Eye on the city

ATHENS NEWS FRIDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2011

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ATHENS NEWS FRIDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2011

33

Spreading the passion for rockin good times

Mariangelas Lindy Hop playlist:
l Splanky - Count Basie l Opus 1 - Tommy Dorsey l Love me or leave me l The Suits Are Picking Up the Bill l Honeysuckle Rose - Louis Jordan l Sing Sing Sing - Benny Goodman

- Sammy Davis Jr

Squirrel Nut Zippers

Skipping to the beat of a beautiful illusion

Lindy Hoppers Miss Cherry Pie and her cohort Maria-Nefeli add a new swing into Athens and turn their dance dream into reality

By Despina Pavlaki EORGE Bernard Shaw once said that there are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your hearts desire. The other is to gain it. But as long as it remains at arms reach youll make out all right. Which is exactly why Mariangela Salichou (aka Miss Cherry Pie) gave her heart away to Lindy Hop. Because no matter how much she practises, the Savoy Ballroom glory days are never coming back. Ill be the first to admit Im easily charmed by the nostalgia of the past, but Lindy Hop has got the kind of beauty thats transcendental. Thats why it still feels so modern. In fact, if she knew her life

would be permanently glued to the dance floor, she would have never quit those ballet lessons in favour of French. The pursuit of knowledge had somehow been drilled into me from an early age, I thought academia was the only way to go. Arts were never an option. But you cant stop a girl from dreaming. As long as she can remember, Salichou was always mesmerised by Busby Berkeleys kaleidoscopic musicals, Esther Williams films and Fred Astaires moves. And of course I went nuts about Grease, she likes to point out. The 50s and the 60s impressed her deeply, even before she knew what they were all about: My aunt was an actress and I used to collect her clothes, so when I was little I always dreamt of owning my very own costume shop. At 17 Salichou became a vinyl junkie and started listening to rockabilly music in a once vibrant scene that by the time she hit high school was slowly dying. Its popularity went into a serious

recession in the mid-90s and it really made me feel didnt know anything about it. I had my rocknroll like I was out on a limb. I was on my own, she moves down pat, but swing was another thing recalls. The 80s were a rockabilly paradise, but the altogether. Id see it in the movies and Id just go Greek bouzoukia-store scene and the growing crazy. After settling into her new life, she started electropop movement slowly killed it. There was looking around for dance schools and eventually no one to turn to. There were only a handful of drifted into the crowd of Ambatzis, an experienced people that could feel my pain, so Id round up my swing performer born and raised in London. I took friends and dance it out. I had done a stint of classes, joined a group, met a lot of people, went to ballroom dancing but it was more of a private a lot of dance parties, I just felt totally vindicated. But all good things come to an end and Salichou crusade, I was trying to figure it on my own. Salichou would get her kicks anywhere she eventually had to go back. Athens was a rude awakening. Back home, people could: black-and-white movies, didnt have the slightest idea what old music videos, she made People were I was talking about. I was every last thing count. There instantly curious about desperate. I asked dance teachers, was this one bar that played people on the scene and still rocknroll, so on New Years Lindy Hop. nothing. It was like I was the only Eve and Greek carnival Its very visual too, person who had ever danced the weekend Id wear my fancy swing. circle skirts and rock out. It so I cant say I was was the only time I got to bust Lindy Hop revival out in my costumes. I wanted particularly surprised at Moving on with her life, she to dress like that all the time. how well it was received eventually got involved with events I was totally in my element. organising and even worked with But it was a matter of time music promoters who would fuel her passion by before the tide would turn. After graduating from university with a degree booking the occasional swing band, but she was still in communication and mass media she decided to alone on the dance floor. Everyone else would just expose herself to a real cross-cultural experience: sit and stare. Three years went by and I just couldnt she would pursue a postgraduate degree in accept it was the end of the dream. I could always American studies at a British university on a Greek dance when I went back to London, but that was passport. It was the best year of my life! I got to two nights a year, tops. Something had to give. So study everything I always wanted, I learned how to she decided it was going to be her. Next thing she knew she was writing to swing, Id go to gigs, balls, vintage bazaars, the whole nine yards. It was a cultural, consumerist and Ambatzis, a casual acquaintance that turned out to academic education all rolled into one. I was living be a life raft. We werent friends or anything, we the dream. Which is exactly how she met Maria- just moved in the same crowd, so I thought Id ask Nefeli Ambatzis, her current business partner and her to hook up if she ever came down for the holidays. I had no one else to turn to. To her swing soulmate. I knew England had a big swing scene, but I surprise, Ambatzis announced she was moving to

