Vintage Vivant » dance

Easterbunny Hijinks

Angeliska — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 22:04:08 +0000

Well, kittens – the Bunnyhop Bash was a blast and a half! The Easterbunny himself was there!
We all ate too much candy, guzzled giggle-water, and did the Bunnyhop with Fatbottom Cabaret!
Best Easter Sunday ever? Yeah, we would say so! Check out the fabulousness and hilarity from the photobooth!

Your loving hostesses in our Sunday best!

This picture just melts my heart into marshmallow goo!

I think the bunny might’ve been proposing to me – but it was too hard to hear what exactly he was proposing behind that fuzzy mask!

Norah, our adorable door-bunny!

Suzie + Sarah, the sweetest flowers in the garden!

Lynne Koehlinger gettin’ cozy with Mr. Bun-Bun + a dapper young fella

Kick up your heels, y’all – Spring is here!

What did that naughty rabbit whisper in Sassy Delure’s ear? Oh lawd!

Jenny Woys, cute as a bakelite button!

Pretty in pink!

Lookit this cute Bunny Warbucks we found! Hope he’s got some lettuce lining those pockets!

Amelia and Erik of Djamberry Caravan, who play the sweetest Django Reinhardt ditties – we love them!

Fine as hell, and twice as dapper

Kissin’ Mr. Bunny like that might get you some goodies in your basket!

Babes in blue, and Stefanie in the best easter bonnet ever!

Could we get any cuter here? I hardly think so!

Rabbity hijinks! Yowza!

Our wonderful DJ for the evening, Mr. Dennis Campa was clearly egg-static to be posing with the bunny!

Cute critters in fine apparel populated our soiree. I have a feeling some bestial acts may have occurred! Oh, Lambie-kins!

Maybe your vintage style is more inspired by 1983 than 1923? That’s cool with us, especially if you are a bunny or a lamb!

Anyone who know Angie (in the turban!) knows what a big deal it was for her to get dolled up all fancy,
in a fuschia dress, no less! Hopefully it was the first, but not the last time! Whatta buncha cut-ups!

Megan + Fiona, pretty as a picture!

Aidan definitely wins this prize for most-dapper, best-dressed – and all the rest! So good!

We’ll have to have this gang back for our “Vamps + Tramps” party! “Tramps” as in Charlie Chaplin, hey!

Ty, of Fatbottom Cabaret (who were absolutely amazing!)

Devi + Jackie did it again! These girls are the greatest -
we look forward to the joy and energy (and awesome props!) they bring to the photobooth everytime!

See Devi’s full set of photos from the night on flickr:
Vintage Vivant Bunny Hop Bash

Eastertime in Flapperland!

Angeliska — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 09:38:37 +0000

It’s no secret that Easter is kind of a big deal for your hostesses,
so imagine our delight when we deduced that the next Vintage Vivant
fell smack dab on Easter Sunday! Could it be anymore perfect? To our
way of thinking, there’s no better holiday (save maybe New Year’s Eve?)
to show off your best fashions of the era. Springtime was an enormous
inspiration to the fashions of the 20′s and 30′s, with those pale pastel
hues, fluttering crepes and tulles, and lots of delicate floral prints.
Gorgeous chapeaux and delightful easter bonnets heaped with buds
and birds could be seen on every head, and even the severe bell-like
cloche hats might be seen to sport a nosegay come Eastertide! For
gents, seersucker suits and straw boater hats do the trick (but get
ready for a full post on spring and summery vintage men’s fashion,
upcoming!) Dressing like a vamp in jet beads and whatnot is divine,
to be sure – but it’s time to cast off our widow’s weeds and cavort
around the maypole! Ooh la! The whisper of silk bloomers, thin as
as whisper around your french garters might just be the easter bunny’s
whiskers or pink bubblegum nose hunting for a basket to nestle his
sweet treasure! Oh my – did I just write that? Well, it is Springtime
after all! Must just be the birds and the bees knees! Oh gee!

To my Sweet Fluffy Ruffles! Is this not the very best postcard ever?
A gift from a long-lost friend, recently found again – I treasure it!

