Benji Schwimmer

Benji Schwimmer, 2006

Benjiman "Benji" Schwimmer, born January 18, 1984, is a U.S. professional swing dancer. Born in Newport Beach, California, he grew up in Redlands, California. He is the son of "King of Swing" Buddy Schwimmer, who is of great fame in the West Coast Swing world.

Schwimmer and his cousin Heidi Groskreutz are U.S.A Open Showcase Swing champions in West Coast style. He left the dancing scene at the top of his class to serve a two year LDS mission in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. He has subsequently founded the charity organization Dancers Everywhere Making a Noticeable Difference (D.E.M.A.N.D.) for helping orphans in southern Mexico.

Along with Groskreutz, he is a top 20 (reduced to 4 as of August 3, 2006) finalist on the second season of Fox television series So You Think You Can Dance. He and his first assigned dance partner, Donyelle Jones, successfully competed through the entire first part of the season without either of them being eliminated or being in the bottom three couples, such that they are now both in the top 4. However in the second part of the season, the show's format changed, so that they are now being randomly assigned other partners. On August 16, 2006 he was named the winner of the So You Think You Can Dance competition.

Awards

• 1991 US Open, Young America Div. (ages 6-11), 1st Place, partner Heidi Groskreutz
• 1992 US Open, Young America Div. (ages 6-12), 3rd Place, partner Heidi Groskreutz
• 1993 US Open, Young America Div. (ages 6-12), 4th Place, partner Heidi Groskreutz
• 1994 US Open, Young America Div. (ages 6-12), 2nd Place, partner Heidi Groskreutz
• 1995 US Open, Young America Div. (ages 6-11), 2nd Place, partner Heidi Groskreutz
• 2001 US Open Swing Dance Championship, Showcase Division, partner Heidi Groskreutz
• 2002 US Open Swing Dance Championship, Showcase Division, partner Heidi Groskreutz [1][2]
• 2005 US Open Swing Dance Championship, Showcase Division, 1st place, partner Heidi Groskreutz Video [3]

References

• Benji Schwimmer Biographical information and an interview with Benji by USA Swing Net.
• Profile at Fox website US Open awards
• Videos of Benji Schwimmer from So You Think You Can Dance Dancing with Donyelle Jones
• Past Video of Benji Schwimmer Dancing
• benji-schwimmer.com-fansite

External links

• Picture of Benji and Heidi as children