Nick Cheremukhim & Viktorija won the event but as you will see it was a tough decision for the judges and a fabulous competition to watch for us Smooth fans. There was also the Pro Latin and Open to the World Amateur Latin, as well as the Open to the World Amateur Ballroom Championships, we have lots to cover and so here we go.
The Professional Smooth was a nail biting event with so many excellent couples with different styles and interpretations of the same dance. Mazen Hamza & Izabella were the favorites to win because they have won almost all year long, however in the last event leading to the US Championships they took a big loss at Embassy Ball to Nick Cheremukhim & Viktorija, and so everything was up in the air, with all of us guessing what the outcome might be here at the US Nationals.
In what we could say was a very split decision the US Panel of adjudicators chose Nick Cheremukhim & Viktorija as our professional champions by awarding them first in the tango, foxtrot and second in the 2 waltzes. The tango was their best-scored dance with 9 judges out of 19 awarding them first in that dance. In the foxtrot they had to rely on “fourth or better” to win. Their toughest judge was Patrick Johnston who awarded them 5,4,4,5, the rest of the judges marked them fourth or better in every dance. It was a very emotional finish for everyone, it was the last result to be announced and so everyone went to the floor. They even picked up Nick & Viktorija and at one point were tossing them up in the air. This was a very rare decision because in this world of ballroom dancing, once you win a few times it is set in stone until you retire, quit, or die.
It must have been a heart-breaking, disappointing loss for Mazen Hamza & Izabella who were awarded first in the waltzes, second in the foxtrot but third in the tango. The tango third place finish was obviously the stone that cost them the highest title in the land. We must also point out that in the foxtrot they also received 9 first place marks, almost the majority but not quite.
On a personal note we must add that we have never seen couples be so different and so close in ability, talent and interpretation. Speaking of different, the audience showed a light disapproval with the judges when Max Sinitsa & Tatiana Seliverstova were called to receive the third place position. Their tango was their best dance and here they took second over Mazen & Izabella. However, here all rules are out of the window and they are perhaps the most talked about couple in this final, and here are some of the murmurs we hear from different corners: “Way to sexy, it’s almost like watching Latin” a woman bystander said, “they have guts and no fear” another one said, “They are so great when they are in closed position as well as open,” a well renowned coach explained, and the funniest for us was from a lady in the peanut gallery where we sat “She is just too sexy the female judges are going to crucify them.” We could not hold back we had to ask the concerned lady why? To which she replied “look at her so young and beautiful and sexy and look at that one leg uncovered all the way to the waist!” LOL, we had not even notice the free leg running around the floor till it was pointed out by a peanut gallery attendee, all hands went up to our mouth at the first sight of that leg “what in the world has smooth dancing come to?” Well we tell you, it is fantastic that for a style that 15, 20 years ago many thought had little potential, would become the most talked about and desired of all and the most important thing of all is the fact that these dancers last night were all brilliant, creative and even and uncovered leg with great talent behind could bring everyone to attention.
Fourth in this brilliant mix went to Travis & Jaimee Tuft placing fourth in all dances. We love this couple but somehow as someone once said to us, they seem to become a little shy at major events like the US Championship and for some reason, they looked as if they were holding a bit back. If this is the case we hope Travis & Jaimee will let go every time, because we truly do believe that “there is nothing to fear except fear itself.”
Fifth in all dances went to Yegor Novikov & Aleksandra Smirnova. Here everyone had an opinion about her dress, some felt that the upper part of the body was way to pounded with stuff making it all look a little too busy. Another lady observer loved the beauty of the soft see-though chiffon and how it flowed. We are not sure about the dress ourselves we see all points, but one thing is for sure if they are talking more about the dress than what you are doing, is the dress taking over? And should this be something to be aware off or to ignore? In the sixth position of this brilliant event were Kyle & Allie Spinder placing sixth in all dances. Here we have another tremendously talented couple who are just waiting in the wings to move up this final.
