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George Sullivan
George Sullivan: is one of the few virtually unknown surviving legends of the Savoy styles of Lindy Hop. He even refused to be filmed for Mura Dehn’s The Spirit Moves! His unwelcomingly face (George has the unlit cigarette) can be seen on the often produced photo of Lee Moates executing a back flip at the Savoy. Yet behind the exterior there is a deep commitment to the Lindy Hop that made him one of the leading members of the third generation of Savoy Lindy Hopper’s who came to prominence in the 1950s. Respectfully acknowledging their predecessors, Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers, this generation brought the Lindy back up to speed after a few years of neglected following WW2. After four attempts George make his own mark by winning the Harvest Moon Ball Lindy Comp in 1955 with his wife “Sugar.” After a brief experience with performance dancing he opted for training the “next generation” and has a series of subsequent HMB champs who acknowledge him. He regretfully left the New York scene when he finally decided to move to Miami where he still lives.
Sugar Sullivan
“Sugar” Sullivan has never stopped Lindy Hopping. That’s not so surprising as her mother, “….Lady Esther, a fabulous Shake dancer,” also danced at the Savoy. Although born in Harlem, Sugar first entered the Harvest Moon Ball via the Roseland Ballroom, but when old enough to enter the Savoy, she never left. Quickly making her mark, “Blue” Outlaw, Whitey’s last organiser, recruited her into the reformed “Jiveadeers” in 1950, but Whitey died just before their first appearance at the Apollo. Sugar thus became a member of the “third generation” of Lindy Hoppers who brought the Lindy Hop back up to speed in the 1950’s. She can be seen dancing sublimely with “Big Nick” in Mura Dehn’s brilliant film “The Spirit Moves.” After winning the Harvest Moon Lindy prize in 1955 with her first husband George Sullivan, she toured with Sonny Allen and the Rockets (four female’s and one guy – who sang and also Lindy Hopped). Although that act, like many others, folded at the end of the 1960’s, she brought up her two children, Sheryl and Jerry to be Lindy Hoppers and seldom missed an opportunity to Lindy Hop herself, whether in tiny clubs, major concert halls or on TV. Memorably becoming Al Minns last dance partner at the beginning of the 1980’s, these two Harvest Moon Champions demonstrated once more just how good the Lindy Hop looked as the then, new interest emerged. In 2004 she has to be swingingist great-grandmother in town!
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