Stole the Show: Jordan and Tatiana's Last Routine

What you missed in Stole the Show
Jordan Frisbee and Tatiana Mollmann's
"Final Bow" at the 2015 US Open

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
-Thomas Jefferson

Before you read the article I wrote today, I want to clear away some cobwebs first so that you can see it clearly.

Look. Talking about Jordan and Tatiana is a very difficult thing to do.

It's like talking about gun control. People lose their minds and talk nonsense no matter what side of the matter they fall on.

But here I am, trying to voice my feelings and an opinion about - basically - Tom Cruise to a crowd that either defected from or most decidedly belongs to Scientology.

But I caught things in the routine you most likely missed. 

I did grow up with them. They were my childhood friends, so to speak. And though what they've done to the dance of swing may crush me and though watching a routine that's only 15% swing again sickens me, like a punch to the stomach again... I loved it. I loved it for what it was. And that's what I talk about in my article today.

That may be a hard thing to understand or hear from me depending on where you stand today. So today I'm asking you to take a step back and just... hear me. Listen to me. Hear me out. Thank you.

THE LAST ROUTINE?

Jordan and Tatiana performed a new routine at the US Open this year. When I watched the video of it on Friday, just on the fly, I stopped it halfway through and said out loud, "Wait. What?" and called my husband.

I played the song and asked if I was crazy. "No," he said, "I'm hearing the same thing."

So I hit rewind and watched the routine from the start. I watched the whole thing. And then I saw it all. And there was a lot to see.

Basically they did a song that very much seemed like a huge goodbye to the dance community. Then, after performing that routine, they gave a sort of retirement speech at the awards ceremony. I wasn't involved in any of it. I was just an observer, but...

...in the end, I thought they did right by themselves.

Let's take a look at this Last Routine of theirs, shall we?

Their Song

Jordan and Tatiana used Kygo's Stole the Show, a beautiful song that's perfect for Abstract and seemingly written for Jordan and Tatiana's themselves... in fact, if I didn't know better, I'd think Kygo had personally written the song just for them and this situation. It certainly sounded like it.

The song speaks of a brilliant debut, large performances, playing to full houses, stages full of roses and then... the roses start to wilt. The thrill is gone. The show- it can't go on. It's time for our curtain call. Let's take our final bow.

But.... "at least we stole the show."

Didn't they ever! Isn't that exactly what they did? Well, they didn't just steal the show, they broke records, changed the dance, changed the sport, changed the game, created a whole different universe and wiped out another one. For better or for worse, they stole the freakin' show. That's exactly what they did. Amen.

But now they're ready to move on. That's good. Healthy. Long overdue, but still. They deserve an exit. We all do. But what I love the most is how they used this routine to do it.

What I Loved

It was an hommage. A perfect, beautiful and well done hommage to who they were and all that they had done.

In this light, I loved it. 

It was the hommage part of it that inspired me to write this article, not the fact that they are heading out the door. So let me point out my favorites.

First, Jordan and Tatiana were much more relaxed in this performance than I've ever seen them. And I can understand why. When you choreograph a routine to win or stay on top, that's one thing, but this was different.

It was a love letter instead. 

And love letters are easier to write and perform.

As a result, I felt like I saw more of them this time - the parts of them I loved growing up, and I saw more of the joy that comes with maturity and adulthood. There was strength and peace in that. I loved seeing 'reality' come out of them, instead of domination. They simply enjoyed themselves more this time around - they seemed to savor the performance and savor each other a lot more. Time felt like it was on rewind. We haven't seen those two in a long time.

Second, I loved their nods to the past. It's as though they wrote them in for those of us who were there for all of them. Here are some of my very favorites:

"Our debut was a masterpiece"

US Open/Partnership Debut:
Juniors 2001

#1. My number one favorite moment was at 1:27, when the song lyrics say "our debut was a masterpiece." Then Jordan and Tatiana illustrated that expertly by performing one of the "masterpieces" from their actual US Open "debut" by dancing their signature move from their Juniors Division routine. (They first entered Classic in 2001, when they finally met the age requirements, but their real debut was actually in the year 2000 when the hotel moved us over the room this second picture was taken in.)

That move has a lot of history for those of us who were there. Brilliant reminder. Brilliant hommage. Perfect for them.

#2. The next time the lyrics say "our debut was a masterpiece," they do the ever famous hip hitches in parallel second positions towards the audience at an angle - another move uniquely their own that debuted in their Strictly Swings long before it debuted in their More routine in 2011.