The Professional Latin was also a terrific event although a little more predictable than the Smooth. Here current Latin US and WDC World Champions, Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zagoruychenko continue with their 9th consecutive win (Yulia’s 10th consecutive win, winning previously once with Max Kozhevnikov). We must also point out that yesterday’s win was perfect with all first places from all judges going to Riccardo & Yulia.
Anna Kovalova continues her legacy as a runner-up even with her new partner, Justinas Duknauskas, placing second in four dances and third in the jive. Notably their worst marks came from Shirley Ballas who thought they should be 6th in every dance 6,6,6,6,6, or second to last. Nikolay Voronovich & Maria Nikolishina placed third overall with very mixed marks even in the final tally 3,4,3,3,5. With just as irregular marks Mykhailo Bilopukhov & Anastasiia Shchypilina were placed fourth 5,3,5,6,2. Andrey Tarasov & Yuliya Kuznetsova were fifth 6,5,4,4,6, Manuel Favilla & Natalia Maidiuk were sixth 4,6,6,5,4, and seventh in all dances was awarded to Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets-Nikishkin.
The US Open to the World Amateur Latin had also a great entry and here the winners were Pasha Stepanchuk & Gabriella Sabler with a huge majority of firsts in all dances. Pasha & Gabriella’s worst marks came from Melanie LaPatin who awarded them 5,4,4,4,1. From here down the marks got more varied. Alan Rudman & Svitlana Lisna were second overall 3,2,3,3,2; Edvins Astahovs & Jessica Swietoniowski were third 2,3,2,4,3; Tagir Mansurov & Alexandra Kondrashova were fourth 4,5,4,2,4; in fifth place were Nazariy Blagyy & Marketa Vickova 5,4,5,5,5, and in sixth place were Christian Jimenez & Jailene Espinosa and they took sixth in all dances.
The US Open To the World Amateur Ballroom was very weak with only three entries. Alex Plant & Faye Edge from England were first. Serhiy Titarenko & Inna Haleta from Ukraine were second and Daniel Vesnovskiy & Emily Thorp from USA placed third.
Stefano & Bianka DiBrino scored another Rising Star win, this time in the Open to the World Ballroom. They won all dances. 2nd went to Igor Colac & Roxane Milotti 2,2,3,3,2 and 3rd to Youriy Nartov & Sarika Hudson 3,3,2,2,3.
Short & Sweet!
Last night at the US National Championships, it was short and sweet.
The Open Professional Rhythm and Ballroom and the Open to the World Rising Star Latin were very interesting to say the least and we were all able to see them without losing a single seat in the ballroom. Maybe it was the quality of the dancing, maybe it was because we were crowning a new US Rhythm Champion or maybe because it finished just before midnight, but the room stayed full of screaming fans until the bitter end.
The Rhythm was a mixture of very accomplished dancers and some very, very, green ones, and even in the final you can see that trend on the result. Under a chorus of screaming fans, Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova were crowned the US 2016 Champions and they were thrilled to no end! The won all dances with majority of firsts, with just a few judges dissenting the majority decision. Their worst marks came in the bolero and rumba. In the rumba they received 4 second place marks from these judges - Elena Grinenko-Hill, David Kloss, Diana McDonald and Dan Rutherford. These four judges just mentioned also awarded them seconds in the bolero. We must point out that Dan Rutherford awarded them all seconds including the mambo where they could have had a clean sweep of first place marks. Donald Johnson also awarded them a second place but in the swing. So as you can imagine this couple had an easy pass to the crown with the majority of judges agreeing and the majority of the fans. You can see by the picture when we were all exiting, the fans could not have enough, everyone wanted to congratulate the new champions.
