It's impossible not to love the soaring kicks, rhythmic battles, and raucous crowd of Seoul, South Korea's Authentic Jazz Weekend. It's been one of my favorite events ever since this 2017 video of Andy Seo & Heechang Andante Jang absolutely owning it to James Brown's "Night Train" dropped, and it just seems like this event is somehow able to catch lightning in a bottle year after year.
AJW always produces a wealth of joyous, creative, and just downright entertaining moments, and the 2023 event lived up to the hype, producing a 42-video highlight reel for your binge-worthy enjoyment.
That said, four hours of jazz dance isn't everybody's Tacky Annie, so I've gone ahead and selected my Top 5 Tapes, my 3 favorite new songs, and, for the practice people out there, 14 fun moves & moments that I 100% plan to steal and pass off as my own.
Favorite Moments
The individuality. The ferocity. The frills. This one had it all. Jo Hoffberg and Pamela Gaizutyte brought the heat in their feet and laid down some rhythms to remember. My favorite moments were ones like this at 0:24 where they diverge into their own decisions and then whip back into sync. I loved how comfortable they were letting their individuality show throughout the number -- it's twice as much style to appreciate!
I might be biased because I'm an absolute sucker for a great NOLA-style jazz tune, but I think this trio just flat out crushed it. Let this screenshot be your first dose of proof when it comes to the electric energy that this team brought. They had the audience on board in seconds, riffing off a sick tenor sax melody and bringing the trumpet & trombone countermelodies to life. In the past, the large team division at AJW had always been my favorite, but in my book, this small team trio took the title across all of this year's showcases and had me clapping on the 2s & 4s in my living room.
While this photo is from the finals, my favorite interactions definitely came from the first round of this head-to-head "March Madness"-style single elimination solo jazz battle competition. Of the four faceoffs my favorite is, fittingly, a battle between the two dancers that brought AJW to my attention in the first place -- Andy Seo & Heechang Andante Jang, starting around 2:00. Andy connects to the audience with ease; I didn't think Andante had any chance of coming back, only to have the crowd cheering literally within an 8-count to an inside joke that is clearly going right over my head. The two ham it up, but lay down some serious sequences along the way. I love that battles are becoming more and more popular, and it's awesome to see dancers like these two really embrace the call and response that comes with it.
Favorite Moment #2: Nathan & Pamela & Jo & Caleb as Ella Fitzgerald as Ms. Sophie Tucker and Ms. Pearl Bailey et. al. (Link)
This LINEUP! I mean COME ON! Any one of them could burn the house down, and the four of them together is just a recipe to whip up a frenzy. Opting to ease up on the tempo with this Ella Fitzgerald classic made their slips, slides, and double times shine, but the real star of the show was their solos. As the First Lady of Song launches into her uproarious imitations, each jazz dancer steps forth and hilariously brings them to life. Nathan's kicks & punches would make even ghosts run away, only to peek back around the corner to get a glimpse of Jo's swanky spins. Those that thought they'd be safe by floating straight up are forced to reconsider since Caleb's split kick is seven feet tall, but one clearly possesses Pamela as she performs, well, I don't really know how to describe it as anything other than a perfect musical embodiment that I am fully incapable of even attempting. That paragraph got a little weird, but trust me their dancing is really great go watch it okay.
Favorite of My Favorite Moments: Soochan, Andy, Yuyu, & Nalla's Relay Dance (Link)
Lindy Hop is a Black American Vernacular Dance, but one of the coolest things about its status as an internationally-adored social dance is when other cultural elements are layered on top of this foundation with respect and care. These four leaders of the South Korean scene came together and created a routine centered around a "Relay" -- a style popular with many KPOP groups -- where dancers form a line one behind the other, take a solo (while others occasionally accent their movements from behind or emerge from the vertical for emphasis, as in the photo above) and then groove to the back of the line. The next dancer takes inspiration from the one before to create their own solo, and the process repeats, relaying ideas between individuals and the group. The values of the relay dance clearly overlap with jazz dance's emphasis on call and response, individuality and self-expression, and attention to all parts of the music. All of these things together made it my surefire top pick.
New Tunes
These three songs (or these versions) were new to me and will definitely make it into my playlists:
The Preacher - Stockholm Swing All Stars, from Ma Neul Jong's Short Showcase - Buy it Here or Listen on Spotify (note: the uncut version is 7 minutes oop)
Perdido - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra & Mercer Ellington, from Sangmi, Meti, & Jihye's show piece - Listen on Spotify (note: not to be outdone, this version is 8.5 minutes long uncut)
A Night in Tunisia (Alternate Take/Rudy Van Gelder Edition) - Bud Powell Trio, from Jihya, Yuyu & Rico's show piece - Listen on Spotify
To Steal: Movements & More
Some of these are moves to practice, and others are formations to borrow, but all of them are ones I find funny or fly as heck. Each link should take you straight to the right time in the video.
Nathan’s class showcase suzy Q’s (Link)
Pamela’s half break heel click (Link)
Kunho Kim egg beaters to heel click + runs to spin (Link)
Sizuka Chen straight up thrusts (Link)
Young Jin Kim’s fishtail styling (Link)
Andy Lee’s entrance (Link)
Could the thing at 2:09 be turned into a “solo swingout?” (Link)
The Jackets heel slide rhythm (Link)
Rico Lim’s slide-cross-overs (Link)
Andy Seo’s slow then quick charlestons (Link)
Andy Seo & Heechang Andante Jang’s Toe Tap Backslide (Link)
Sangmi Heo’s same-side pushes (Link)
Meti Cho’s toe-tap (hand kick?) scarecrow charleston and those bees knees stylings (Link)
Just how much Rico & Andy play with the soloists (Link)
And that's all for an awesome event! I want to extend a huuuuge shout out to all of the event organizers over at The Sweet Heart (follow @ajwkorea on insta!), as well as their videographer Jackpark Videography. I can't even tell you how tempted I am to book a ticket to South Korea in 2024.
Swingin' out,
-Nick Cruickshank
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