack Carey and Annie Hirsch, who according to Skippy Blair were "the epitome of Classic West Coast style." I haven't seen either of them in years, I'd guess. I'd imagine that they are both at the US Open at the moment.


This isn't swing dancing but I love it! The Hullabaloo dancers, featuring Michael Bennett and Donna McKechnie, who both went on to fame with A Chorus Line.


This is from the classic episode "Lucy Gets an Eye Exam," and features "King Cat" Arthur Walsh, who is best known for The Groovie Movie. Spoiler alert: this is one of the episodes recreated for I Love Lucy Live!

Thanks to Burnie Gipson for posting that via Tumblr. I've been looking for the clip on YouTube for years. I remember looking through the dancer guide at Eddie Brandt's Saturday Matinee for clips featuring Arthur Walsh and this was my treasure find. Of course, my old clip collection has gone the way of the VHS tape.

What a Difference 6 Days Makes!

In case you haven't been reading my blog, the24 Hour Cancer Dance-a-thon is next weekend. The event is a fundraiser for the City of Hope. Here are clips for each year of the event!


This is the Fox News clip from 2005. Jeebus!
Dance-a-thon 2005 > $52,000


This is the jam from 2006. I'm at the very end of the clip!
Dance-a-thon 2006 > $102,000


Charleston performance from 2008!
Dance-a-thon 2008 > $185,000


The T-shirt cutting contest from 2009!
Dance-a-thon 2009 > $130,000


Team San Francisco at Dance-a-thon 2010!
Dance-a-thon 2010 > $180,000

That's a lot of exclamation points! The 2011 event is next weekend. Click on the following links if you would like to donate or participate.