2014 was a fun year for me and my vintage life and so I thought I would summarize some (not all-way to many to count!) of the fun events I attended this year as we come to the final last days of 2014.

p.s. This is a picture heavy post 🙂

January 2014

Not really a vintage event but I was in Vegas for the annual “German American Mardi Gras Association” Big 2 day party! Friday night was the costume party and Saturday night was the black tie gala. I have been part of German Karneval since I was a kid so it’s a very special event for me and I look forward to it every year.

GAMGA 2014-German Karneval in the United States — The Hays with “Hay”. Best costume winners at GAMGA

April 2014-VIVA Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend

This 4 day weekend of 1950s music, vintage shopping, dancing and vintage cars is one event I recommend you attend at least once in your life. I have been 3 times and have loved every moment. This year my parents came and are already looking forward to the time they return. My husband and I are going back again this year so stay tuned for that blog post.

Frankie's Tiki Room Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend 18 — The Big Question

May 2014: Frankie 100 in New York City

The Lindy hop world came together for a weekend of outstanding music and dance to celebrate the life of one of the original Lindy hoppers-Frankie Manning. He would have been 100 (can you believe he lived to be 94 and was still dancing!) and the party would have made him happy, as it showed the world how amazing the dance is. It was a highlight of my year. I even got to participate in a vintage clothing presentation showing off my vintage 1940s dress. I felt very much like Ginger Rogers that evening 🙂

Lindy hop in Central Park Frankie 100 — Dancing in Central Park at Frankie 100

Frankie 100 Lindy hop weekend in NYC — Parade in Harlem thru Frankie’s old haunts

Frankie 100 — The dance floor in Terminal 5. So many wonderful dancers!

June 2014-Barcelona (Spain) and Munich Germany

Once again not a vintage event but a big event in my year, a wedding of our Lindy hop teachers/friends that we attended in a gorgeous city outside of Barcelona and then a layover in Munich at the end of the trip. It was so much fun! and filled with friends, wine, sightseeing and beer (and bit of World Cup soccer).

World Cup soccer Germany — Cheering on Germany at the Munich Olympic stadium

Gatsby Garden Party

The historic and amazing Spadina Museum hosted it’s annual Gatsby Garden party on their grounds. Everyone comes out in 1920s finery and listens to music, drink lemonade and even learn now to play croquet. Turns out yours truly is a pro and was asked to join the team that was giving lessons 🙂

Pinup in the Park

Toronto Vintage Society hosted a picnic in the park this summer where we got to just chill and relax with all our vintage friends. It was also a chance for the TVS team to take some official photos for our website.

August 2014: Toronto Vintage Society Tiki Party

Once again TVS was back hosting our annual Tiki party at the Cadillac Lounge and this year was bigger and better than last. We had a Hawaiian dancer, burlesque, 2 bands, speciality cocktails and our awesome vintage community who came out in amazing tiki style. It was a super party and we can’t wait to do it again!

September 2014-Old Fashioned car weekend at Greenfield Village, Michigan

I did a blog post earlier this year but it was worth mentioning again, because I loved it! Full day of cars from the early 1900s, gas lamp parade, 1920s band and dancing with my vintage friends. I will be going back to this event next year, it was really magical.

Old fashion Car show Greenfield Village — Vintage Style

October 2014: Diner En Blanc

Once again not a vintage event but so fun! It was a night where myself and thousand others were taken to a secret location in Toronto where we then had a surprise pop up picnic all in white. Clothes, plates, decor etc was all white. The location this year was right on the water with a view of our wonderful skyline at Ontario Place. We had the best seats in the house I think. Wonder where next years location will be?

Diner en Blanc Toronto — All and white and ready to go!

Toronto Oktoberfest

I normally attend the big Oktoberfest weekend in Kitchener this year but the TVS gang wanted to hit up Toronto’s in full TVS style, so off I went. OMG we had so much fun! Not only did we sweep the best dressed contest but we also danced, met tons of people and became unofficial ambassadors of the event.

November 2014: Swing Out To Victory

An annual swing dance event held at the Hamilton warplane museum. It features the Toronto All-star Big Band, Lindy Hop performances, dancing and a bunch of well dressed men and women in their 1940s finery.

Swing out to victory- Hamilton warplane museum — Such beautiful swing dancers

Plaid Party at the Roy Public House in Toronto

I recently found out that there is an event called “Plaidurday” which is on Oct 3rd every year. Well we missed that date (clearly), so I suggested to the TVS gang that we do our own plaid party anyways because plaid is awesome and we need to celebrate it in classic TVS Style (which means go all out). Well as is it turned out it was also TVS creator Jacquie’s birthday so we combined the two events and had a marvelous night out.

Vintage Prom

The end of November had me going back to my prom days at the first ever “Blast from the Past Vintage Prom” hosted by the wonderful store “Rosie the Rebel”. TVS helped with decor and then the rest of the night we danced to the glorious sounds of the 1950s & 1960s. I decided to channel the 1960s for this event thanks to my dear friend Jacquie supplying me with a fantastic vintage dress from the 1960s.

