Integrated Rhythm

Latest Episodes:

QUICKIE: Honoring Michelle Feb 25, 2022

Show notes

As many of you know our beloved Michelle Stokes unexpectedly passed away in early February. This is just a brief episode about that regarding our Integrated Rhythm family, our season 2 start date, and how we all might honor Michelle in the IR spirit. It includes a clip of Michelle from a conversation following a recent episode recording.

Also, if you haven't already, please listen to Michelle's two-part interview: Season 1, episodes 13 and 14.

We love you Michelle.

Season 2! Coming in 2022 Dec 23, 2021

Show notes

We're back in January with a new season of Integrated Rhythm! We explain how that'll go, and what kept us away for the last few months.

UPDATE: Due to some new software we're still getting the hang of, trying to make a living wage, and the passing of a close friend to IR, we are currently on hold with releasing season 2. We have already recorded seven episodes, so there's definitely more coming!!!

CHECK IT OUT: Summer of Soul Jul 29, 2021

Show notes

While we handle some life situations and prepare the next few episodes, check out Questlove's new documentary, "SUMMER OF SOUL"! And thank you all for your support!

33: Holding On Jul 15, 2021

Show notes

Holding on.

That seems to be a theme as we discuss Black American English, Southerners traveling North, and, of course, jazz dance.

0:00 Black American English: It's a language!

11:30 Bobby experiences a TINY bit of language discrimination, compared to how much Black Americans experience.

16:30 Discrimination of language is discrimination of people

20:00 Chisomo's speaking as an unintended role model for Black students

24:00 Code switching, both conscious and subconscious

33:00 The Great Migration and soul food

40:00 Cleveland vs Australia

41:00 Gullah culture and Jazz Dance

45:30 The Carribean & New Orleans

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Welcome to Integrated Rhythm! Two Swing Dancing besties (Chisomo Selemani & Bobby White) navigate race and the Black Experience in the world of Jazz Dance and other Afro-centric social dancing.

Our goal is comfortable conversations about uncomfortable things. Our podcast music is by Laurel Ryan & Michelle Stokes, our intro music this week is by Barron Ryan, Laurel Ryan's brother (check out firstofitskind.net, and www.barronryan.com.) And, the background drumming is by Bobby White.

Find us at your local podcast app, or at: https://anchor.fm/integratedrhythm

Please donate to help keep us in business:

Patreon: patreoncom/integratedrhythm

PayPal: robertwhiteiii@gmail.com

Venmo: @bobbyswungover (Where applicable, lease put the note "IR" in it, so that we know it's for the podcast.)

32: Hope-timistic Jul 08, 2021

Show notes

Hope-timistic.

It's how we're feeling after the recent "Move Together: Build Back Better" event recently conducted (we said "build back together" in the podcast, our bad!), which even had some truth charcuterie from Chisomo (say that three times fast).

0:00 Some love

7:00 The everyday lens

13:00 Looking towards the future

15:00 Leaks in the fuel tank

19:00 Communication, Improvisation, Rhythm, Play, Competition --- and the importance of cultural immersion

29:00 Coloniality and control

39:00 Form your swarm

43:00 For promotors

41:00 Vaccine-only events

42:00 Chisomo''s Powerpoint presentation

51:50 Reader Mail: 3 Little Girls

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Welcome to Integrated Rhythm! Two Swing Dancing besties (Chisomo Selemani & Bobby White) navigate race and the Black Experience in the world of Jazz Dance and other Afro-centric social dancing.

Our goal is comfortable conversations about uncomfortable things. Our podcast music is by Laurel Ryan & Michelle Stokes, our intro and ad music this week is by Barron Ryan, Laurel Ryan's brother (check out firstofitskind.net, and www.barronryan.com.) And, the background drumming is by Bobby White.

Find us at your local podcast app, or at: https://anchor.fm/integratedrhythm

Please donate to help keep us in business:

Patreon: patreoncom/integratedrhythm

PayPal: robertwhiteiii@gmail.com

Venmo: @bobbyswungover (Where applicable, lease put the note "IR" in it, so that we know it's for the podcast.)

31: Turning to History (w/ NICHOLAS CENTINO) Jul 01, 2021

Show notes

Turning to History

This is how NICHOLAS "NIKO" CENTINO, Assistant Professor of Chicana/o Studies at California State University, answered the complex questions brought up in an American background steeped in different cultures. In this conversation we discuss his own experiences as a Person of Color, as well as zoot suits, the Neo Swing era, and his new book, "Razabilly."

0:00 Razabilly

6:30 Wherever there's oppression, there's resistance

13:30 The Niko origin story

26:00 A Brief Deconstruction of "Zoot Suit Riot"

36:30 On Zoot Suits and how badass they are

43:30 The interplay of all that is Niko

48:00 "I can't take my presence as a Man of Color in the scene for granted."

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Welcome to Integrated Rhythm! Two Swing Dancing besties (Chisomo Selemani & Bobby White) navigate race and the Black Experience in the world of Jazz Dance and other Afro-centric social dancing.

Find us at your local podcast app, or at: https://anchor.fm/integratedrhythm

Please donate to help keep us in business:

Patreon: patreoncom/integratedrhythm

PayPal: robertwhiteiii@gmail.com

Venmo: @bobbyswungover (Where applicable, lease put the note "IR" in it, so that we know it's for the podcast.)

30: Great Soundbites on Demand Jun 24, 2021

Show notes

Thanks for bearing with us as some life situations take place! We believe we can do a few more episodes before we have to take another short break. Enjoy this Char-Char & Bobby episode where we discuss a White swing dancer getting interviewed for a New York Times story about a Black swing dancer.

