Liza May

Boogie 2014 Update #4 – Saturday Night!

Oh my goodness! SATURDAY NIGHT!

Routines were SO MUCH FUN!

13 Classic couples, 8 Showcase couples, and 13 Rising Star routines!

We saw 34 routines! Thought I’d died and gone to Routine Heaven.

This is the first year Boogie has had Rising Star – they were expecting maybe two or three couples to enter. THIRTEEN Rising Star couples! What a treat. The Board decided to allow Rising Star to include both Showcase and Classic routines so we saw some great stuff.

At this late date everybody’s got the Open on their mind. We saw a few brand new routines danced for the first time on a big floor, and many we’ve been watching all year which are at this point so fully polished they’re flawless. Some of these were danced on Saturday night for the last time.

I was watching Benji and Torri – once again in utter astonishment at the power and perfection – even Torri’s eyes are always in the right place at the right moment! – and I suddenly realized that this was probably the last time I will ever see this routine again, live.

NO!

I don’t want this to be true! I don’t want it to end!

How do dancers say goodbye? How do they let go of something this beautiful?

A routine is like a living thing! It has a personality, history, it’s own quirks and stories. It’s your friend, your lover, with whom you’ve argued and bickered with, grown up with, nurtured, cared for, and loved – the friend who has been by your side every hour of every day, and in your dreams at night.

How do you say goodbye?

I don’t want to say goodbye - and I’m only an audience member. I don’t want these routines to die. I love them!

I’m packing – wildly packing – to rush to the airport and fly home from Boogie.

I want to tell you about a few of the new routines we saw Saturday night … and … one special one that we saw earlier this year, at SwingDiego, but hadn’t seen again until Boogie.

Ben and Jen’s FANTASTIC “One Bourbon, One Scotch, and One Beer.” This is now the second piece they’ve done together that is a HUGE crowd-pleaser, another one that brings the audience roaring to their feet, jumping up and down, cheering, exploding in a spontaneous standing ovation.

I don’t have time now (or presence of mind) to do it justice – but maybe, just maybe, there’ll be wifi on the flight home so I can tell you about it. It, and all the other new routines that we saw on Saturday.

Saturday night was GREAT.


Filed Under: Boogie By The Bay

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