Ben Morris & Maria Elizarova - Budafest 2014 Pro & Novice Jack and Jill 1st Place

[@kebman]

Holy shit, Ben! It's so great to see you keep up with Maria like that. I'm sure you're gonna be great one day!

[@StephPham]

Holy freakin' cow! I'm so impressed with her! Ben, you're one of if not the best, and for a novice to keep up with you like that is amazing. I salute you, Ben! Nice work!

[@MrMinime576]

And today she is a pro :)

[@benmorrisdance]

She's amazing!

[@winstonthompson5966]

Wow that was really good. No way can that girl be Novice!! If so, she dances way out of that league for sure. So great to watch

[@StorytellingHeadshots]

She's actually a pro. Just maybe hadn't competed for points yet.

[@tedtalksrock]

Yeah, this is really disingenuous.

[@sizao824]

@@tedtalksrock There is nothing disingenious about it. Just because she's a professional WCS Dancer now, doesnt mean she was back then

[@SauronbI4]

Everyone loves Masha, because she is talanted and kind girl. Dance like she does!

[@anababakhina]

Maria 👍

[@lornejensen6414]

That's so cool! And holy sh** that's an incredible "novice" dancer!

[@maripazsotillo6598]

Espectacular!

[@Scorpien]

Amazing performance Ben, again:) and what a "novice" - crazy!

[@Creeta]

That was a novice.....? Wait wut.... Beautiful.

[@TheMann1n]

Just fantastic! IF i got it right, they never danced together Before ? Morris is goood, (the girl to offcourse)

[@CVIDAL256]

SHOOOOW !

[@geekofix]

So, this means you have to start in novice division to make points for higher divisions, even when you are a talented dancer with a background in other dance categories?

[@Graggen]

a little late to answer. But basically yes, you need a certain amount of points in each division to keep climbing the ranks. There's a way to petition your way up or down a rank if you have a good reason, but that would only be for that particular competition (Unless you get points, in which case you can stay up).

[@NevahEvahTooLate]

I recognize the lyrics from Shout, but who is covering this?

[@hre010]

Shout - C2C Remix :)

[@BlueBird_V]

She’s awesome! I’d say I’m almost to her level with the dance. The only move here I see that I cannot currently do is a spin on one foot. I’ve been trying to teach myself how to do it for years, but to no avail.

[@mattressinsider]

Fast forward to today and Maria is one of the top champions on the WCS circuit.

[@paginadeideias]

what do you call this style?

[@greysiejewjeetsu]

west coast swing

[@johnwilliamson2276]

She's a tiny little thing, & nice moves too.

[@GuilhermeZanetti]

Fantastic! btw, gotta stop eating bacon Ben kkkkk

[@DanceJudge]

The girl is no "novice" when it comes to dancing, she is a dancer! She probably just picked up West Coast Swing this year, its not hard to make it look good if one has good dance technique. Like most of the European dancers taking up WCS, its easy for them, its fun. Watch out boys they'll chew you up. Watch out wcs girls, you might need to take some cha cha lessons and start hittin the gym, Some "novice" might just jump rank.

[@scubacowboy]

I don't believe it.... other kind of dance can help you with style or spin... but WCS is the only couple dance were improvvisation is at very high level. Other style of dance, are really closse with the rithm (like cha cha, rumba, jive) insted with the melody like WCS.... This is a really grat Novice that could be dance surely at more high level

[@lerikkent5331]

@@scubacowboy "but WCS is the only couple dance were improvvisation is at very high level." - lol, he's not. Zouk, Hustle.

[@1105pitbull]

Some novice.

[@StorytellingHeadshots]

Yeah..."novice", sure...

[@tedtalksrock]

This dance was so offensive. She is NOT a fvking NOVICE. She s a professional dancer. 🤦‍♀️

[@DanceJudge]

The girl is no "novice" when it comes to dancing, she is a dancer! She probably just picked up West Coast Swing this year, its not hard to make it look good if one has good dance technique. Like most of the European dancers taking up WCS, its easy for them, its fun. Watch out boys they'll chew you up. Watch out wcs girls, you might need to take some cha cha lessons and start hittin the gym, Some "novice" might just jump rank.

[@SorinSilaghi]

Yup. I'm no expert but it looks to me like she's a ballet dancer.

[@Temptresstoo]

Especially the way she spots and holds her arms.

[@mrdavester]

and now she's a professional WCS dancer and teacher yes?

[@Satori86]

Well, what division someone is dancing in doesn't correlate to dancing ability, and a big reason why is that the point's system is-, and correct me if I'm wrong, -basically working like a championship but in where there isn't a limited amount of competitions one can parttake in. In Formula 1 for instance, the racers whose engine failed are most likely unable to win because there are a limited amount of races for everyone per season (and when the season ends, there is a championship winner), and if mid season the leader of the champoinship don't also have their engines fail-, then for the ones of whose engine failed are basically screwed in terms of competing for the championship win. WCS "champoinship" points are different in taht there are an "unlimited" amount of competitions, meaning that grinding points by going to more competitions than other people is completely viable to advance further than better dancers, hence some people who end up at some division are surpricingly not that good, for instance not that musical, while some people who haven't done any grind yet are in a lower division. So what division people are in doesn't correlate to dance ability that much- when people can simply maximumly grind- and get 3 times as many points per year than dancers who are better don't-, for instance, go outside of their own country to compete or whatever. But I can see that it generates revenue for the events, which means more good dancers on the social dance floor, and that feels good =) "dance street cred" and "fiat currency" are on the exchange, though, and if one pays for street cred-, then it isn't really street cred, you know.