Liberty 2012 – Update #7
Oooh, forgot to tell you about Classic at Liberty!
Four of the seven couples with brand new routines! First time on the floor!
- Ben and Melissa with their wonderful “You and Me.” They messed up. Rghgh. Gotta love these two for hanging in there all year with this extremely difficult routine … high heels and tight skirt so we get to scrutinize every movement of Melissa’s lovely legs and witness in detail the mechanics of every mess-up. I’m sure they’re not pleased but personally I don’t care at all if they mess up I love this routine mess-ups or not I’m thrilled we get to see it over and over.
- Jason Miklic and Sabrina Paxman to Christina Aguilera’s “Express,” Sabrina a sexpot in Moulin Rouge burlesque: lacy blood-red corset, black fishnets and black knee-high stiletto boots; Jason in matching vest and sexy black bowler hat with red trim (it’s hard dancing in a hat as every man who ever competed in Country is aware.) Adorable couple, adorable new routine!
- Benji and Torri to “Take My Hand” by Sean Mcdonald.
- First of all: AUGHGHGH!
- Second of all: They choreographed this routine one hour before performing it. AUGHGHGH!
- Third of all: Awesome song. First of all because Sean Mcdonald is awesome and second of all because the recurring chorus “I need you” is SO wonderful for Benji and Torri who clearly, dearly, deeply love each other.
- Fourth of all: The song is 143 bpm! Which they’re so smooth and good you don’t even notice. Until you realize that their triples are so fast there’s just a big blur down at the bottom of their legs instead of feet.
- Fifth of all: Their lines, hits, shapes, changes in tempo, reliance on and trust of each other, their pure sheer unadulterated joy and celebration, their mastery of showmanship, accelerations and decelerations, the gorgeous perfect choreography … all of these things … they are perfect, simply perfect.
- Sixth of all: They talk to you, they dance for you, it’s like they’re dancing with you.
- Seventh of all: AUGHGHGH!
- Rob Jackson and Dinah Elashvili dancing to Adele’s “Turning Tables,” in dark maroon and black. Dinah drapes across the floor in a dramatic movement at the beginning of the song, later performs five pirouettes and then 22 perfect, fast pirouettes towards the end. This is a DC couple and have all of us here in our local community pulling for them, eager to watch them polish this up and make it powerful.
- Kyle and Sarah to “Seven Nation Army” and “We’re In Miami” (second song a personal fave – over-the-top funny – I was hoping someone would do a routine and of all people it’s these two yaaaaay!)
I love this routine! Funky? Man oh man! Kyle and Sarah get downer and badder as time goes on. Hard-hitting, funny as all get-out, their lines, their cool funk moves, the jokes, their performance, their smarts. Pure entertainment! Love this routine big time. So does everybody else – standing ovation!
- Arthur and Colleen – aka Mr. and Mrs. McDonald oops make that Uspensky – to Regina Spektor’s gorgeous “Eet.” Liltingly lovely floating perfect choreography. They were not outdone by their choreography, either, even though this was their first time on the floor. They soared! Took the whole floor, sailed across it. They were fast and slow, dancing between moves, they’ve obviously worked on transitions. Tempo changes, accelerations and decelerations, dancing in the music, dancing with each other.
Oh, and speaking of loving it: For those of you who aren’t travelling to a comp in the near future you can see this routine and all the rest of Classic, at Bruce Gleason’s site, here:
http://thumbsupvideo.com/wpfiles/liberty-swing/
Classic costs ten dollars if I’m remembering right. If you’re as much a nut for west coast as we are you’ll skip a meal and spend the $10 on the video instead.
Oh, and also … my pictures of this event are here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151000771473189.450810.603988188&type=1&l=5c030f487a
and Brad Whelan, our real actual circuit photographer, will post his superb Liberty pictures soon, on his website here:
http://www.bradfordwhelan.com/
- Last of all – who do you think? Jordan and the newly married Mrs. Tatiana Mollmann-Bennett! Their crazy great “More.” Beautiful, graceful, fast, powerful, mean, contemporary, forceful, precise, funny, true to swing, dramatic, entertaining, relentless, explosive.
And they won! Of course!
I haven’t told you about Rising Star, either, have I?!? Or the Pro Jack and Jill on Sunday!