The moment West and Farrior stepped onto the dance floor you could see that they were nervous. Farrior tapped West’s shoulder repeatedly until the music began to play. Then, it was like a switch had been flipped. The two 7th-graders were suddenly moving like professionals around the space. The audience quickly burst into cheers and this boosted the dancers’ confidence as well.
The word “swagger” could be used to describe the way West fluidly moved across the floor with all the confidence of someone who has put in years of training. But at his young age, West must be showcasing a large amount of natural-born talent. His legs move as if independent from the constraints of human limitations and look more like they are made of rubber. Farrior does a great job of keeping up and matches all of West’s steps in perfect synchronization.
This duo gave their all in their performance of Barrence Whitfield’s “Pony Time.” The popular song from the 60s has an upbeat tempo that allowed the dancers to move quickly across the dance floor, and they looked like they were having the time of their lives. The performance was posted online and now Farrior and West have fans from all around the world.
The song from the performance, “Pony Time,” was originally written by Don Covay and John Berry of the musical group, “The Rainbows.” The song is upbeat and has a happy tone that makes the listener want to dance and move about. The song was made popular by Chubby Checker, who recorded his own version in 1961. Chubby Checker is best known for his 1960 single “The Twist” which also featured a popular dance move.
Chubby Checker’s version of “Pony Time” would make it to number one on the US R&B charts and introduced a new dance style called “The Pony.” The dance move makes it appear like the dancer is riding a horse, and remnants of the motion can be seen in Farrior and West’s performance. The move can be seen in the moments where West and Farrior rock back and forth from heel to toe. The song and dance were also featured in the popular musical film “Hairspray.”
Video footage of the performance was posted to YouTube and over 165,000 viewers were stunned by West and Farrior’s routine. The description of the video states that the National Shag Dance Competition is a three-night event held in South Carolina and it features six different divisions: Junior I, Junior II, Non-Pro, Pro, Senior and Masters. Each night the competitors perform and at the end of the competition, the scores from all three nights are added together. Farrior and West had the best-combined score and were made the champions of the Junior I division in 2020.
After the video capturing West and Farrior’s performance was posted on the internet, the duo became quite popular among swing dance fans. One person commented under the video, “That boy has rubber legs!” And it certainly does look like West is moving unnaturally well. He is incredibly talented for only being in the 7th grade.
Other commenters agreed that West was the highlight of the entire competition. “From my perspective, Billy should have been voted best overall,” wrote one commenter. The account that posted the video, Stage Video Productions, replied to the comment reminding everyone that the competition is scored based on the overall total from all three performances.
While most people left comments about West’s talent, others were just impressed that middle-schoolers were interested in ballroom dancing at all. “Wow! Impressed….the last thing I thought about was dancing when I was that age. Great job guys,” one person said. It is true that swing and shag dancing are not common hobbies for kids this age, but that just makes West and Farrior more interesting.
These two special dancers stole the audience’s heart at the end of their performance when they smiled and gave each other a big hug. You can see how proud and happy they were with their routine. It is clear they were having just as much fun as the audience and that was reflected in their scores from the judges. These two definitely deserved to be made national champions and we wish them many more competitive wins in the future.