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| very beautiful and talented swing dancer, a real dancing queen |
**This is my personal notes during the studying of Swing Dancing
The 'Queen of Swing', Norma Miller, was discovered at the age of 12 by Savoy dancer 'Twist Mouth George', dancing on the street to the music that could be heard from inside the ballroom. She later joined Whitey's Lindy Hoppers and went along to become a dancer, choreographer, comedian and author.
Despite being a professional dancer, she was not a social dancer. She said she did this for a living and had always been looking for the next paid gig. Growing up black in Harlem had left her few choices for career until one day she was discovered that she could dance. The war and the music trend stopped all the swing work and she turned to jazz dance for work. All hard experiences being a dancer, she was grown to acquire natural skill, together with perfect work ethic and determination.
Norma had been in great movies and was a dancing star since the start, she appeared on most well-known dancing movies, like A Day at the Races (1937) and Hellzapoppin' (1941), she kept dancing for the screen however things changed when the troupe was in Rio de Janeiro performing and the Pearl Habour was bombed. The bomb led USA to the WWII and at the time no one was in the mood for entertainment.
After the war, Norma focused on jazz dancing, working for stars including Sammy Davis Jr. She started Norma Miller's Dance Company and later Norma Miller & Her Jazz Men, featuring Billy Ricker and Frankie's son Chazz Young.
part 1 - Frankie Manning
part 2 - Norma Miller (you are here)
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