• Lindy > Swing Talk
• Posted Sunday, February 11, 2007
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Hal Takier, a man whom many (including myself) call the greatest swing dancer who ever lived, certainly the greatest balboa dancer living today, turns 90 years old today.

And he spent it dancing at Bobby McGee's in Brea, dancing with his family and friends.

Hal is an incredible man, full of life, insight, and wit. With his wife Marge at his side, Hal has helped those of us who have sought to learn about Los Angeles's local history and the invention of Balboa come to discover and appreciate this amazing dance and its unique contribution to American history.

Hal's dancing is now the foundation for hundreds upon hundreds of young dancers (including myself). We are all shameless imitators of Hal's innovative dancing style, which combined pure Balboa with the rollicking moves of Swing:

Along with the drop seen here, Hal also invented the infamous "Merry-go-round," several drops, and his singular three-wall flying lindy basic is now known as a "flying Hal." Hal was one of the dancers in the famous "beach clip," showing off his insanely fast Balboa style.

Hal was never a professional dancer like Dean Collins. He worked all his life in a rubber factory down in the southern part of LA, driving up to Hollywood to compete in the weekly cutting contests, which he won regularly (much to Dean Collins's dismay). He belonged for a time to the group the "Ray Rand Dancers," known for their Balboa and swing combinations. At one point he was considered so good that contests tried to keep him off the floor! That inspired him and his friends to protest the contests that would try to keep them out:

In addition to tons of feature film appearances, Hal's most famous appearance in movies was in The Maharaja Soundie short from 1943. It's available on YouTube here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehVZktW0BK4 Hal is also credited with inventing this classic swing pose, in this legendary photo which has appeared in magazines, album covers, and posters:

I had the absolute pleasure to interview Hal and Marge for a documentary I made in film school about his contribution to swing dancing. I will never forget the one thing he said that is to this day the single most important piece of advice I've ever heard from anyone about dancing:

Quoted from "Hal Takier"
Enjoy the music. It's all about the music. When that music gets going....boom. I'm gone.

Happy Birthday to a true innovator and one of the all-time greatest swing dancers of ANY generation. We are so damn lucky to have Hal and Marge around.

(all the photos were found on lapl.org, the LA Public Library's website. Just search the photo database for "jitterbug" and you'll find dozens of spectacular old photos of LA dancers, including these)