December 2014:

Toronto Vintage Society Kitschmas Party

Once again TVS was back at it hosting the best party in town. This time the theme was “Kitschmas” and featured the wonderful “Tia Brazda Swing Band”, Marilyn Monroe, Blue Suede Sue burlesque performance, Santa and the best photo booth in town! It was another packed party and we were thrilled with the turn out.

Vintage ladies with Santa — I think Santa was good this year

Toronto Vintage Society Kitschmas party — Merry Holidays!

Christmas cookie extravaganza party!

Some of the gals (and boy) got together over the holidays to share Christmas cookies we baked, enjoy some mulled wine and spending some time together just enjoying the season. My cookies were a disaster but everyone else’s was yummy!

Cookie exchange Christmas party — Toronto Vintage Society cookie steal!

1920s Christmas at the Spadina museum and Christmas Market at the Distillery District

My final vintage event of the season was with the TVS gang again at the Spadina Museum that hosted the Gatsby event earlier in the season. They had done the museum all up with vintage Christmas cards from the 1920s, hot apple cider and gingerbread cookie decorating and the best live tree around! Afterwards we attended the Christmas market at the historic Distillery district for mulled wine and wandering around.

Distillery Christmas market — At the distillery Christmas market

And there was my review. I hope your 2014 was a good year and that 2015 has many exciting events planned for you. I know I’m starting off 2015 visiting Memphis Tennessee!

Happy New a Year friends! And thank you for being such wonderful loyal readers.

Liz 🙂

I’m off on my next big adventure to NYC tomorrow for the big Swing Dancing (Lindy Hop) event Frankie 100-Celebrating the life and legacy of Frankie Manning. I’m all packed, printed off my schedule and danced a few solo Charleston steps in the kitchen..I’m ready to dance my feet off!

While I’m off dancing I thought I would share some vintage Lindy Hop clips to get you in the spirit as well. To learn about the HISTORY of this Black Dance please visit HERE.

Now in the words of Frankie Manning “One, two, you know what to do”

Vintage Lindy Hop Videos

1930s-1940s

Hellzapoppin’-1941

Many people consider Hellzapoppin’ the greatest single Lindy Hop performance of all time. Frankie was in charge of putting the routine together, and mentioned in his autobiography that the dancers worked extra hard for this performance, practicing even longer hours than usual to perfect it. His autobiography also has a long section of anecdotes regarding the process and filming. First couple: William Downes and Francis “Mickey” Jones; 2nd, Norma Miller and Billy Ricker; 3rd, Al Minns and Willamae Ricker; 4th, Frankie Manning and Ann Johnson. Dean Collins also does a dance in this film to the song “Watch the Birdie.” (The sequences, however, were shot on different days, and arguably the two most significant figures in Lindy Hop Leading — Frankie Manning and Dean Collins — never met.) (Source)

Frankie Manning Dancing at the Savoy Ballroom-1930s

It’s very rare for us to have social dancing footage of the original dancers in the original swing era. We are lucky to have a few brief seconds of Frankie Manning dancing with a partner in a crowded Savoy ballroom from what is probably the late 1930s. Whether or not its social dancing is hard to say, as he very well might have realized there was a camera filming him, and changed his dancing because of it. Still, though, it’s great to see a young Frankie Manning in a suit, in his element. It’s only a few tiny seconds, but at least we have that much (Source).

Jitterbug History featuring Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers-1942

This short was filmed in 1940 (though not released till 1942) and near the end you can see the Whitey’s. It’s also the same group of dancers who did Hellzapoppin’. Note that this clip has extremely slow dancing compared to the other Whitey’s Lindy Hop performance footage. William Downes and Mickey Jones first, Norma Miller and Billy Ricker second, Willamae Ricker and Al Minns third, and Frankie Manning and Ann Johnson forth (Source).

Buck Privates with Dean Collins and Jewel McGowan-1941

Swing Fever-1944

Jean Veloz (Jeanne Phelps) is featured here dancing with Don Gallager & Lenny Smith in this delightful number “One Girl and Two Boys,” sung by Marilyn Maxwell with Kay Kyser’s band.

Groovie Movie-1944

Jimmy Dorsey playing One O’Clock Jump. Dancers – Charles “Chuck/Gossomer” Saggau, Arthur Walsh, Lenny Smith, Kay Smith, Jeanne Phelps Veloz, Irene Thomas.

Don’t Knock the Rock-1956

(As a fan of 1950s Rock n Roll, this clip is a real favorite of mine). Band: Bill Haley & His Comets with a slew of Los Angeles swing dancers, including: Gil & Nikki Brady, Freda Angela Wyckoff, Lenny Smith, and Joe Lanza.

Have a great week and weekend! Keep on Swinging!

Share in the comments section below what your favourite video was.

FURTHER READING: Collection of Vintage Blog Posts on Swing Dance & The Big Band Era