Showcase Winners 2010 US Open Swing Dance Championships

Benji Schwimmer and Tori Smith

Event DVD and information at
http://www.usopenswingdc.com/

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• US
• Open
• West
• Coast
• Swing
• Championship
• Showcase

[JRAquinomusic]

COOOL! That's ME singing! haha

[waitizova34]

@JRAquinomusic Congratss!!

[TheBostonSalsaScene]

Personally, I thought this performance was fantastic, Torri and Benji had great musicality, and the song and the performance were just plain fun!

[TheBostonSalsaScene]

@JRAquinomusic Hey, I like your cover of "Somebody to Love", where can I buy a copy?

[TheBostonSalsaScene]

Anybody know where I can get a copy of this song? Who does this version of "Somebody to Love"?

[jiruiz78]

One of the beauties of WCS is the creativity you can put on your dance. This is great example of it! Well executed, interesting turn patterns, awesome musicality! An inspiration!

[CSIROC]

@julibelle3 The thing with WCS is that everyone dances with a different style....even the pros. Within that there's also a wide variety of music to change style with. Nothing at all wrong with preferring one over another. I'm certainly not a pro dancer, but I travel to various swing events...most recently Swingtime in the Rockies (WCS) and Lindy on the Rocks (Lindy Hop). Great people in both camps and a whole lotta fun!

[julibelle3]

@CSIROC-Yeah, it's really not a fair comparison, and I suppose only serves to point out my personal bias. So, you are a dancer? That's cool.

[CSIROC]

@julibelle3 First of all, keep in mind a choreographed showcase pushes the envelope while an improv must be complete lead/follow. Onward, the music features hard hits and long breaks throughout. Contrast that with Mayer's Free Fallin and the difference is quite stark. Their dancing in each piece reflects the music well. While Arjay certainly has a smoother style than Benji regardless (I actually prefer his improvs to Benji's), this is still swing, not waltz. Facial expressions are a Benji thing.

[julibelle3]

@CSIROC- I tried watching it again. I still find it very forced. The music doesn't feel forceful in the least. He hits too many hard lines. It looks very exaggerated on his part. The facial expressions look contrived ( like " Dolly Dinkles Dance Studio" kind of thing). It looks like a cutsie Broadway routine. But I am not a WCS dancer, so it may be the perfect WCS. I saw some Arjay and Melissa Rutz improv to 'Free Fallin' that was fantastic! That was impressive to me.

[CSIROC]

@julibelle3 Listen to the music...the music is not fluid and seamless. Their dancing matches the music...and the nuances are in the musicality. Actually had the pleasure of taking a workshop with Benji recently (Torri and Brennar as well, but not the point) and he talked about why he chose this song. The song is obviously a love song...but fast. Rather than the typical slow love song. He wanted to show that you can dance fast and still convey that emotion. He and Torri do so brilliantly.

[Kissablezz1223]

their good exactly benji but i like donyelle jones who he was paired with during sytycd2 instead of torrie...no offense torrie!!