Google Doodle celebrates dancer Frankie Manning's 102nd birthday

WASHINGTON, May 26 (UPI) -- Google celebrated trailblazing choreographer Frankie Manning's 102nd birthday with an animated Doodle Wednesday.

The Doodle, created by artist Nate Swinehart, features a cartoon Manning dancing with and throwing his female partner in the air -- a signature move credited to him in the world of swing.

Known as the "Ambassador of Lindy Hop," Manning traveled the world to showcase his skill on the dance floor beginning in the 1930s and 1940s. The Harlem-raised dancer served in WWII and later toured alongside his troupe, The Congaroos, in South America and the United Kingdom.

Manning received a Tony Award for his choreography on the musical Black and Blue, then seen on Broadway.

Manning first started taking dance lessons when he was 15 years old reportedly in order to make his mother, an avid and skilled dancer as well, happy. He first joined the famed Kat's Corner troupe before creating his own. He died in 2009 at the age of 94.