Frankie Manning
Frankie Manning, Ambassador of Lindy Hop, 2009
I created this collage portrait of Frankie Manning, Ambassador of Lindy Hop, as a tribute to him after he passed away at 94 years old, just short of his 95th birthday. 200 Lindy Hoppers from all over the world gathered in new York City to celebrate his life and I displayed this portrait there. I added ten feet of blank canvas and it was soon filled with messages. I took the portrait around the world and to the recent Frankie centennial celebrations. It now has almost twenty fee of extra canvas filled with moving messages from dancers from all over the world, a testament to how much impact Frankie had on literally tens of thousands of dancers.
To learn more about Frankie I recommend reading his book Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop and also viewing these wonderful video documentaries:
“Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Swing”, produced by Swing Bud Films;
“Frankie Manning: Never Stop Swinging”, produced and directed by Julie Cohen.
If you want to learn Lindy Hop you can’t go wrong watching the master himself teaching the basics:
“Swing- Lindy Hop Dance Lessons – Level 1”, featuring Frankie Manning and Erin Stephens.
Please also visit my portraits of other Lindy Hop legends: Chazz, Dawn, and Norma,plus my Happy Feet, Happy Paint performance video.
2 Comments
Dorothy Elleby
February 21, 2015I had the pleasure of working with, Frank, and his son Chazz in the Post Office, along with Al Edwards, who’s also my neighbor, and I can trully say It’s a pleasure to see that some one as youself Mr. Jeremy Sutton has captured the dash in the life of Mr. Frank Manning, as well as the service of Mr Al Edwards to his country while serving in the United States Marines. I applaud your diligence, and great art work.
Dorothy Elleby
February 21, 2015I had the pleasure of working with Mr. Frank Manning, and his son Chazz, along with Mr, Al Edwards In the Post Office, and it truly gives me pleasure to see some one as yourself Mr. Jeremy Sutton capture the dash in the life of Mr. Frank Manning for the Passion that he had for dancing, and his teaching, and sharing it with others. I applaud you for your diligence to put this out there in an Art form, also for recapturing Mr. Al ‘s service in the United States Marines for his bravery while protecting his country.