An incredible weekend with Jean Veloz
It’s been just a little over a week since our epic Jean Veloz weekend and we’re still on a high from it. For those of you who may not know who Jean Veloz is, she is a legend of Hollywood style Lindy and the only original Hollywood style dancer for the 1940s still alive and teaching. At the time Jean came to London she was 90 years old.
I met Jean Veloz years ago in Washington DC at a camp that used to exist called Groovie Movie. I met Jean a few times after that and then again in 2013 at Camp Hollywood and that’s when I decided that it would be fantastic if the London Lindy community had the opportunity to meet and work with Jean and to listen to her stories. It would be such an incredible experience for them to meet someone so historically important who has contributed much to the Lindy scene. We did something similar with Frankie Manning years ago and still remains one of the best things I’ve ever done.
So, several email exchanges with Rusty Frank later we were fortunate to have Jean with us for a weekend. This was also her first time teaching in England so it was a great honour for us in many ways. I’m proud of my team who have been slowly and carefully placing posts on Facebook over the last 12 months to create a real awareness of who Jean Veloz is since we have a lot of new dancers. Nothing gave me more joy than watching all the respect the Londoners showed for her, and the way they always stood up, and how they queued up to meet her and have photos with her.
I also loved how jean stayed to the end at all three social events and clapped and cheered the dancers in front of her. The lady oozed with positive energy.
Words simply can’t describe how exciting it was to have Jean here. Her teaching was incredible. The way she moved was incredible. It was a great honour for me to be able to dance with her. I’m really proud that London put its best foot forward and we had three great nights with Jean. I thought she’d be exhausted by the final night; I kept reassuring her that it would be fine if she only stayed for half an hour. But every single night she stayed right to the very end and just loved watching the dancers dance would get so excited watching people do their swing-outs. She’s such a lovely lady and was so gracious. It was such an inspiring weekend and one that we’ll always remember.
Elif, Sibhe, Sally Young and Laura Hicks were great behind the scenes making this weekend happen and I couldn't have done this without the team.
Some other highlights:
* Jean talking about dancing in front of and then chatting with Gene Kelly.
* Jean talking about her love of the Big Bands from her day.
* The London dancers and their absolute respect of Jean
* The joy for all to have Jean around.
* Rusty and her great teaching. I learnt loads.
* Jean and her humble and lovely nature.
Here’s a video and some great photos from the weekend:
Jean Veloz dancing at Wilton’s Music Hall with one honoured guy.
Photos: Friday at Wilton's Music Hall
Photos: Saturday at the Bishopsgate Institute
Photos: Sunday at Red Rhythm
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