Liberty 2011 – Update #2

Friday Night! Jammed ballroom, great energy.

Opening Ceremonies started with National Anthem, followed by an all-company routine Greased Lightning (from “Grease”), then Showcase! Six couples:

1. Rob and Connie, our good friends from DC, first time on the floor, dancing to Drops of Jupiter by Train. So beautiful! She’s a tiny luminously white bird, he’s a tall black tree with long branches reaching up to the sky. She soared through the air, back and forth and up and around, breathless with joy. She’s the daughter of a pilot and has dreams of floating through the air, being lifted up higher and higher, up to the clouds. Genieboy and I take full credit for this routine. It’s our choreography, we coached them, we chose the music. Okay none of that is true. But we do love these guys and think they looked great. Mario (on the mic) said “Wow! That was pretty amazing! I haven’t seen that routine before! What a start to a great night! That was outstanding!” Pretty wonderful to get a compliment like that from Mario.
2. Robert and Nicola, who danced beautifully, again, and to their exasperation missed a lift which they NEVER miss ever. The lift was waiting to surprise them here at Liberty. Delightful. I didn’t notice the miss, GB didn’t notice it, I’m guessing almost no one noticed – they’re good enough to dance through a mistake. And they got a great crowd response. But still, it’s gotta be frustrating.
3. Benji and Torri, so good, so fast! So difficult! Only the tiniest handful of people – if anyone – could do this routine at this speed, and this clean. Choreography that’s more like painting than dancing. They’re amazing, these two.
4. Arjay and Jen (in black and yellow with neon polka dots,) with a hip new funky stylized snappy thing. Fun! She crouches down and whips her hair around 10 times. She is hot. She is so hot. Her husband is one lucky man.
5. Sebastien and little teeny tiny Vanessa dancing to guess what? Drops of Jupiter by Train. Again! What are the chances? Sebastien rolled her AROUND HIS NECK forteen twenty a hundred times – literally, around his neck. Ha! Mario said “Alcohol was involved in some of those moves.”
6. And last of all, beautiful beautiful Greg and Lemery. Also our good friends from DC. We choreographed this routine, too, and coached them every step of the way, so if you see us you can congratulate us on our success. Come to think of it, we choreographed Robert and Nicola, too, also Benji and Torri, Arjay and Jen, and we flew to France to choreograph Sebastien and Vanessa – that neck move was totally our concept. Genieboy demonstrated by whipping me around and around his neck and then I jumped down and whipped my hair around and around to showe Jen how to look bad ass.

So Awards:

1. 1st Benji and Torri (forget how much they won)
2. 2nd Greg and Lemery $1,000
3. 3rd Arjay and Jen $500
4. 4th Robert and Nicola $300
5. 5th Rob and Connie $200
6. 6th Seb and Vanessa

Pro Strictly’s came later last night … I’ll tell ya about it in the next update. Now down to the ballroom for Jack and Jill’s.