Benji Schwimmer & Erica Berg - Chicago Classic 2008

[brotou]

i can't stand watching benji dance. if you watch erica and ben morris dance you'd delete anything with benji in it. no comparison...benji just loves himself and forgets about the woman. ick

[mrsmjackson1]

IMO, Benji makes the dance interesting. Keeps up the pace. He has beautiful moves and is generous to his partners, yet keeps his moves crisp and fun.

[djmwalton]

useless without the music

[ajagirl14]

i think shes stoping his flow.really .lol

[blackberrypatch]

This is the first video I've seen Benji dancing with a female dancer I've never heard of. Not a good showing, which is strange because I've seen Benji dance well with many other WCS people.

[WestCoastSwinger]

Erica is awesome. She did get overpowered, but she danced great, and Benji was very unique.

[ForksWA98331]

Erica was awesome I just wish I could see her dance a bit more instead of watching all of Benji's overused moves. Dont get me wrong, I love Benji it just seems like he wants to dance with himself and not a partner.

[velflo3]

Everybody thinks that because some dancers become popular or a pro that they can do no wrong. They are not god! If I made a lady look like that on the social floor in my city she would never want to dance with me again, and probably tell her friends not to dance with me. You don't make a lady look stupid, you make her look good! A Pro dancer should know that...but, Everybody think that A Pro can do no wrong.

[silkath]

I is completely unfair to blame Erica Berg. Her sense of rhythm is excellent. It isn't reasonable to expect even a great dancer to follow someone well who moves for virtually every note and than some. Erica is a follower, not a psychic. Tatiana and Erica have very different styles, and Tatiana's style makes her better able to follow Benji. That does not in any way mean that Erica can't find the beat to the MUSIC.

[katndmouse]

It may appear Benji is overdancing her, but look again; she isn't dancing - at least not much. There was plenty of time, particularly in the slow piece, for her to fill in, but she did not. He tried to start a conversation, but she didn't listen. In the faster song, Benji perfectly matched the tone and tempo of the dance. To do otherwise would mean he'd have to ignore the music. It doesn't look like she even hears the music. So, the lack of communication here is not entirely Benji's fault.

[jadedgurl86]

I agree with what you said, even if Berg only does classic west coast swing it seemed like she couldn't feel the beat at all. I've seen him dance with Tatiana who mostly does classic swing to contemporary music (though Tatiana is ridiculously good) she can catch the beat...Erica seemed lost

[dancingchrisp]

i've seen erica dancing for years. she has a very different style than benji, that's all. she's pretty damn awesome with her partner.

[salsastuff]

Hello. I see your point but i don't agree. He is NOT dancing with Tatiana so why is he doing as if Erica could dance like her ? Social dancing is not "me" dancing my way and the other doing so. At his level, even if you were right saying that Erica can't catch the beat (which of course is not the case ... i mean just dance with her and you'll see), he should do his job as a leader for us not to be able to see that (and actually i think he did well on the 1st song but not on the others).

[salsastuff]

(that was an answer to jadedgurl86's comment but Youtube put it as a new comment :-( )

[mszlyric]

wow, benji needs better partners. that just wasn't that great with her stiff as a board.

[boilergod77]

It wasnt her fault, its improv west coast swing & theres now way anyone could have followed what he was doing. Benji's one of my favorites, but he was being a bad partner.

[kecarstensen]

TIt is really a style thing...if you were there in person you can see all the little things she hits, and the things she can do with her feet are great.

[gizmoluvslee]

1st song- Leela James "Music"

[silkath]

I wonder if Benji would be happier if he stopped partner dancing and just danced on his own or with a backup group from now on?

[Jay06Jay]

benji is such a HAM

[JamieZeleneGlades]

Erica looks really confused here as to what to do, especially in the second song. I think it's not her fault though. Benji was behaving like a diva and wasn't being a good partner. He's apparently still on a high from So You Think You Can Dance. Too many different dance styles integrated. He should have kept to swing when dancing with his partner and not show off. Erica tried her best though and I applaud her for it. If Lacey Schwimmer had been his partner, she would have done better though.

[MizRedWCS]

Just curious -- where did Benji and Erica place?

[woodsman0187]

last

[ttrider79]

whats this song called?

[woodsman0187]

1st song: Music (artist?)

2nd song: Feedback - Janet Jackson (one of the remixes)

[woodsman0187]

This dance is no ones fault. Benji was just playing around and Erica was just trying to follow. If you watch them in the all skate they are a lot more in tune and it looks pretty good. Benji just felt like putting on a show and I'd commend Erica for keeping up with him as much as she did. As far as her motions and movement not following the beat watch closely, Erica is all about being sudle and it looks awesome. Its just kinda overshadowed in this video by Benji's wildness.

