Norma Miller

Norma Adele Miller (December 2, 1919 – May 5, 2019) was an American Lindy hop dancer, choreographer, actress, author, and comedian known as the "Queen of Swing".

Early life Miller was born in 1919 in Harlem, New York City, to mother Alma, a charwoman, and father Norman, a shipyard worker, both from Bridgetown, Barbados. Norma was named after her father, who died from pneumonia a month before her birth. She had an older sister, Dot.

Even though her mother struggled to pay the rent, Norma was enrolled in dance classes from a very young age. At the age of five, she was performing at amateur nights in theaters. Miller knew she wanted to be a dancer very early on:Black girls didn't have many outlets. You had laundry. You had hairdresser. Or teacher. Now, I didn't qualify for none of those. I could dance, I just could just do it naturally. From her fire escape, she would watch the dancers perform the Black Bottom, the Shimmy, the Charleston and the Shim Sham. Ganaway gave Miller a Coca-Cola and asked her to dance in the ballroom for the first time, before Miller was escorted back outside.

Career Miller attended Manhattan School of the Arts on the Upper West Side. She then went on a seven-month European tour.

From 2015 to 2018, Miller wrote new lyrics and songs that were arranged and recorded with the Italian Billy Bros. Swing Orchestra. In December 2016, the CD A Swingin' Love Fest with Norma Miller is issued with the Orchestra. From September to October 2017, at age 98, she was on a European tour with the Orchestra, consisting of seven concerts in Italy, Slovenja, and Denmark. From August to October 2018, she was on an Italian tour with the Billy Bros. Swing Orchestra, performing in Pescara, Perugia, Genova, Milano, and Palermo. On October 21, 2018, Miller performed a last concert at the Teatro S. Cecilia in Palermo; she was almost 99.

In May 2017, a new edition (sold out) of her book Swing, Baby Swing! was produced with English and Italian text, featuring previously unreleased photographs and other additions. In September 2018, a second printing of the new edition of the book was issued with new pictures, notes and a last chapter about Miller's last four years of living in Italy.

In September 2017, Miller's song "Gimme da Beat" was remixed and issued on the CD Electro Swing New Generation 01 by French DJs Bart & Baker.

Miller presented and taught workshops at Herräng Dance Camp until 2018, when she was 98. She had just produced new music. The Redd Foxx Encyclopedia of Black Humor, was co-written by Miller and Redd Foxx in 1977.

Discography Healthy, Sexless & Single, Norma Miller; 1972. A Swingin' Love Fest with Norma Miller, Billy Bros. Swing Orchestra; 2016. Electro Swing New Generation 01, by Bart & Baker, feat. "Gimme da Beat"; 2017.

Filmography Miller's most well-known film appearance is in the lindy hop scene in Hellzapoppin', featuring Whitey's Lindy Hoppers.

Films Year Film Role 1937 A Day at the Races Dancer 1939 Keep Punchin Dancer 1941 Hellzapoppin' Dancer (Cook) 1976 Sparkle Doreen 1977 The Richard Pryor Special Bar Patron 1992 Malcolm X Roseland Dancer 1995 Captiva Island Clara

Television Year Title Role Notes 1940 Toast of the Town (later The Ed Sullivan Show) Dancer 1973–1974 Sanford and Son Dolly / Roxie / Jackie 3 episodes 1976 Grady Mavis Episode: "Grady Takes a Wife" 1977 Sanford Arms Dolly Wilson Episode: "Bye, Fred, Hi, Phil" 1979 Vega$ Maid Episode: "Red Handed" 1984 Eye on Dance Herself Episode: "Talley Beatty & Norma Miller" 1992 Stompin' at the Savoy Choreographer, Dancer

Documentary appearances

Year Documentary 1989 Call of the Jitterbug 1993 Mo' Funny: Black Comedy in America 1996 E! True Hollywood Story 1999 American Masters 2000 Jazz by Ken Burns (episodes 4, 5, and 6) 2006 Queen of Swing 2012 The Savoy King: Chick Webb & the Music That Changed America 2013 Moms Mabley: I Got Somethin' to Tell You 2015 Unsung Hollywood: Redd Foxx 2016 Unsung Hollywood: Eartha Kitt 2016 Alive and Kicking 2019 Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things

Broadway productions Swingin' The Dream, 1939, dancer Lew Leslie's Blackbirds of 1939, 1939, dancer Run, Little Chillun, 1943, dancer

Awards In 2003, Miller was honored with a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts for creating and continuing to preserve "the acrobatic style of swing dancing known as the Lindy Hop".