Second overall was awarded to Andre & Natalie Paramonov who placed second in every dance. They of course had a good amount of second place marks but as in the past also some uncomplimentary ones down to fourth place. Andre & Natalie were awarded 4 four places in the cha cha, 3 in the rumba, 4 in the swing, 3 in the bolero and 2 in the mambo. They also received quite a number of third place marks, but we must also point out that there was no lower marks than fourth awarded to them. When their placements were awarded their fan base was so thrilled that they brought them a huge bouquet of flowers rivaling those of the crowned couple, that is a true fan for you, congratulations to them!
Third place in every dance was awarded to Vard Margaryan & Inga Demetryan, you can tell by the marks that the judges had a hard time making their minds up about this couple, their scores went up and down like the Dow Jones! They got plenty of sixth place marks from a number of judges but also enough thirds and seconds to keep them afloat. There is no denying their great energy. There is a step in the swing that made a few of the people around us cringe and that is when he spins on one leg and jumps landing on his knees and for us all it looked like it hurt especially when doing the dance ons. Congratulations on this result and on your good strong knees!
Fourth place was awarded to Shane & Shannon Jensen 5,4,4,4,4. They too shared in many of the marks from second down to sixth place. We were happy to see them make this final but we still find their Rhythm movements a little careful for a US National competition. They totally have a great look and are perfectly groomed. Some people in the audience felt that they could be a little more genuine with their emotions.
The calamity in this final for us was the fifth position placement of Yuki Haraguchi & Danas Jaksevicious 4,6,5,6,5. In the past we have found this couple to be a little lost without a clear path to what they are aiming for. On this night we thought they might place as high as second overall. Their performance was very clear with great energy and it was easy for us to spot them and totally like their interpretation of every dance. We totally disagree with the majority of the judging panel on this one, and like Linda Dean, we totally agreed that Yuki & Danas could have easily be placed second in at least one or two dances. Linda Dean had them second in every dance.
Last in this Rhythm National final went to Mykyta Serdyuk & Anna Krasnoshpka 6,5,6,5,6, placing sixth overall. They had just won the 9-dance title a day back and being in this final is certainly another crown for this very talented couple.
For us the best heat of the night was the US National Professional Ballroom Championship, here some of the finest in the world of Ballroom dancing participated and the quality kept me glued to my seat until the very end. 7 couples were called for this exciting final and many excellent couples were also left out of this mix. The obvious winners to most including, the judges, were Arunas Bizokas & Katusha Demidova who won all dances with a huge majority of firsts in four dances and perfect scores in the waltz from all judges. Their worst marks came in the tango where 6 judges dissented and awarded them second place, in the other three dances they had two to three second marks in each, so as you can see very close to perfect but not quite.
Second overall was awarded to Victor Fung & Anastasia Muravyeva placing second in all dances. We must point out that any first place marks that were not awarded to Katusha & Arunas were given to Victor & Anastasia and we must also point out that they did not receive any mark lower than second place. The same cannot be said for Marat Gimaev & Alyna Basyuk who placed third overall and in every dance, but when looking at their scores they got marks from 6th to third place. Speaking to one of the judges that is usually a fan of this couple, the judge said he did not understand some of the stuff they were doing including sticking his left arm right out to the side as if about to play a guitar or something. In Marat & Alina’s defense we think he might have been trying to be more playful and musical and has just not found that happy medium yet.
Fourth place was awarded to Artem Plakhotnyi & Inna Berlizyeva 4,4,4,5,4. We agree with the judges on this one, we found them good enough to be in this position. At times when we looked their energy tended to drop, we would have not been surprised if they have fallen slightly behind if the judges had caught them at those times.
Fifth place went to Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronica Egorova 5,5,5,4,5, we really like this couple’s look and on other occasions we would probably mark them higher than where they placed tonight. However, on this performance they tended to be a little unsettled and nervous, making their dancing, as one audience member put it, “bumpy.” We know this couple can be outstanding and we also know that with a little more time and perseverance they will challenge the very top.
