Special Guests

We are honored to welcome David Butts and Joya Jaimes to Flying Home 2023! Both of these esteemed dancers traveled across the US in the late 1950s and 1960s, performing and teaching Lindy Hop and the Jitterbug with The Mama Lu Parks Jazz Dancers, later known as The Parkettes, and were Harvet Moon Ball Winners.

David and Joya will be featured in a showcase on Saturday evening during a band break, and will also be in attendance at most of the event, dancing, having fun, and sharing their stories with you!

You don't want to miss this opportunity to experience this living, important historical connection to jazz dance!

If you are interested in donating towards helping us keep these trailblazing dancers comfortably cared for during their stay with us, please visit this link to make a donation!

Joya Jaimes:

It was a brief introduction with Mama Lu Parks in a club called “Smalls Paradise” that lead to her start as a chorus girl, then 1st place Lindy Hop Champion at the Harvest Moon Ball in 1969 with her partner Cornell Wade which then lead to a 45 year career with Mama Lu Parks as a Parkette. Her leadership under Mama Lu Parks led her to various performances before The King of Sweden, Pope Francis at the Vatican, as well as touring alongside Cab Calloway, Lionel Hampton, and the Harlem Jazz and Blues Band. When asked what she loves most about Lindy Hop, her response was “It never goes away. It's the excitement, the rhythm, the tempo! All my older aunts and uncles were Jitterbugging before I was. It's all about what you put into it. You make the dance happen. Freestyle. Be loose. Be free.”

David Butts:

David is a dancer of legendary energy and style! He first fell in love with Lindy Hop when he stood and watched an after-school dance program which was being run by Mama Lu Parks in Harlem, New York. The story goes that Mama Lu Parks saw David and asked him if he knew how to dance. David wasted no time in demonstrating his favorite jazz moves that he picked up from other dancers that he had watched on television. The rest is history! Less than a year later David competed in his first Harvest Moon Ball in which he won second place with his partner Debra Youngblood. It was at that time that George Sullivan took David as his understudy. David describes George Sullivan's influence on his Lindy Hop as a layer of smooth technicality. George Sullivan's smooth and textured style of Lindy Hop paved the way for David to curate his own high energy style that added to his stage presence. It was in 1962, that David partnered with Betty Silva and they placed first at the Harvest Moon Ball. After that monumental win, David became troupe leader of the original Mama Lu and the Parketts alongside Debra Youngblood as they performed with various artists such as James Brown, Joe Frazzier, Chubby Checker, The Harlem Blues and Jazz Band, Lionel Hampton, BB King and Cab Calloway. When asked what he loves most about Lindy Hop, he responded with "I love it because I'm free to be me".

Mama Lu Parks

Louise 'Mama Lu’ Parks Duncunson was born on September 23, 1929 in Raleigh, North Carolina and moved to Harlem, NYC as a young adult. Mama Lu Parks worked as a hat-check girl at the Savoy Ballroom in the 1950’s. Her love for Lindy Hop developed into a zeal for performing and teaching others. When the Savoy Ballroom closed she won a grant to teach square dancing at an after-school program. Instead of square dancing, she decided to teach jazz dancing which she was familiar with from her college years and the Savoy Ballroom where she became one of the Savoy Lindy Hoppers. She continued to keep the Lindy flame alight by teaching Lindy fundamentals to young dancers & organizing competitions. The competitions were a continuation of the Lindy Hop preliminaries (previously hosted at the Savoy) in preparation for the annual Harvest Moon Ball dance Competition. Her Lindy competitions became a main feature in the calendar in their own right. The winners became the members of her world famous dance troupe. Louise “Mama Lou” Parks Duncanson, founded her dance group in 1959. The company, which specialized in jitterbug and Lindy Hop dance routines, traveled extensively. On a tour of Africa, the dancers performed for Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.

In the 1970’s, Mama Lou Parks toured Europe with her dance troupe. They performed at European Jazz festivals and competed in the ‘World Rock n’ Roll Federation’ championships in Germany.

In 1981, a British TV company paid for her to re-create one of the dance competitions in Harlem for them to film. The footage aired in the UK on ’The South Bank Show’ in 1982 featuring Lindy Hop dancing as well as Mama Lu Parks and her Jazz Dancers. It generated so much interest that Parks and her dance company toured the UK in 1983 & 1984.

While in the UK, Mama Lu Parks also taught dance workshops. Two of the workshop attendees, Terry Monaghan and Warren Heyes decided to set up a British Lindy hop dance troupe, which became the ‘Jiving Lindy hoppers.’ This troupe included the dancers Warren Heyes, Terry Monaghan, Claudia Gintersdorfer, Lesley Owen and Ryan Francois.

Mama Lu Parks continued dancing and working even through ill health until she passed away in 1990 at the age of 61.

(Bristol Swing Riot; Authentic Jazz Word Press)