Greece, a risky decision, considering she had never lived there before. She was an experienced dancer, she had worked as a teacher and a professional performer and no way was she to move house without taking Lindy Hop with her. At the very least, she and Salichou could always get together to bust out a few moves. But they did a lot more than that. We wrote to each other every single day for three months, hatching our very own teaching partnership. I was going to look for an available space and she was going to lend me her teaching expertise. They eventually teamed up with another London-based couple to create the Athens Swing Cats in 2008 but only came into their own as the Athens Lindy Hop a year later. Salichous experience as an events promoter meant the team hit the local dance scene like a tonne of bricks: I knew exactly what to do to make people relate to this new old movement, and the press picked up on it really fast. People were instantly curious. Its very visual too, so I cant say I was particularly surprised at how well it was received.

ONCE you become a member, connecting with likeminded people is easy: youve got your hangouts, your meetups, your festivals and, most importantly, a safety net all over the world. Lets say you want to go to Melbourne, explains Salichou. You look up the local Lindy Hop community, put the word out youre looking for a place to stay, and theyre guaranteed to set you up as long as youre a Lindy Hopper. Thats how deep the feeling runs. Just dont expect everybody to look like theyve jumped out of a 50s girdle commercial! A lot of folks buy into the stylistic side of it too, but just because youre not wearing the vintage getup, doesnt mean youre not serious about the moves, she laughs. I can see why outsiders are so taken with the retro look, but if you ever decide to take a class, youll realise its not that convenient. Freedom of movement is where its at - you want your flat shoes and your stretchy fabrics, so youll find a lot of hardcore dancers would rather skip the restrictive wardrobe. Doubling as an alternative reality, this highenergy dance scene doesnt always attract the kind of people youd expect to see skip to the beat: Strangely enough, a lot of my students are into the sciences, says Salichou. Theres lots of IT guys, math teachers and science majors, because in reality Lindy Hop is kind of geeky. Its not particularly sexy and youve got to count your beats. We recently got a German guy here on a science convention who made sure to track us down before he even left his country. You can be a surgeon by day and a Lindy Hopper by night.

Thankfully, the Jekyll and Hyde years are over for her. Not only did she rid herself of the day job, as of September 24 she is the proud co-founder of The Swing Lounge, the Athens Lindy Hops first permanent residence at 24 Fthiotidos St, Ambelokipi. Besides, working a day job was always a problem. Unable to clock in the inevitable creditcrunch overtime thanks to her teaching commitments, she slowly allowed what was once a flight of fancy turn into a full-fledged career. Dance classes and workshops aside, Athens Lindy Hop have taken part in several major festivals and outdoor events while they also regularly perform on stage and elsewhere, throw parties around town (frequently free of charge), choreograph, DJ, style clothes and even appear in the occasional music video. Any recession qualms? Apparently not. Lindy Hop can really take over your life if you let it to the point of losing touch with reality. I guess thats why I probably decided to start my own business in the middle of the recession. But then again, she always subscribed to the Oscar Wilde school of life: Hes my biggest hero, she admits readily. Some of his aphorisms appear deceptively simple - even superficial at times - but they really distil the true essence of life. Take Illusion is the first of all pleasures, for example. It might sound simple but its all we live for. I really believe that illusions are the secret to happiness. Once youve conquered your dreams, youll realise that maybe they werent so great after all. And Salichou with partner Ambatzi still has a long way to go. 3 For more information on Athens Lindy Hop, visit: www.athenslindyhop.com

What is Lindy Hop?

IN CASE you were wondering, Lindy Hop is the original swing, the one that started out in Harlem at the end of the 20s and flourished until the late 40s. I imagine it became known as the swing because it was instantly identified with swing music, and the European ballroom circuit happened to pick up on that, explains Mariangela. But in the States it was Lindy Hop all along. According to legend, it actually owes its name to Charles Lindbergh, the first pilot to cross the Atlantic solo and non-stop. It is believed that when a Harlem dancer was first questioned about his flashy moves by a curious journalist at the Savoy Ballroom, his eyes wandered over to the newspaper headlines about Lindbergh and he read out loud Lindy hops the Atlantic. And thats how Lindy Hop was born. What he didnt know at the time was that he wasnt just starting a trend, he was building a community.