In sixth place was Iaroslav Bieliei & Lillia Gladiuk 6,6,6,6,6. We really liked this couple’s performance last night and the lady next to us could not get over how beautiful her dress was, LOL. Speaking to the same officials, they were not as keen as we were, they thought they were a little too disorganized and heavy. We thought the opposite, this once again proves what we always say - “Ballroom Dancing is an Art” because it is in the eyes of the beholder. Looking at their marks they got everything from 3rd to 7th place in the final. Seventh went to Oscar Pedrinelli & Lenka Kovalcikova taking seventh in every dance. For us their semifinal was a dream, with beautiful slow feet from him and incredible musicality throughout, we were not surprised that they made this impressive final. However, we were not surprised they placed seventh, in this final they most have become nervous or something but the beauty we saw earlier disappeared somewhat and we were slightly disappointed in this. Nevertheless, they received some good scores from some judges and must have been delighted with this significant result.
The US National Professional Mambo Championships were also run this night and they went easier than the Cabaret, with more energy and less mess ups. 6 couples were called for the final and when it came to the show portion some of the couples outdid themselves. However, we were a little disappointed in some of the choices when it came to music. I don’t think you can really do a mambo to a rock song or some pop music that happens to have a little drum in the background. Mambo is mambo and they are being created all the time. I can see waltz or foxtrot, music that is not being created daily, but mambo’s are a dime a dozen, so for couples to use some pop music or rock tunes, makes us pause.
First overall was awarded to Mikhail Vlasov & Ashley Sanchez who won this dance but not with a majority of firsts, they only had 4 first place marks form the 15 judging panel. so had to rely on fourth or better to win this mambo championship. This was one of the songs that did not really scream mambo to us, but their elements were solid mambo so that is possibly why they won. Second was awarded to possibly the only real mambo dancers to us, Kevin Ubillus & Milagros Lareto and although they had more first places than the winners, 6 in total, their other marks did not help especially two awarded by Patrick Johnson & Melanie Lapatin who both awarded them 5th place marks.
Third in this mambo competition went to Aaron & Iryna DeSoto they took 3 first place marks but the rest of their marks were up and down. Here too we were disappointed with their choice of mambo music, if we can remember correctly it was a rock n’ roll song, not our favorite thing to hear when we are expecting a mambo. Fourth place went to Diego Seprun & Tatiana Gonzales, fifth were Donovan Dominguez & Rose Dimov and sixth place were Craig Johnston & Katherine Hutchinson.
The Open To the World Rising Star Latin was also a good event that got us to the edge of our seats. Francesco Bertini & Sabrina Manzi won the competition by placing first in 4 dances and second in the rumba. In the past we really liked this couple, unfortunately for us they danced most of the time on the other side and so sincerely it would be hard for us to give a complete opinion since due to their size we could see so little, but we are sure the judges saw what looked to us an energized performance with great musicality and consistency of work.
Second overall went to Ilya Maletin & Polina Maier 2,2,1,2,2 from Canada. For us their work was very consistent and very correct. We would love to see them go out on the limb a little more and explore out of their comfort zone. Had they done this, they might have been holding this trophy right now. Third place was awarded to our favorite couple of this event, Alexey & Vlada Karaulov 3,3,3,3,4. We said “favorite” because on this night they brought down the doors and danced as we have never seen them dance. In the past we have mentioned that this couple have good technique but does nothing for us emotionally or inspirationally, but on this outing we must say they had corrected it, so much so that it was hard to look at anyone else in the group. Great improvement for this couple keep doing more of this!
Fourth overall was Sasha Altukhov & Cheyenne Murillo 4,4,5,5,3 with a very solid performance but they need to explore all possibilities and then they can go very far. Fifth place wen to Sergey Chyslov & Daria Chyslova 5,5,4,4,5, and in sixth place were Andre Voloshko & Kyrylenko they took sixth in all dances.
At the end of the night we were all totally excited and ready to discuss the happenings of the day and it was not just us, finishing at midnight is a fantastic goal for many of these events, it always leaves us wanting to comeback for more and we cannot wait for tonight’s Professional Smooth and Latin.
