We’ve seen a plethora of show-stopping swing dances by now. It could have been at competitions or from choreographies in movies. The upbeat, high-energy dance style just appeals to people that much.
And this is almost certainly why it’s stuck around for so long. The style isn’t as diverse as it once was, but the subculture behind it keeps it alive. Competitions are still held, and the swing is here to stay. The dance won’t disappear any time soon as long as people are breathing more life into it.
People, like Chandrea Gomez Stephen Sayer.
In addition to being kept alive for so long, one of the many swing styles that’s held up to this day is the jitterbug. The shaky, high-energy and footwork-demanding swing style that you might recall from a lot of movies.
The stage is at the National Jitterbug Championship. Tons of people are watching, but there’s hardly any sight of stage fright on their faces. Confidence and skill are a powerful combination.
Let’s see what they’ve got then! Cue the music!
Some good old shimmying to the beat, in pretty good synchronization too. Then some funky one-legged hopping from side to side. The almost comedic dance style fits the song and the spirit of the Jitterbug like a glove.
Then we’re treated to a turn-around and some more shimmying. It’s not long before they break into the classic 6-step routine of the swing, with splendid mastery of it to boot.
Chandrea and Stephen have been working on their shimmies day and night, by the looks of things.
They give us a full body shimmy before switching the routine up to see Chandrea do the splits. Not once, but twice! That’s showing off if I’ve ever seen it. Not that it’s a bad thing.
Remember that this is the jitterbug – footwork is the heart of it, but twisting and shimmying are the backbone and muscles.
Put all 3 together and you have a recipe for a showstopper.
After that crowd-pleasing display of shimmies and the splits, it’s time for some down to Earth footwork once more. With such a footwork-involved dance style, it goes without saying that you should be pretty good with the footwork if you want to impress.
Stephen and Chandrea nail it.
What’s more, Chandrea’s face just screams confidence the whole performance. She’s smiling and giving her game face the whole time, and if I didn’t know any better I’d say it’s what elevated the whole routine to what it is. Spectacular!
For the whole next section of this performance, the two twist and shimmy their hearts out. That’s some skill they got with their core flexibility there! A lot of untrained folks would probably hurt themselves trying that.
It’s time for all that footwork and twisting to culminate to the finale. Chandrea and Stephen throw it back with all the energy they can muster, and the energy is contagious.
Or maybe they’re actually having a heart attack. Someone call an ambulance!
Nah, everything’s okay. It’s just them having a bit of fun after all that exhibition of pure skill.
Their performance has just over 470,000 views on YouTube. Sure, that’s a lot already. However, I definitely think they deserve at least twice that! And what’s more, they picked up 5th place at the competitions.
Well, it’s fun in the performance that matters and not the glory, if you ask me. And judging from all the smiles and cheers, there was a whole lot of fun. If you feel like they deserve a bit more views too, you can give a bit of help and watch their performance for yourself below!
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