Improvisation may seem easy but it takes someone highly skilled and confident at a particular craft to pull it off. A true pro can make something improvised seem practiced and even perfected. When a couple of elite-level dancers partner up at random, it can sometimes lead to magic. This is exactly what happened when Ben and Tessa took part in an improvised West Coast Swing.

Dancer #1: Ben Morris

Ben Morris a champion dancer. He is a two time World Swing Dance winner and has also won titles in the Lindy Hop. Morris earns a living competing in dance competitions and teaching around the world. He is a graduate of UCLA and can be found teaching dance classes around the Southern California area.

Morris is particularly adept at Swing. Some say he’s quite possibly the best in the world. When Moris paired up with Cunningham at the annual Countdown Swing Boston, the result was a truly epic improvised dance routine that has gone viral around the world.

Dancer #2: Tessa Cunningham

Tessa Cunningham is the #2 ranked Swing dancer in the world. She’s the top competitor from her home country of Canada as well. She earns her living by traveling the world competing in dance events and teaching with her regular partner, Myles Munroe.

Fans of Cunningham’s say she makes everything she does look graceful and effortless. When Cunningham partnered up with Ben Morris at random recently, the result was an improvised routine so engaging, it has been viewed and shared millions of times online.

The Competition

Ben Morris and Tessa Cunningham’s epic improvised dance routine came at the annual Countdown Swing Boston competition. The event is organized by two seasoned dancers in their own right, Bill Cameron and Yuna Davtyan. It features some of the best dancers in the world competing over the course of one jam-packed weekend.

The Countdown Swing Boston website describes their annual event as follows:

“We hope to create a relaxing, fun event, one in which you make new friends, create memories with old ones, and dance.”

The Dance

The West Coast Swing is a dance performed by 2 people and developed out of the Lindy Hop. It’s origins date back to 1928 in Harlem.

A Wikipedia entry for the dance describes it thusly:

“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.”

The dance is characterized by each partnered swinging away from one another and then returning. This all takes place within the confines of an allotted space on the dance floor. Swing dancing has gone through several periods of increased popularity through the years as new generations identify with it.

Partnered At Random

One particularly interesting event held at Countdown Swing Boston is the Mix & Match competition. This involves two dancers being paired up at random and improvising a dance. The random pairings prevent any pre-event preparation. Ben and Tessa were paired up at random as part of this event, and the results were amazing.

Ben & Tessa’s Improvised Dance Impresses

That Ben and Tessa had no chance to prepare or choreograph this dance makes it all the more impressive. It takes seasoned professionals like them to pull something like this off. Not only were they paired at random during the competition, the two had never danced together before.

Their dance would be impressive even if they had spent months choreographing it. That it was all spur-of-the-moment is almost unbelievable to fathom. They even included interpretive dance elements to match with lyrics in the song.

Comments from impressed viewers on YouTube included:

“You mean this is improvisation??? That is awesome!”

“There is nothing sexier than a good dancer.”

There are few things as impressive as highly-skilled dancers moving in rhythm. Watch the video below and see if you can believe that these two never even practiced beforehand. Then take into consideration they only finished 2nd place in the competition!

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Source: Shareably