In the pro/am events the US National “A” title went to Vera Xu w/Jakub Zeglan who placed first in all dances and who from where we stood looked like the winner from the start - great isolation, great musicality and total awareness of the music. Second place here was Joanne Wa/ PlamenDanilov 2,2,2,3,3. We had a hard time finding this lady on the floor I think the dark color of her outfit did not help but once we found her you could not help but love her infectious smile and her punchiness when it came to the Latin.
Third in the “A” Pro/Am went to Angelina Evseeva w/ Ivan Mulyaka 3,3,3,2,2, we agree with the judges. Had this lady danced the first three dances as she did the last two she could be in second place now, but this was not to be the first two dances looked as if she was going through what she was taught and not just dancing. The other two she let herself go, we even saw some excellent isolation in her upper body something that we missed in the first three dances. Fourth place went to Emily Tang w/ Delyan Terziev I would say this is more of the same. This lady is very consistent in her job and she does it quite well, however, you have to motivate the judges to mark you higher and trying something a little different or new is not a bad thing. In other words you do not want to be that object in the house that you know is there but hardly look at.
Fifth in this “A” division wen to Deborah Tipley w/ Paul Richardson 5,5,4,6,6. I found her work quite clean as well and at times it seemed to want to go somewhere as reflected in her marks, but it held back and that is not a good thing at a competition, it might be okay when rehearsing but not at competitions. Sixth was awarded to Becca Karasek w/ Aleko Khutsidze 6,6,6,5,5.
The Open B was an extremely tough heat to score. The winner and dancing better than we have ever seen her, was Marina Dzasokhova w/ Ivan Statsenko representing Monaco. She placed 1,2,1,1,1. With 2,1,2,2,2, Maria Seragou w/ Dmitrios Damalas was the runner-up and again this was a deserved placement in our view. However, as with all the others in this final, her individual scores ran all the way from 1st to down to 6th (buts no 7’s or 8’s) in all dances. 3rd in all dances went to Christine Stanko w/ Jean Paul. As the final placements suggest, Christine is certainly a consistent performer and this paid off in a final that was anything but consistent for most. From 4th on down the scores were very mixed. 4th went to Jacqueline Soccadato w/ Delyan Terziev 6,4,5,6,5; 5th Tasha Romero w/ Evgeny Likachev 8,6,4,7,4; 6th Adel Jaena w/ Gene Bersten 8,6,4,7,4 (this was a Rule 10 tiebreak with 5th place); 7th Irma Tan w/ Alek Nashev 5,8,8,5,6; 8th Colette Marotto w/ Oleksiy Lytvyn 4,7,7,8,8.
Lisa Lowery w/ Roman Malkhasyan won the Open C placing 2,1,1,2,1. She had the majority of 1st places in samba only as this was also a very tightly scored final. 2nd spot went to Lynn Magnesen w/ Tykhon Zhyvkov 1,2,2,1,2. We thought this was a very confident performance from Lynn, she certainly challenged hard for that title. Svyatets w/ Aleksandr Vukosavljevik was 3rd with 3,3,3,3,5. We saw great improvement in this lady’s performance. All the 4’s went to Rhonda Lynch w/ Stephen McCann. This lady has been at the top tier of this division for a while and always looks good. Could have been a little more assertive today. Suzanne Saperstein w/ Ricky Bentzen placed 5th with 5,5,5,5,4. We thought Suzaane showed good musical expression and could have placed higher in some dances. Tina Tang w/ Stanislav Kochergin (Canada) took 6th in all dances and Sally He w/ Enzo Zappia took all the 7’s.
Janet Colleran w/ Aleks Nashev won the Open S1
A 2 O’ Clock Finish!
Last night it was a 2 AM finish for the US Championships, however, a number of us were still glued to our chairs to find out the outcome of some of these very interesting events.
