Ben and Sheri dot com ** How they met..

So Where Did We Meet?

Both Ben and Sheri had been swing dancing individually starting around March of 1998. And though they both danced at the same venues (The Derby and the Pasadena Ballroom Dance Association) they managed to not cross paths for an entire year.

(Hard to imagine considering Sheri's smile is easy to spot from a mile away)

Sheri had actually seen Ben a few times but was a bit intimidated by his ponytail, earrings, and group of women that "followed him around" (i.e. the group of women that were always lined up to dance with him)

Ben: "Thanks Sheri.. I"ll pay you later.."

Finally, one night, Ben spotted Sheri at the Derby with some of her friends. Attracted by the way she smiled when she danced, Ben went up and asked her for a dance and that's how they met!

Ben's First Impression of Sheri:

She was very cute, had a great smile! Someone who looked like she had a lot of fun when she was danced. Our first dance was interestingly not that great. Well, it was really great, but not compared to how it is now. We had a little bit of a style conflict in our dancing. Realize also that neither of us were that advanced yet. However, our second dance was awesome!! Obviously Sheri was a great follow and easily could adapt to her leads very quickly (versus me being able to adapt to my follows). I got her email address that night and emailed her every time we went out dancing and we quickly became very good friends and great dance partners.

Sheri's First Impression of Ben:

I thought he was a good dancer. And when we danced I felt like we had a good connection, that we were able to be playful in our dancing. Because of the way he looked with his mohawk/ponytail, not to mention the three earrings, and also because of the way he acted, I actually thought he might be gay!. I never give my number out at clubs, but since I figured he was harmless I gave him my email address when he asked for it. I found it was easy to talk to him and by the way we danced that night I knew it'd be fun to hang out with him again and go dancing with him again.

Over the next two and a half years (Spring 1999 until about Summer 2001) they became close friends and accomplished a lot together. The biggest achievement they had was their great success in competitive amateur swing dancing. Neither of them had ever competed before seriously but together they decided to give it a go.

Beginning in the year 2000, they began competing and ascended through the ranks. They finished the year by placing 3rd at the American Lindy Hop Championships (Oct 2000). In their next contest they placed 4th at the World Lindy Hop Championships in Munich, Germany (Nov 2000)!

American Lindy Hop Championships
Oct, 2000

World Lindy Hop Championships
Nov, 2000

The next half year, life got busy and they put competitive swing dancing on hold. Their friendship did not stop growing however and in another year (Dec 2001 and Jan 2002) their next chapter was ready to begin ...