This one’s from the same friend, found at the same estate sale.
What a sweet hand-tinted photo! I love the painted parasols!

Load those bonnets, ladies!

Happy Easter from your hostesses! Hope to see you out on Sunday!

The Golden Photobooth

Angeliska — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 06:37:43 +0000

Wowie wow-wow and double shazam, cats! The photos from last Sunday are just so amazing,
it’s hard to even know where to start – every single one is just so gorgeous! I’ve chosen a heaping
handful of absolute faves here, but they’re all so fabulous, be sure to check out the full set over at
Devi’s flickr: Vintage Vivant – GOLDIGGERS! What a bunch of lookers our friends and lovers are!

Devaki Knowles of Fun Loving Photos is the genius behind these shots – not only is she an absolute doll,
but she works such magic behind that camera! Soon, we’ll be doing a special post with lots of her great
black + white polaroids that she shoots with a vintage rig, to great effect! They always look so amazing.
If you have any of these from Vintage Vivants past that you’d like to share, we’d be delighted! Also, for
our guests – did you know you can order digital prints of all these shots from Devi? It’s easy! Hot damn!

Carley Wolf + Winter

Penny Stark and her beautiful golden derriere!

Curtis Luciani and Kaci Beeler as the Fitzgeralds!

Uzonna + Alisan bringin’ the class act! Hard to follow!

Lex Land, her sugardaddy, Oren Porterfield + Jordan Moser.

Watch out, y’all! This gang of natty dressers might just charm your pants right off!
Yow! No more pants! Just like that. Pantydroppers, the lot of ‘em!

Whatta buncha lookers!

Timmy Bray + Jeremy Roye lookin’ dapper!

Norah, our exquisite door-girl is always the picture of elegance. Love her!

Mr. Dollheads and his sugarbaby, Louise.

Tips for the candygirl? Oh my, yes!

Oh Johna Goldenflame, you fan my fire!

Wendy Corn + Jen Delk – cuttin’ up cuties!

Olivia finds big bucks from Sir Brodie Wainscotting (aka Scott Bennett)

Ooh, daddy – you got all these pearls in your pocket!
Scrape ‘em on your teeth and see if they’re the real deal!

Aw, please? Just an itsy-bitsy diamond?

Could we possibly be any luckier than to be surrounded by so many dear friends in great outfits?
Hardly! Can’t wait for this next one, kitty-cats. Start planning your Easter Sunday best looks for Spring!

Gilded Lillies

Angeliska — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 08:05:15 +0000

Our eyes are still half-blinded from the dazzle of so many gorgeous creatures flitting about like gilded butterflies
under the soft light of Swan Dive’s crystal chandeliers. Once again, everyone turned it out in fine style! Sugar-daddies
and jazz-babies alike jitterbugged and lindy-hopped to the Eastside Dandies, who really are just the eel’s hips – I mean!
What a band! People were gettin’ DOWN! The wild energy on the dance floor reminded me that the flappers really were
the punk kids of the era – to dance to jazz at that time was transgressive, crazy and naughty! This ain’t your granny’s tea
dance, after all! It was lovely to see people so moved by the music, and so exciting to see the club filled with so many
ladies and gentlemen clearly immersed in the shared fantasy of time travel that we so delight in creating at Vintage Vivant!

Miss Amelia was a gloriously scandalous showgirl in a coin-spangled halter à la Joan Blondell!

I wore pieces from my Mardi Gras costume – re-styled to be a Ziegfeld Follies fantasy!

Miss Allyson from Coco Coquette looking like the cat’s meow!

The ever-lovely Callisto, and a dapper fellow gettin’ sassy at the bar…

Olivia + Hailey – what a pair of fetching dames!

Lynne Koehlinger (on the right) is an amazing dancer (and dance instructor at Four on the Floor!)
who we hope will soon be showing our crowd how to do all the greatest moves from back in the day!

Here she is doing the Charleston with Peter Varshavsky at the 2008 Gatsby Picnic in San Francisco. Amazing!

Cuties!

Westen Borghesi (aka. Shorty Stump) wailing on his banjolele.

