Norma Miller was born on December 2nd, 1919, in Harlem, New York. Her parents immigrated from Barbados in 1915, and Norma grew up with her mother and sister Dorothy, nicknamed “Dot,” in a Harlem apartment with a back window overlooking the Savoy Ballroom. Norma later recounted how she and Dot would sit on the fire escape where they could hear the world’s best big bands playing swing music and see figures of people dancing past the windows. They used to dance to the music in their living room. Norma also performed jazz dance at amateur nights in local theaters and for guests at her mother’s house rent parties.

 

On Easter Sunday, 1931, Norma was dancing on Lenox Avenue outside the Savoy when the famous Lindy hopper, George “Twistmouth” Ganaway invited her inside to dance even though as a twelve-year-old she was too young to go into the Savoy. Years later, Norma described this life-changing moment in Ken Burn’s PBS documentary Jazz and said that upon entering the ballroom, she witnessed the most beautiful place she had ever seen.

 

In 1934, Norma was discovered by Herbert “Whitey” White after she and “Twistmouth” George had won dance contests at the Savoy and the Apollo against some of Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers. Whitey invited her to join his dance group. At the age of fifteen Norma became the youngest of Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers.

 

Whitey was putting together a group of his best dancers to showcase the Lindy hop, at first in New York; eventually they toured nationally and around the world. From the start Norma was a very creative dancer with her own often comic style, and she possessed an outstanding sense of rhythm. She appears in many of the most iconic Lindy hop scenes captured on film, including the Marx Brothers’ movie A Day at the Races (1937) and the Olsen & Johnson musical comedy Hellzapoppin’ (1941) where Norma dances in kitchen maid’s attire.

​

After Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers disbanded in the early 1940’s, she formed her own company, the Norma Miller Dancers. The group performed in Norma’s own show at the legendary Club Alabam in the Watts section of Los Angeles and toured internationally. 

 

When it became too costly to maintain a large company, she adapted by downsizing to Norma Miller and her Jazz Men, featuring Billy Ricker, Chazz Young, and Billy Dotson. They appeared in Jump for Joy with Duke Ellington in 1959 and in Harlem Heat Wave at London’s Pigalle Club in the early 1960s. Chazz Young, who had joined the Norma Miller Dancers in 1949, later shared memories of touring around the world with the company. 

​

As a comedian, Norma worked in Las Vegas with Redd Foxx for over 10 years, including appearances in his TV show, Sanford and Son, where she is remembered as the airline stewardess who offered “Coffee, tea, or ME?”

​

In the 1980’s, Norma continued to present jazz dance and Lindy hop with her new group Norma Miller Jazz Dancers, which included Chazz Young, Clyde Wilder, Debbie Williams, Amaniyea Payne, Darlene Gist, Stoney Martini, and Mickey Davidson. In addition to appearing at many standard entertainment venues, the group introduced Black dance history to new audiences. With Redd Foxx, the company regularly toured federal and state prisons in the state of New York. They performed at various museums such as Studio Museum in Harlem and American Museum of Natural History and did a series of performances in the New York City public school system.

 

A lifelong close friend of Frankie Manning, Norma danced with him in Spike Lee’s feature film, Malcolm X (1992), and in Debbie Allen’s TV made-for-TV movie, Stompin’ at the Savoy (1992), which she choreographed with Manning as her assistant. Together they choreographed the Lindy hop sequence in the Alvin Ailey ballet, “Opus McShan.” They were featured in the Ken Burns PBS special Jazz (2001) together.

 

In 2007 Norma joined Mickey Davidson to teach dance programs at the Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong Jazz Camp in New Orleans. Davidson taught the children movement and choreography, applying things she had learned while working with Norma. Norma gave talks to the students, sharing her personal experiences and answering their questions. The program went on for eleven years.

 

In 2003, Norma was honored with the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship, celebrating her “rich and long career as a dancer” and importance as “a seminal historian of swing dance.”

 

In her later years, Norma continued to share her expertise in dance, jazz, and entertainment history by actively giving talks and interviews, coloring her storytelling and insights with her vivacious outspoken personality and wit. She taught master classes at Stanford University and University of Hawaii, and toured around the world, teaching and lecturing at dance camps and other events. She regularly worked in Italy where she also recorded the CD Swingin’ Love Fest! with The Billy Bros. Swing Orchestra (2016). 

 

At age of ninety-nine, Norma Miller died in her home in Fort Myers, Florida, on May 5th, 2019. She was laid to rest in the famed Jazz Corner at Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, NY.

 

Films and Documentaries

A Day at the Races (1937)

The Big Apple / Keep Punching (1939) (a short known also as Jittering Jitterbugs) 
Hellzapoppin’ (1941)
Hot Chocolate (1941) (a soundie also known as Cottontail)
Call Of The Jitterbug (1989)
Malcolm X (1992) (directed by Spike Lee)
Stompin’ at the Savoy (1992) (directed by Debbie Allen)

Queen of Swing (2006) (directed by John Biffar)

 

Books by Norma Miller

Norma Miller: Swingin’ at the Savoy – The Memoir of a Jazz Dancer, Temple University Press, 2001.

Norma Miller: Swing, Baby Swing! When Harlem Was King...And The Music Was Swing!, 2010.

Redd Foxx and Norma Miller: Redd Foxx Encyclopedia of Black Humor, Ward Ritchie Press, 1977.

 

Books about Norma Miller

Stompin’ at the Savoy: The Story of Norma Miller, Alan Govenar (editor), Martin French (illustrator), Candlewick, 2006.

 

Interviews with Norma Miller

National Geographic Jitterbug (1991)

Ken Burn’s PBS documentary series Jazz (2001)

The National Visionary Leadership Project (2006) (ten short interviews in which Norma Miller discusses her life, career, and history of jazz music and dance)

Expert interview on Chick Webb for the documentary film The Savoy King: Chick Webb & the Music that Changed America (2012) (directed by Jeff Kaufman)

Interview with LaTasha Barnes at Herräng Dance Camp (2016) (produced by Urban Artistry)

Documentary film Alive and Kicking (2017) (directed by Susan Glatzer)