Friday, February 09, 2007

3:43 AMYou're in the last 5 seconds of your Showcase routine at the 2002 US OPEN. You raise your partner, Heidi, high up over your head while she grabs her ankles and forms a ring with her arms and legs. Then, as she hovers there like a "human halo", you let her go and watch her "free fall" down the cylinder of your body. Amazingly, her downward motion stops at your knees on the very last beat of the song - just as you rehearsed it. As she hangs there, suspended with a huge smile on her face, you raise your arms in triumph. You've just completed the "donut drop" - one of the most difficult moves in Theatre Arts. The audience goes absolutely ballistic. They simultaneously rise to their feet and reward you with 2 minutes of non-stop, deafening applause and rabid cheering. The entire scene becomes much more than a Kodak moment. It turns into mind boggling bedlam.

After several heartfelt bows to the crowd, you eventually leave the floor, physically and emotionally spent. Then the enormity of the moment finally hits you. You and your partner have just won back-to-back US OPEN Showcase Championships! With that remarkable achievement, you've earned a special place at the very TOP of the Swing World. Everyone is enthralled by your dancing. Everyone is shaking your hand. Everyone wants a video of your routine. Simply put: You're a ROCK STAR!

Now, having worked so hard for so long and having accomplished so much, what would YOU do next? Head off to "Disney World"???

Well, not Benji Schwimmer. Instead, he made a startling decision that would significantly alter his life and stun his fans far more than even that last choreographic masterpiece he and Heidi had just performed. At the very peak of his young dance career, after having performed so many incredible moves on the dance floor, Benji made the boldest "move" of his life. He decided to completely walk away from certain fame, professional prestige, lucrative earnings, the thrill of dancing, the joy of family, his beloved partner, Heidi, and even his country in order to serve a full-time Mission helping impoverished people in Oaxaca, Mexico. It is a central requirement of his Mormon faith. For two full years there would be no visits allowed with his family or friends, no TV, no radio, and no magazines or newspapers. Most of all, no dancing. Communication was limited to only occasionally e-mails and two phone calls a year to his parents. Basically, there would be little formal contact with his previous life. Unbelievable.

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I LOVE BENJI!!

credits to usaswingnet.com