This is one of my favorite photos. I love the look of joyous surprise on Willa Mae Ricker face. I can't help but smile and wonder... Was she excited that they actually executed the jump at the same time? Did she always look like this? Was this her performance face?
She grew up with Frankie Manning, the king of the Lindy Hop.
"She was one of the greatest Lindy Hoppers ever," Frankie Manning said in his biography.
Why?
"She made every partner look good."
Of all the things that are missing in our world, I think making your partner look good is definitely one of them.
Who does this anymore? anywhere?
Today is a time of making ourselves look good, not making someone else look good. Everything in our world is focused around how to make yourself look good. Most often, we attempt to look good at the expense of someone else.
The ides is that we can't BOTH look good together or even that we look better when we both look good. The value is either-or - either I look good or you look good.
But here's the thing - no single person will ever look as good as they will when they work in collaboration. A great man is made only greater in collaboration with another great woman (or man for that matter). An amazing woman is only so amazing on her own. It takes a union of two people, and sometimes more, to become our very best selves. That's simply how our minds and bodies function.
So what happened to the lost art of making someone else look good? And how do we bring it back into fashion so we can all manifest our best selves?
While you contemplate that, watch Willa Mae Ricker dance and make everyone look good.
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