The parallel jackson featured in this routine was a throwback.
a classic move of theirs from Strictly Swings and demos

#3. Their beginning pose and shoulder movements in this routine referenced their famous Viva la Vida routine and its beginning "puppet on a string" shoulder movements that were meme'd so often. I did not love Viva la Vida, but I did love this reference simply because 1. it let everyone know at the very start that things were different this time and 2. they did it beautifully in sync and with greater control than I've seen from them for a first performance in a while. It was striking, poignant and relevant... for them. I loved it.

There were other things I loved, from the level of difficulty, to their return to a quiet start - rising to a spinning climax format - from their acknowledgement of their fans to their excellent acknowledgement of each other - it was a beautiful hommage beautifully done.

Their Own Dance

I'll be honest though. I also felt this was a fitting hommage for them because they didn't try to do West Coast Swing. I only saw 15%, which is pretty much where they were at before I started writing and you demanded more.

Instead, they did the dance they themselves created. They didn't do Club WCS or Pure WCS - they did their own version of Abstract Improvisation which they created themselves. Not only that - but they did it Oh so well!!! Oh, that was a really good thing to see - their grown up control, precision and grace. I was grateful for that.

So even though it wasn't swing - it was their own dance they developed to stay on top, killing swing in the process - still... I sincerely tip my hat to them for dancing it. There's an honesty in it that I appreciated, especially in a goodbye letter.

I have said for a long time that the dance Tatiana and Jordan do in their routines is one that only they themselves can do... and them alone. You can't learn their dance - you'd have to be remade with the same length of muscles as Tat has in her legs, to the same height as Jordan to the same centimeters in her heel... Get it?

This dance is them, and them alone.

Skippy scrapped her entire WCS syllabus and started over after Jordan and Tatiana came around. We never learned footwork that collides with one another - we were never taught that men go down the slot all the time and women get out of the way before... We went from syllabi that made sense and helped us grow into Champion dancers if we worked hard enough... into gyrating clones gyrating sadly and bumping, crashing, landing lumps on the floor. It's insanity.

But it makes sense when you realize that they were just trying to figure out how to duplicate Jordan & Tat's unique connection--- everyone is still trying to be them - but that's something only they can do.

Gone are the days of a syllabus that works. In are the days of cloning sub-par versions of the real thing. As such, it's terrifying to think of what the cult will become without its two idols to worship... because once they are gone, then BAM! All the ugliness will be unveiled.

Jordan and Tatiana made Abstract look good. They are the club which the bullies that make up the cult use to bash everyone and anyone they can get their hands on that thinks clearly or freely.

But who will be their club now? They hate anything old. They crave everything new. Who can possibly replace them? Because even J&T will admit their champion WCS training provided the basis for the dance they created. They needed the skill of control and tight connections first. And who has that nowadays?

But don't worry. The cult will survive. Scientology will survive the loss of Tom Cruise, if that ever comes to pass, and so will the cult in WCS, after losing Jordan and Tatiana.

What's Next?

At the awards ceremony Jordan and Tatiana took to the microphone to say that yes, they are retiring from the Classic Division, but that no, they are not going anywhere. They said that they'd been attending the US Open for 20 years, and that they plan on spending the weekend with this "family" of theirs for the rest of their lives.

Well. Here's what I think.

I think I've been in this community a long, long time. I think I know the way things are done and the way they play out. And so far, I haven't been wrong.

So I have no qualms about saying this:

I think they did say goodbye with this routine, and I think they did it well. I think they really aren't coming back - retirement speech or not. I think they'll be with us for a while... but they are slowly working their way out... starting now. 

I think we won't see another routine from them, and soon we won't see them at all.

That's a hard pill to swallow, especially for the "abstract/ convention" crowd, but I also want to point out that I have an eerily perfect track record on predictions about swing. They simply come to fruition. Freaky, but true.

So it may be sad, but it still is true: they are leaving us.

But I thought they gave us the perfect farewell gift: a routine that painted a portrait of who they were for future dancers, mirrored moments that we've loved from the beginning, gave moments of new inspiration for their followers and said that they loved us as much as we loved them.

I can see them ending in no better way.

This article is an excerpt from Weekly Note #111; JORDAN AND TATIANA'S LAST ROUTINE. 

2025 update: It was, in fact, their last competitive routine on the West Coast Swing classic circuit.

Parris Goebel: Brilliant Choreographer Sets World on Fire

Parris & her crew in the record-breaking "Sorry" video

Over the weekend, Billboard 200 announced that history was written last week. Adele's new Hello video broke YouTube viewing records, nearly doubling the number of views Taylor Swift snatched when she broke YouTube viewing records earlier this year with her ridiculously amazing Bad Blood video.

And as much as I love Adele, the video I was replaying all week, both online and in my head, was not her Hello video, but the other video Billboard wrote about in their announcement: Justin Beiber's Sorry video.