[swinginstyle]

what?! you're actually trying to defend Benji? He's a one dimensional showboater. In fact, if you really want to defend him, show me a video where isn't pulling this crap and is actually dancing with his partner. Oh, and further, make sure it's circa 2006-now.

[KWADorsett]

You sound like a hater!

[swinginstyle]

benji is a danceturbator

[swinginstyle]

wow. he totally sucked up that second song. my eyes survived the first 15 seconds and I'm afraid I must wash my eyes with gasoline and light them afire.

[swinginstyle]

Benji is like the bobblehead likeness you buy for a friend. You think it's fun at first, but the you realize it keeps bobbing its head the same way to all the songs in your car. Then pretty soon, it just can't stop, thus becoming a poor imitation of its former self.

Seriously, Benji has sucked for a while. Trading good dancing (assuming he can accomplish this) for what he thinks is entertainment value, he has totally lost the social dancing aspect.

[Bjswingdance]

I agree with swingnsanity!

[BWeberg]

Secant, I would suggest watching it again and think from a swing judges' perspective.

PS, Hi Melissa! :)

[BWeberg]

I was at this event, and I spoke with Erica afterward. This j&j was to be based on swing content, and that was her focus during the dance. It was emphasized in the judges' meeting, so she wanted to keep as true to that as she could. She didn't want things to stray too far off. The second dance was faster, and she danced smart and posted herself more, knowing that Benji was traveling a lot in his dancing based on the first dance and based on the energy he gives off with faster songs.

[swingnsanity]

wow....

Regarding the dancing....not Benji's strongest showing, I felt Benji was way too busy (way to much "look at me")...and by the second song Erica was in survival mode.

Benji was a top dancer before and I expect him to return to form once he gets back into swing.

PS. Melissa, I love your dancing! Remember there are two types of WCS (or is there more now) and all the variations in-between. Whipdancer probably has a very strong influence of "push whip" in his, hence the name.

[Secant25]

Normally Benji has such incredible J&Js dances. The two here seemed like a big joke. His hyper style of dancing during the first song seemed so at odds with the music. The second song wasnt much better either, but that was probably his partner.

[whipdancer]

You've got to be kidding. You're going to blame this on Erica??? It's called lead-follow for a reason. He leads. She follows. Or wait, are you one of those that things swing dancing can be "follower dominated" (a wonderfully polite term I heard Arjay use for hi-hacking).

Either way, Erica doesn't fit that mold.

Benji hasn't been dancing swing since he won SYTYCD.

[Secant25]

The critique is mostly looking at the interpretation of the music, and my comment is 90% focused on Benji.

Why exactly you assume I'm blaming it on her following is beyond me. The last part of my comment is regarding the fast-paced song 'feedback' during which her energy level doesnt appear match the music. That has nothing to do with following his lead.

[whipdancer]

I'll quote you.

"His hyper style of dancing during the first song seemed so at odds with the music. The second song wasnt much better either, but that was probably his partner."

I'll add emphasis for the point, "but that was probably his partner".

And it has everything to do with his lead, because it has everything to do with the partnership that is formed on the floor for that 2 to 5 minutes.

[Secant25]

Well, I obviously disagree with you. As far as I can see, the lead there isnt absolutely atrocious. Benji's dancing style(e.g. sharpness of movement, energly level) matches the beat and tone of the second song at least. Hers does not.

[MMRutz]

This is Melissa Rutz, Arjay's parnter. Are you saying that I hi-jack dances? Please do not misinterpret a "follow dominated" dance as meaning hi-jacking. It simply means that Arjay listens and pays attention to what I do in the dance so that he can interpret with me as opposed to me feeling like the leader places every step I take. Shouldn't this dance be about sharing energy and conversation on the dance floor anyway?

[MMRutz]

This is Melissa Rutz, Arjay's parnter. Are you saying that I hi-jack dances? Please do not misinterpret a "follow dominated" dance as meaning hi-jacking. It simply means that Arjay listens and pays attention to what I do in the dance so that he can interpret with me as opposed to me feeling like the leader places every step I take. Shouldn't this dance be about sharing energy and conversation on the dance floor anyway?

[whipdancer]

Melissa, I didn't think of you when it came to mind, so I wasn't speaking about you.

I disagree with Arjay's points about that as he explained on westiewire.  Since, I've never had a discussion with him about it, we may have a misunderstanding. Or, perhaps we simply disagree. Either way, that is not germane to my point. I was happy that Erica did not attempt to take over the dance when it became obvious that Benji wasn't dancing with her. I was asking if Secant25 thought she should have.