Improvisation looks so easy. But it takes confidence that springs from plenty of practice and comfort on your feet.
When two Champion dancers are partnered up randomly, it takes everything to a whole new level.
Anything could happen, and when Ben and Tessa join hands to do a little West Coast Swing, the sparks fly.
Ben Morris is a Champion Lindy Hopper and a two-time World Swing Dance Champion.
Morris travels the world to compete and teach. After graduating from UCLA, he now teaches dance at several Southern California colleges.
When it comes to Swing dance, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone better on the dance floor.
And he pulls out all the stops in this improvised dance with Tessa Cunningham.
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Tessa Cunningham is a Champion West Coast Swing dancer, and she is ranked number one in Canada and second in the world.
She’s the real deal.
Her regular dance partner is Myles Munroe, and together, they tour, teach, perform, and compete in dance events worldwide.
With tons of trophies and years of experience, Tessa takes center stage and applies all her skills when she has to improvise this dance routine.
She makes it look so effortless.
Ben and Tessa are dancing at the annual Countdown Swing Boston, a premier Swing Dance competition.
Put on by Bill Cameron and Yuna Davtyan, two acclaimed dancers in their own right, the weekend event is jam-packed with some of the best dancers in the world.
On their website, they describe the dance weekend.
“We hope to create a relaxing, fun event, one in which you make new friends, create memories with old ones, and dance.”
West Coast Swing is a partner dance that sprang from the Lindy Hop which began in Harlem in 1928.
Wikipedia describes the dance.
“It is characterized by an elastic look that results from its extension-compression technique of partner connection and is danced primarily in a slotted area on the dance floor.”
That means dance partners swing away and return together in a confined space on the dance floor.
Swing dance has gained recent popularity as a new generation has identified with the dance.
One of the events is the Mix & Match competition, where dancers are partnered up randomly and judged on their improvisation skills.
These two meet on the dance floor, and instantly, chemistry develops.
Besides being a second-place win for Ben and Tessa, what’s exceptional about this dance, is the ease at which these two look on the dance floor.
They haven’t practiced together, and they didn’t get to choreograph their moves beforehand.
This is completely improvised, as the two never danced together before this moment.
They move to the song lyrics like they’ve been working on this routine for months.
When the lyric mentions high-heeled shoes, they feature it in the dance.
Ben and Tessa improvise so well that they even put interpretive dance to the emotion of the song’s lyrics.
YouTubers expressed their praise in the comments.
“There is nothing sexier than a good dancer.”
“You mean this is improvisation??? That is awesome!”
Click the video to see Tessa and Ben’s incredible Mix&Match improvised dance!
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Source: YouTube – Ben Morris, Facebook – Ben Morris Dance , CanadianSwingChampions.com – About Myles Tessa, Wikipedia – West Coast Swing, Countdown Swing Boston