Reese brought his gorgeous phonograph, much to our delight!

Mizarre + Sassy Delure did a charming rendition of one of my favorite numbers from Cabaret.

They tore it up on the dance floor too!

Red hot!

Toot-toot-tootsie – too, too cute!

Who let that bum in here? Aw, it’s just Jordan Moser, cuttin’ up!

What a fabulous crew of randy dandies and glittering dames!

Kiss-kiss until next time, babies! Stay tuned for the next installment of photos from Goldiggers!

Flapper Dance Steps/Repetition

Vintage Vivant — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 20:31:07 +0000

These two stills are from the chorus girl opening scene from “The Love Trap” (1929). Directly after this scene, the stage manager calls Mary (in the patterned bow) to the front to show everyone how she does the dance. He then says “If I ever catch any of you dancing like this, you’ll all be fired, too!” and then he has her Buffalo off the stage. Oh!!

This video has a great version of “Hot Feet” as well as a xylophone intro. I am absolutely hypnotized by the repetitiveness of the dancing feet shots.

A 1927 recording of how to dance the Charleston. It’s very sarcastic and silly!

A 30 second dancing snippet from a Man Ray art video.

This scene is from a bonus movie on the “Stage Door” (1937) DVD. I love how absurd it is – like elevators are ever this big to afford dance offs between total strangers!

I can never get enough of these endless repetition images of the chorus girl dancers. It’s also an excellent study in menswear. Above we have suits and bowties, below, top hats with vests.
And now top hats with canes!

April 19th, 2010

Vintage Vivant — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 22:22:10 +0000

Cloche straw hat with black ribbon – Urban Outfitters
Pink sweater with ribbon roses – Betsy Johnson by way of Buffalo Exchange
1940s skirt - 13 bees on Etsy
Maroon velvety shoes – Melissa Store, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

The Black Bottom Stomp – Dance

Vintage Vivant — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:51:57 +0000

Une Petite Histoire: The Black Bottom is a dance that originated in New Orleans in the 1900s. The rhythm is based on the iconic Charleston dance, although it’s more sexual in nature. You bump your bottoms together, people! (See above diagram) I read several places that The Black Bottom was more popular than the Charleston, but in our modern minds, the aforementioned Charleston is just more iconic of the flapper era.

Jelly Roll Morton wrote, “Black Bottom Stomp” and recorded it in 1926.
The Black Bottom is pretty simple to do – and it has a good learning curve. If you’re not into polished choreography dance, you can incorporate the stamps and little come-hither motions with the arms to give a flavor to your dancing.

Perry Bradford and his Georgia Strutters, “The Original Black Bottom Dance” from 1926
I love youtube videos of old men nerding out over their record collections. This collector does a really good job of introducing the record and giving some history. He has a beautiful phonograph too!

How to do the Black Bottom:
Hop down front, Doodle* back,
Mooch* to your left then Mooch to the right
Put your hands on your hips, Mess Around,
Break a Leg* until you’re near the ground
Now that’s the Old Black Bottom Dance

*Doodle = Slide
*Mooch = Shuffle forward with both feet. Hips go first, then feet
*Break a leg = Hobbling Step

This video has some great still images in the beginning of Joan Crawford doing the Black Bottom. You can also hear strains of the “Way down yonder on the Swanee River” dotted throughout. The popularity of the Black Bottom in society is shown by photos of nurses and teachers doing the Black Bottom too!

If you’re interested in the Black Bottom, you must watch this video in its entirety! It features a young Ruby Keeler and a dancing cow. It shows some of the origins of the dance along with a slow motion diagram of the dance. I think also that Baby Rose Marie dances, but I’m not sure if it is her.

Annette Hanshaw – Don’t Take that Black Bottom Away

“Snake Hips” dance from 1929, with Sharon Lynn
This song and dance is amazing, and features the lyrics “Do the wiggle waggle woo.” It’s not a strait-forward version of the dance but certainly shows influence of the Black Bottom and Charleston. Watch those costumes! OH! I’m such a sucker for glitzy chorus lines that are nothing but leg after leg marching on the screen.