That's right. I said Justin Bieber. I'm kind of mad about that. I can't stand the guy. Ever since he wrote those awful things in the Anne Frank Museum guestbook, I've crossed him off as worse than a Nissy. Something much worse. But he's not in the video. Nope.

So how did it break records anyway?

A Tear Like No Other: Dancer's Knee Surgery Journey P4

MRI of the Knee

I've been shot!

And though it finally happened, though they finally stuck a massive needle into my right knee for an injection, it was not their idea this time: it was mine. And after the last journal entry, you might think you know exactly what an injection meant for me... but you'd be wrong.

Everything has changed. Again.

It turns out that all seven medical professionals who viewed my knee MRI, from the radiologist who took the images to the top rated orthopedic surgeon I wrote about last week... it turns out that they all read my MRI incorrectly. 

Big time.

Shock and Repair: This Dancer's Knee Surgery Journey 3

I am still in shock. This journey to knee surgery has not been a roller coaster. It has been a cyclone. 

I'm barely holding my bearings right now, standing right between two huge and important appointments, and am snatching both my breath and the moment to write a brazen update so you don't get lost without me.

Here's what's happened since Part 2:

• I had an MRI taken on the right knee, which is damaged the most of the two.
• I met with my primary doctor who had ordered the MRI, who then, upon reviewing the results, referred me to an orthopedic surgeon.
• I met with my "top 10 in the field" orthoscopic surgeon.

And then my world fell apart.

Freestyle Footwork 3: Lil' Mama - Sausage

A New Footwork Video is Here:
The Story Behind It

If you were like the rest of the nation - scratch that - world, you were rockin' out to Lil' Mama's summer breakout hit "Sausage." Not only was it incredibly tight, catchy and well done, but the music video she released it with blew the last few years of MTV video awards out of the water.

She was, in short, hot this summer. And I was so, so glad to have her back.

Unlike most artists that top the charts these days, she doesn't rely on explicit lyrics to send a message. Not only that, but her message is always a positive one. It builds community rather than breaks it down. Bullying has become so rampant we become hostile when someone doesn't do it in their music, and Lil' Mama took some of that heat this summer.

New Video Series! Freestyle Footwork

Introducing a new series of
free footwork videos.

Lately I've begun recording a new series of videos for you to check out on my YouTube Channel (GetSwingIN). Now that I am able to dance again, albeit in a very limited capacity, I've been looking for ways to share it with you once more.

The new series, called Freestyle Footwork, is very much what the title implies. I pick a song I feel like dancing to, hit record on the camera and then I try to forget about it. I love the motto "dance like no one's watching." And that's the motto I keep in my head while I boogie on down.

I never dance to a song twice. I never choreograph beforehand. I just let my feet carry me where they will. Just like I used to.

This Dancer's Knee Journey, P2

My Knee Surgery Blog, Part 2

Tomorrow I head into the MRI for my right knee. I'm so ready.

I've had a lot of time to reflect since hearing the news that yes, it's time to operate on my knees. More importantly, I've had a lot of time to take notice of that one single knee that's being imaged tomorrow. 

That's new for me. My attention, for almost five years now, has been on some mysterious disease that's attacking every system in my body. As a result, I'm used to looking at my body as a whole, attaching everything wrong with the disease.

But now that the spotlight has been shifted to my right knee, my attention to it as an individual problem has unearthed startling results.

Video of the Week: Boogie by the Bay Podcast, P2

Part 2 of my Boogie by the Bay
Insider Podcast is here!

Boogie by the Bay is right around the corner, so it's time to check out the last half of my BBB Audio Expose Podcast! 

Confession time. Though I spill a lot of info in this podcast series, its not reflective of my other work. This is a much more personal podcast, because I personally worked with this team and it didn't end well. At all. 

If I recorded it today, it would sound very different. I know about the cult now. And in that light, all of the drama I experienced goes right out the window. All of these crazy stories you will hear will suddenly make sense. They don't sound so crazy anymore. They sound like textbook cult behavior.

This Dancer's Knee Surgery Story, P1: Going In

Knowing Our Knees in WCS

As my doctor was examining both of my knees, I thought back to when I first entered the world of WCS. I'll never forget the ladies at the US Open and at a few Tom Mattox events in Southern California who showed me their knees proudly: "See? I only have these three little round scars. That's it!" 

They were, of course, showing off the new kind of knee surgery available: Orthoscopic surgery. Instead of massive scars down the middle of the leg, which ruined the reason we wore skirts back then, knees were being taken care of with just three little knicks that could easily be covered up with a bit of concealer. Oh, how excited and proud they all were!

