Ron Montez is ballroom - and generally 90-95% of ballroom teachers are stuck with the weird form of WCS shown. I once asked the instructors at one ballroom why they taught way-old WCS styles despite the fact they offered workshops from some very good local WCS dancers and they admitted that they were just following a syllabus set forth in an instructional videotape from the early '90s and couldn't change...

If they can't change what they teach, then they are not in a position to call it "West Coast Swing." They should make it a separate dance. At the very least they should attach a warning label to it.

The Dvida Syllabii can kiss my Geniune-Westie-Arse.

Yeah, that was pretty damn ridiculous and dissappointing. I'm even 95% Lindy and looked at that performance with permenantely raised eyebrows. What in the holy name was up with those pants?? Yikes!! Yeah, I used to work for a ballroom studio and originally had to learn WCS (and Lindy, too. Sheesh!) from a step-list. Jesus. It was so awful, that when I learned what true swing dances looked like, I had to leave. The fact that the annoying female judge praised that mess shows how truely out of touch ballroom dancers really are...

Hey chica, thanks for doing all the research -- I had no idea of his background. Still not impressed.

How is it that you know about so much before it goes on?

"So You Think You Can Choreograph?"... a dance you learned decades ago and have NOT kept up with it's evolution?

Thanks for researching all this Erica, and giving us a place to vent our frustrations. I DO feel your pain! (Rachel had to tell me to calm down last night. And I had seen the taping live, too!)

I'm turning fifty in two months, I've been around a while. I LOVE the old-time swing music and lindy, jitterbug, ECS, and have even competed in those dances... but having evolved with the WCS community for the last 11 years I simply don't understand how they came to represent the OFFICIAL DANCE OF THE STATE OF CA so poorly. It looked like a social ECS gone flat, with tricks thrown in for camouflage. Hellooooo??? WCS is not ECS! They're different dances!?? Don't get me wrong, I love Allison and Ivan, they're adorable dancers and had no clue what they were being made to do in a matter of 3 days. With their dance background, and the RIGHT training (!!!) I bet they could grow into awesome Westies someday. Like in 3 weeks probably.

So now what, Erica... write a letter to the producers? There are just a few weeks left of this season. Perhaps they can redeem themselves! Make them let Benji and Heidi show the world what WCS is really supposed to look like! I mean, look at the first 30 min. of last night's show. They had to fill the empty spaces left by the elimination process with ridiculous audition clips. Instead, let the dancers show their "real" stuff to America!

On a good note, wasn't Benjelle's *Vietnamese* Waltz amaaaazing? She is so cute, and at the taping when I saw that clip on Benji "finding his inner-Dmitry", I totally laughed my head off. And Heidi & Ryan rocked too! Never seen that "street" side of Heidi before!

BTW, do you know if Benji & Heidi tried to help with Allison & Ivan's routine at all? Even though it w/b a conflict of interest, I still think Benji would've wanted to help, especially if he caught any glimpses of their rehearsals. Just curious.

Wow. So many points! I have amazing little birds out there. If I lived closer to LA or had a nice boss that let me have Mondays off you KNOW I'd be at every single taping to cheer Benji and Heidi on!

3 Weeks is right! I once taught Swing for a few weeks at a Dance Camp Intensive for youth Ballet/Jazz dancers. Those kids soaked up enough information in EACH 2 hour daily session that would normally take a class of people nearly 2 months of weekly lessons!!! Insane.

By all means write letters to the producers. Maybe if we flood them enough with complaints they'll realize it isn't just a few people whining over nothing but a genuine injustice! Don't bother posting on the SYTYCD Official Board... if you aren't praising the dances and saying how much you love every aspect of the show, they'll delete your thread and block your account.

That empty space-filler audition clip stuff was BS. I saw enough of that during the pre-Finals episodes! Hear hear, show us real dancing! Show us what these dancers can do when they are in their own element! They let Nick Lazzarini do a routine as a performance, but these Finalists are all as capable of putting on a great performance.

The waltz was beautiful! I was very impressed with Donyelle's ability to pick up such a graceful dance so quickly. The Hip Hop Diva pulled it off :)

The part that made me laugh so hard my face hurt was when Benji was talking about how Donyelle would be more in love with him that she already was - - He was TOTALLY playing off the current buzz in the fanworld that he and Donyelle were hooking up. Kills me. I love his sense of humor.

And GO HEIDI! I voted for you, babe!

I don't think Benji and Heidi got to help with the WCS routine. I think Benji would have torn Ron's distorted image of WCS down, stomped on it, and buried it with a backhoe. I'm pretty sure he was there when they drew the dance, though. It sounded like Benji was yelling in the background when Ivan and Allison announced what dance they'd drawn.

I don't know if it was dismay that he hadn't gotten the WCS (dancers get only 2 choices when they are drawing, not the whole selection of dances available, can we say TWEAKING?), or anguish over who was going to choreograph it!

Google Group's rec.arts.dance discussion regarding the topic is also heating up. There are a number of respected and experienced dancers on the list that have had a lot to say on both sides. Good stuff.

Check it out by clicking HERE.

I agree Ron did a total injustice to WCS. I also think they should be doing hustle not the poorly choreographed version of disco. Most of the people watching have no idea how the dance is supposed to look. Unfortunately these people will be contacting Ron and not real West Coast Swing Instructors. That is a travesty. The best way to get the information out is to send letters to the production team. If anyone has this address please post it…

Ciao All
Go Benji…

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