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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    South East Melbourne
    Posts
    809

    A review of the Flipside Dance

    At the end of 2013 one of Melbourne's favorite dances "Little Maria's" at the Whitehorse Club closed after more than 13 years of fortnightly dances. Little Maria decided that she no longer had the energy to start over at a new venue. Several people were approached to start up a new dance but as it’s a lot of work and a big financial risk, no one on the dance scene wanted the job. Finally a couple were persuaded to have a go at putting on a new dance and the Flipside dance at the Hungarian Club was kicked off in January 2014.

    Milton and Sue had never run a dance before and were completely new to Melbourne's rock n roll dance scene, but they were keen to have a go, and take the risk as there was a big outlay with insurance and bonds etc. With lots of advice from Little Maria and others, support from many of the bands and their group of helpers, the Flipside dance has grown in popularity and is now one of the best dances in Melbourne. It’s held on the 2nd and 4th Friday of each month.

    The Hungarian Club in Boronia Rd Wantirna is a huge venue with 2 halls, plenty of off street parking, and a great big dance floor. The Flipside dance outgrew the smaller hall by the end of 2014 and is now regularly filling the larger hall. Sue and Wendy happily great everyone as they arrive, sort out the tables for all the regulars as well as making newcomers welcome. Big Al runs the drinks at the back of the room with soft drinks, tea, coffee and a great selection of DVD's for sale. Milton provides the DJ service and of course there is always a great band on the stage. The Fender Benders, Jump & Jive, Speedsters, Blackhill Ramblers, and the Vincents are all regulars at the dance providing great music.

    The first thing that you notice that's unique at the Flipside dance is the giant screen sitting next to the band on stage. During the band breaks the screen is filled with an amazing collection of video clips of original artists performing their hits. Milton has a huge collection of clips, all digitally remastered with enhanced sound. Many are in black and white and it’s interesting to see how stilted the early performers where as they were told to mime the song and not move. Basic sets and go go dancers are great to see, and make you realize how far music videos have come since the 60's. Many of the videos have never, or only rarely, been seen before and are fascinating to watch. So many are familiar songs that we've all danced to many times before, but when you see the original artist performing its fascinating to watch. There are also several clips of dancing, my favorite is Frankie Manning and Whiteys Lindy Hoppers dancing from the Marx Brothers film "A day at the races" from the 1940's. Another favorite is Jerry Lewis hamming it up during a jitterbug dance contest in a movie. Boy could he dance even when he was being silly!

    A bit about Milton's background. Milton is a music collector, archivist and music historian, with a huge collection of thousands of original music video clips that he wants to share with Melbourne's rock n roll dancers. A visit to his home amazes when you see walls lined with row after row of DVD's all numbered and catalogued. Milton started running music trivia nights in the 1980's, which started his continuing hunt for video clips from around the globe. He has provided music and video clips on the giant screen for many parties and dances over the years, as well as the trivia nights, and has run several sing-alongs at the Sandbelt hotel after painstakingly adding lyrics to many of the clips. He also provides a rental sing-along DVD service to nursing homes.

    In the mid 1990’s, Milton was introduced to Ronnie Burns, helping him with a number of shows, and continues to assist Ronnie with fundraisers for his Children’s foundation in Tassie. Milton was then asked by Johnny Young to manage his archive and did a number of GO Shows with Johnny Young, Normie Rowe, Buddy England and Marcie Jones. He subsequently received a lot of calls from “Old Rockers” wanting to know if he had any footage of them, but sadly only seven episodes of "Go Show" survived and less of "Uptight" and "Happening", all safely preserved in Milton's huge video archive. He has the only known “Kommotion” clip in existence.

    Darryl Cotton, became a close friend and they did a number of fun projects together, and it was a huge honour when he asked Milton to put all the visuals together for his funeral and later Darryl's memorial concert at the Palais. Milton has recently provided footage of Tina Arena on Young Talent Time for Dancing with the Stars, Music Max & Sunday Night on behalf of John Young. Milton continues to scan the globe for clips to add to his huge collection of original music videos from the 1940's to the present day. Many older clips have never been seen in Australia before.

    At the Flipside Dance the dancers have the opportunity to request a clip from a large selection of original clips from the 50's and 60's to present day. If you have a favorite that you like to dance to, let Milton know at the dance by filling in a request a clip form, or send an email to Milton@flipside.net.au. If you have any questions you'd like answered about anything to do with music, then Milton's your man as he is a walking encyclopedia of music history.

    Another great feature that's a regular at the Flipside Dance is the 2 minute quiz. A 2 minute compilation clip is shown with 10 or so questions to answer with the winning entry receiving a DVD. Some of the quizzes have included 1950 - 60's Westerns, TV shows from the 50's - 60's with dance scenes, as well as name the artist or TV show from brief snippets. All are a lot of fun and a great trip down memory lane. After all who else would have a clip of characters dancing from F Troop, Dobbie Gillis or Gidget? A bit of fun while resting your feet.

    Thanks to Milton and Sue for taking up the challenge and providing us all with a great dance.

    Jocelyn

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Melbourne
    Posts
    1,566

    Re: A review of the Flipside Dance

    Well done Joceb for an excellent write up on Milton's passion in music and his Flipside dance.

    I too have attended many Flipside dances until posted recently to work in Brisbane. I have enjoyed the bands and dancing there and you are right, Milton does have the big video screen where it's a joy to dance to the music and at the same time marvel and take delight in experiencing the history of rock 'n' roll on the big screen.

    Milton, Sue & Big Al and the small team of helpers have given and invested enormous amount of time, effort & commitment in making Flipside a success, not least the big financial risk that they are taking on. Rock & roll dancers owe a big thank you to you guys in providing a great venue with a huge timber dance floor and rockin' bands in every gig held to-date.

    Keep up the great rockin' work, and may Flipside continue to be a place where rockers can look forward to fun and enjoyable dances for many more years to come.

    Keep rockin' Flipside.....

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Melbourne
    Posts
    273

    Re: A review of the Flipside Dance

    Thanks Jocelyn & Paul for the kind words and encouragement. Lots of people behind the scenes including Vicki,Trev,Sharyn,Lorin, Linda,Neil, James & Brett that have been a great help. John & Barbara at the Hungarian Club, all the Bands that I have employed and the dance schools that have embraced the Flipside dance. I apologise if i have omitted to mention someone, I guess I'll hear about it at our next dance on Friday 9th October....lol

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