Improvisation looks so easy. But it takes a level of confidence that springs from plenty of practice and comfort on your feet. When two Champion dancers are partnered up at random 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.
Pro dancers really know how to create an illusion with their bodies. They make it look like it’s so easy but, anyone who’s tried to pull off some fancy footwork after watching the pros can tell you- it ain’t as easy as it looks.
It requires an inexplicable level of confidence that only springs from endless hours of practice. However, when two Champion dancers are put together at random, it takes improv dance to an entirely new level.
When Ben and Tessa clasp hands to take on the West Coast Swing, the heat turns way up.
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.
Tessa Cunningham is a Champion West Coast Swing dancer who ranks # 1 in Canada and 2nd 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 trophy’s 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 partnered dance style that sprang up from the Lindy Hop, which got its start 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 basically means dance partners swing away and then 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 fun events at the Countdown Swing Boston is the Mix & Match competition.
Dancers are partnered up at random and judged on their improvisation skills. These two meet on the dance floor and instantly chemistry is developed.
What’s really exceptional about this dance, besides it being a second-place win for Ben and Tessa, 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 prior to this moment.
These two move to the song lyrics like they’ve been working on this routine for months. When the lyric mentions high-heeled shoes, they feature that in the dance. Ben and Tessa improvise so well that they even put interpretive dance to the emotion of the song’s lyrics.
Youtubers are expressing how the video wows them.
“There is nothing sexier than a good dancer.”
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“You mean this is improvisation??? That is awesome!”
See rise up on the dance floor as they meet for the first time in the video below!
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