A dance couple performs at 'The Open Ballroom Dance Championship' in an indoor ballroom with wooden flooring and overhead lights, with international flags and spectators. 4:25
Ben Morris channel icon Ben MorrisOriginal creator 103K views Save

When West Coast Swing meets "Hit the Road Jack"

He's from Huntington Beach, she is from Tracy, California, and the announcer wants the crowd to "make a whole lot of noise" for Ben Morris and Cameo McHenry. more

This is the US Open Swing Dance Championships, and the pair have dressed for the 1940s. Cameo wears a star-spangled top, red bottoms and a retro kerchief. Ben matches her in black with a bold red stripe. The dance is West Coast Swing, a style with roots in the Lindy Hop that has picked up plenty of new tricks since.

The music is a mashup built on Ray Charles' "Hit the Road Jack," with a strong, driving beat, and they flow across the floor with it. Cameo's spins are fast enough to make you dizzy. Ben leads with calm confidence, so even the tricky parts look easy.

The lifts are the big moments, along with one flip that seems to forget about gravity. Each trick lands clean, and the crowd gets louder after every one.

A dance couple performs at 'The Open Ballroom Dance Championship' in an indoor ballroom with wooden flooring and overhead lights, with international flags and spectators. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
He's from Huntington Beach, she is from Tracy, California, and the announcer wants the crowd to "make a whole lot of noise" for Ben Morris and Cameo McHenry.

The second half is where the routine really takes off. As the music builds, so do the moves, and they hold their biggest ones for the finish.

Near the end comes a hug on stage. Behind the two of them, the audience is clapping.

Two dancers embrace on a stage while an audience claps behind them. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Near the end, two dancers hug on stage as the audience applauds.

One fan called it maybe the loudest the Open has ever been. Another, sitting in the stands, says Cameo's husband ran along the rows with his hands up, high-fiving everyone he passed. He was, that fan says, very proud.

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