Of course, back then I was just a teenager. I knew nothing about knee surgeries. I didn't know about the huge scar down the middle of one's leg. I didn't know what a torn meniscus was, or the importance of healthy cartilage in my knees or how to protect them. I just saw three little holes, heard about a microscopic tube and thought - That's cool! 

Three little holes didn't scare me. It didn't make me understand what I was really seeing:

Passive-Aggressive Behavior in Dancing and Beyond

"Passive-agressive people are also known as 'the underminers.' They will smile to your face, but then stab you in the back. They will tell you they stood up for you, but they really helped sink you. They will give you a compliment, then follow it up with a negative notation. ("Nice skirt! On sale?") You try to help them get better, change, or understand what they've done, but do not bother. Passive-aggresives 'would rather be right than successful.'"

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I took down these notes and more at a medical seminar recently. I found it interesting that even the medical profession recognizes that this pattern of behavior is so prevalent in society that the general public needs to be trained, not just psychiatrists or sociologists. What about you? Who is passive-aggressive in your life? I find that women are much more passive-aggressive then men. We can be our worst enemies, whether on the dance floor or in the work place. Think of a woman you know in dancing who has been nice to your face, but cuts you off on the dance floor? Critiques your clothing choices, partner choices - any choices at all - right after complimenting you?

#109b: What is a Cult? The Five Things They All Have

Cults: Get in Line or Get Out

From Weekly Note #109-B: What is a Cult?

What exactly is a cult? I hear that question all the time. There are 5 signs that I'll break down for you in a moment, but the bottom line is - cults are hella scary! 

They are pits of quicksand that operate waaaay more like black holes; they don't just suck you in and suffocate you, filling your lungs, ears, mouth and tears with tiny granules of glass - they pull you inside out too, scattering every molecule of you across space and time... and your family too.

Cults aren't cancer. They are much more deadly than that.

Those who are powerless - or oblivious - make the best prey, so this article is specifically designed to empower you - empower you with the skills to see, smell and feel a cult coming before it envelopes you or one of your loved ones. Here we go:

#109A: The Five Stages of Grief for WCS (Knowing is Everything)

Five Stages of Grief:
How they Apply to WCS

The five stages - denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance - are a part of the framework that makes up our learning to live with the one we lost. They are tools to help us frame and identify what we may be feeling. -Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

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From Weekly Note #109-A: The Five Stages of Grief for WCS.

I want to take a moment to talk to you specifically about this week's Quote of the Week.

When it comes to the five stages of grief and loss, we usually attribute them to people who have lost a loved one or a job, etc. But I think we can all relate to these stages in terms of losing WCS as well.

In fact, I think it's vital that we understand just how many of us are going through - or have gone through - these five stages.

Video of the Week: The Choreography Tricks Behind Walk Like an Egyptian

For the first time in the history of WCS, see how a real high-level Classic WCS Routine is made - not for students, but for the professionals themselves. 

Go behind the scenes and see how the best of the best champions choreograph. Includes never-before-seen footage, secret tricks no one teaches and much, much more! It's a rare look behind high-level WCS routines, and for the first time in history - we're breaking it down - just for you.

The Making of Walk Like an Egyptian:

Never Before Seen Footage & More

The Time Came - Part 1

It's Time to Break the Last Bonds:
Why Our Heroes Didn't Fight

Betrayal gives tremendous insights into a character. -Anita Shreve

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Everyone was talking about it, from hotel rooms, to the back rooms, to the hotel lobby floors. Whispers here, arguments there, pleading elsewhere and disgust and despair was everywhere. 

"There's a different dance."
"It's not swing."
"That's not swing music."
"That's nothing like anything I've ever learned out there."

Everywhere, everywhere, from room to room... the whispers were higher and growing and bubbling over into a quiet, silent, roar. But we couldn't put our finger on it. Couldn't find the culprit, the sneak, the trickster. We couldn't put words to it, words to it! WORDS TO IT!!!

And then The Time Has Come appeared. It gave it a name. It gave us a voice. And most importantly, it gave us all... a choice.

The Time Came - Part 2

What Happened???
The Final Answer

Drug addicts are no longer the people you love. -Dr. Brad Lander, The Columbus Dispatch
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Dear Readers,

This is the second and final piece to my latest and greatest work: The Time Came. It's the much needed and lately promised follow-up to the article The Time Has Come, which first announced and defined the new dance of Abstract Improvisation a few years ago. More importantly, though, it warned that the price of complicity - that doing nothing would be the death of the dance called West Coast Swing. 

It was a call to arms. It struck deep and it struck hard. Its boom echoed across the world. And the WCS Revolution began.