Dawn Hampton speaks about Music, being yourself Switch dancing, ELEF, and the LGBTQAI+ community

Researched and compiled by Adam Brozowski
Dawn Hampton was Swing Dancer, an adamant LGBTQAI+ supporter and my close friend. She danced as a leader and follower and could seamlessly change between the two well before "Switch dancing" or "ELEF" was a trend.
This video is a compilation I put together designed as a component of a special class I teach with my partner Máté Csike inspired by Dawn's ideas about life and dancing (called "The Dawn Hampton Class part 1 and part 2). This is a way of dancing that comes from a queer mindset about Lindy Hop inspired by Dawn.
The video includes footage from Interviews with Ryan Swift, her performance of "Dawn and the Dawnettes" in NYC (which was an all female Lindy Hop show featuring Sylvia Sykes and Jocelyn Hassenfeld), as well as her filming a live recording of once of her cabaret acts filmed in a gay bar to a gay audience in NYC in the late 1960's.
I did not intend to make this public as it was compiled by me for a specific teaching tool, but in light of recent events and because Queer history in partner dance is so often erased, I felt it was an important time to share this for everyone to see.
I will continue to post more about Dawn and other important artists soon! Enjoy!
-Adam Brozowski

[@eddiegalloway7089]

I had a mystical dance with Dawn one night in NYC. George Gee was playing and his band was on fire. It was blistering cold outside but the venue we were in was sweltering hot from all the dancers. And Dawn was just sitting near where I was and we danced. I’ll never forget it. I saw her several times after that - especially the week right after Frankie Manning died. I hugged her and we were both crying - Frankie was such a vitally important part of our lives. Dawn was too.

[@JLeeRiddell]

She has put into words feelings about dance that I have had a hard time expressing. Thank you for sharing.

[@SwingingInTheHood]

This woman changed forever how I approached dance. Surely one of my greatest influences.

[@CleonaPattersoneFluentEnglish]

Thank you for this introduction to Dawn.

[@jackiewilson1520]

So wonderful!

[@elhorhaemadelini]

Brought me to tears, thank you so much for sharing this

[@RhythmJunkie]

❤️ this beautiful soul!