Al Minns

One of the great dancers of Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers, Al Minns was an energetic dancer with a wild, crazy-leg style reminiscentof “Long-Legged George” Grenidge. Minns was in Whitey’s top group, known as The Harlem Congaroos and appeared in the feature film Hellzapoppin’ and in the popular soundie Hot Chocolates. As the youngest dancer in this group, he was particularly fit and flexible. On the initial backstep of his swingout, he formed a striking horizontal plane.

 

Minns went on to have a long uninterrupted career as a jazz and Lindy Hop dancer. He and fellow Whitey’s dancer Leon James toured all over the USA with jazz historian Marshall Stearns and had many TV appearances. In the early 1980s, he was invited by Sandra Cameron and Larry Schulz to teach Lindy Hop to a new generation of young dancers at Sandra Cameron Studios in New York and was also invited to teach in Stockholm, Sweden by Lennart Westerlund.

 

Films

Hellzapoppin’ (1941)
Hot Chocolate (1941)
The Spirit Moves (1950)
Jazz Dance (1961)