0:00 Btw, Bobby was a journalist

6:15 Bobby is called by the NYT

11:00 Why do they only do two performances for a show they pay thousands for?!?

15:00 Art and access

17:00 Performance in the Lindy Hop scene

30:00 So I'm doing the interview...

34:00 The savior of Lindy Hop

41:00 Two additional concerns

51:00 The article

55:00 The least famous dancer of the most famous group

1:00:00 it raised an eyebrow

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Welcome to Integrated Rhythm! Two Swing Dancing besties (Chisomo Selemani & Bobby White) navigate race and the Black Experience in the world of Jazz Dance and other Afro-centric social dancing.

Find us at your local podcast app, or at: https://anchor.fm/integratedrhythm

Please donate to help keep us in business:

Patreon: patreoncom/integratedrhythm

PayPal: robertwhiteiii@gmail.com

Venmo: @bobbyswungover (Where applicable, lease put the note "IR" in it, so that we know it's for the podcast.)

29: A Gaze into "A Day at the Races" Jun 04, 2021

Show notes

**Please note: an important life situation has come up that will most likely keep us from being able to do an episode or two in the near future. Please bare with us and enjoy a previous episode for your weekly fix of IR!**

This week, a reading of the article, "A Gaze into a Day at the Races" that dives into the background and context of the famous Whitey's Lindy Hoppers dance clip.

0:00 Whitey's Teirs

9:00 About the Clip

13:00 The Circle

17:30 "Right" and "Wrong"

21:30 A Day at the Racists?

31:00 The Smile

38:00 Notes

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Welcome to Integrated Rhythm! Two Swing Dancing besties (Chisomo Selemani & Bobby White) navigate race and the Black Experience in the world of Jazz Dance and other Afro-centric social dancing.

Find us at your local podcast app, or at: https://anchor.fm/integratedrhythm

Please donate to help keep us in business:

Patreon: patreoncom/integratedrhythm

PayPal: robertwhiteiii@gmail.com

Venmo: @bobbyswungover (Where applicable, lease put the note "IR" in it, so that we know it's for the podcast.)

28: In Focus Finally (w/ CYNTHIA MILLMAN) May 27, 2021

Show notes

"In Focus Finally."

When author and librarian Cynthia Millman first saw Lindy Hop legend Frankie Manning dance in the 1980s, a lot of things about the dance finally came into focus. Little did she know she would end up going on the epic journey of co-writing Frankie’s memoir with him.

To celebrate World Lindy Hop Day and Frankie Manning's birthday, we at Integrated Rrhythm Podcast had a great conversation with the author where we discuss the world of 1980s New York Lindy Hop, training under Frankie in the Big Apple Lindy Hoppers, the writing and researching of the autobiography, and her hopes and dreams for the future of Jazz dance research.

0:00 The first time Cynthia met Frankie

13:00 Being trained by Frankie in the Big Apple Lindy Hoppers

21:00 Counting and education

25:00 How the 1980s New York scene was different than the modern scene

38:00 Chisomo's Frankie-miss story

43:00 Current and hopeful future research in Jazz dance

56:00 What made you decide to do Frankie's book and how did creating it go?

1:18:00 Details

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Welcome to Integrated Rhythm! Two Swing Dancing besties (Chisomo Selemani & Bobby White) navigate race and the Black Experience in the world of Jazz Dance and other Afro-centric social dancing. Our goal is comfortable conversations about uncomfortable things.

Our podcast music is by Laurel Ryan & Michelle Stokes, our intro and ad music this week is by Barron Ryan, Laurel Ryan's brother (check out firstofitskind.net, and www.barronryan.com.) And, the background drumming is by Bobby White.

Find us at your local podcast app, or at: https://anchor.fm/integratedrhythm

Please donate to help keep us in business:

Patreon: patreoncom/integratedrhythm

PayPal: robertwhiteiii@gmail.com

Venmo: @bobbyswungover

(Where applicable, lease put the note "IR" in it, so that we know it's for the podcast.)

27: Frieda, Lucille, Willa Mae, & Anne May 20, 2021

Show notes

Bobby tells the story of four incredible dancers who were Frankie Manning's partners, and Chisomo and IR fam LAUREL RYAN join in and listen along.

0:00 Frieda Washington & Creative Adventurousness

19:00 Lucille Middleton & Tall Coolness

28:30 Willa Mae Ricker & Fashionable Groundedness

49:30 Ann(e)? Johnson & Powerful Smallness

SOURCES: "Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop" by Frankie Manning & Cynthia Millman, "Swinging at the Savoy: The Memoir of a Jazz Dancer" by Norma Miller and Evette Jensen, SavoyStyle biographies by Judy Pritchett, and 1930s and 40s Censuses and Death records. "Frankie And His Partners" by Anthony Wheaton via Swing Patrol website. "Willa Mae Ricker, The Patron Saint of Respect for Lindy Hoppers," an article on Swungover. Frankie's Air Step story came from Swing Dance San Diego's YouTube video titled "The First Air Step -- A Talk by Frankie Manning."

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Our intro and ad music this week is by Barron Ryan, Laurel Ryan's brother. Check out firstofitskind.net, and www.barronryan.com.

Our podcast music is by Laurel Ryan & Michelle Stokes, our "We're back! song" was an improvisation by Steffanie AK Schilling, and the background drumming is by Bobby White.

Find us at your local podcast ap, or at: https://anchor.fm/integratedrhythm

Please donate to help keep us in business:

Patreon: patreoncom/integratedrhythm

PayPal: robertwhiteiii@gmail.com

Venmo: @bobbyswungover

(Where applicable, lease put the note "IR" in it, so that we know it's for the podcast.)