The US National Professional Cabaret Championship was possibly the culprit that made this evening last do long with 12 couples registered, it began with a semifinal round and 6 couples were called back, to do it all over again.
As we just said 12 couples had registered for the Professional Cabaret many of them with routines that seemed 4 minutes +, they all took to the floor and we saw them dance one by one in the early evening. Many wondered why they did not just place them all 1 through 12 especially since this is such a difficult task for the bodies at work, but they did not, a 6-couple final was called that we saw later in what you will see was a packed evening of dance. Cabaret as you all know, has plenty of overhead lifts and nail-biting moves and here the couples did not disappoint. Shane & Shannon Jensen were crowned the champions overall and we ourselves must second that. Their routine was faultless both times they performed landing everything without a hitch and making swift, easy transitions from step to step, making them in our opinion well worth this US National Professional Cabaret Title. We must point out that although Shane & Shannon won overall with the majority of firsts, there was a good number of judges that did not agree with this decision - 3 of them gave a second, 3 more gave them thirds, and Patrick Johnson awarded them a 5th place mark for their efforts.
However, many of the other couples were not as lucky or perhaps fit enough to handle the pressure. Possibly the physical endurance of performing a routine of this physical stress, 2 times within a short period of time might be too much. Many of them had issues that probably cost them a mark or two in their program. Mykhailo Azarov & Tetyana Makarenko were perhaps the only couple that could have taken this title away from Shane & Shannon, with a very interesting routine portraying the artist “Salvador Dali.” This was a fantastic routine that actually captured our imagination and had they not had such a noticeable wobble in one of their steps they might have won easily. Mykhailo & Tetyana took 4 first place marks, but the other marks varied down to 5th place, one from Wilson Barrera and one from Rufus Dustin.
Travis & Jaimee Tuft had perhaps the worst wobble of the night and it possibly cost them a title and placed them in third position. They did not get any 5th place marks but they also did not get any 1st. Clyde Harris & Summer Elkin, danced the best we have seen them dance ever and they looked as if they would challenge for higher placement in the semi but in the final, they too had a couple of oops and their routine was not strong enough to carry them further than fourth place. Fifth place was awarded to Clifton Sepulveda & Mar Martinez who also had a small but noticeable interference in a couple of their transitions. And Sixth position went to the only couple that had a faultless performance in the final round, Jamie Black & Robin Ray. Unfortunately like the couple just mentioned before their routine looked a little outdated and their costuming could have had a sharper image, the flowing white hanging panels did nothing to encourage for the look or the routine and Jamie’s top was a little big for his body, giving him a “kimono” effect rather than a fit strong “gladiator” that he is.
Both the US National Professional International 10 Dance Championship and American 9 dance were finalized this evening. The US National Professional International 10 Dance Champions was awarded to Sergey Samchynskyy & Yuliya Besarab, retaining their title from 2015. There was a little confusion because the scores announced were backwards (Latin scores for Ballroom) but at the end the result was exactly as presented and Sergey & Yuliya received these marks from waltz to jive, 3,2,2,3,3,1,1,1,1,1, and so as you see they won all Latin dances but were slightly short in the ballroom but god enough to win. Second in the 10 dance went to Simeon & Kora Stoynova 2,3,3,2,2,2,3,2,2,2; third were Igor Colac & Roxane Milotti 1,1,1,1,1,3,4,4,4,3; fourth went to Aleksei Alekseev & Ekaterina Derevleva; fifth was awarded to Dmitriy Solomakha & Gabriela Sevillano; sixth went to Pavel Cherdantsau & Svetlanta Rudkovskaya and seventh were Manuel Trillo & Anna Belyavtseva.
The US National Professional 9 Dance Championship, went down to seventh place as well and here first place honors went to Mykyta Serdyuk & Anna Krasnoshapka with these marks, starting from the waltz and finishing on mambo 4,2,4,4,1,1,1,1,1. Mykyta was overtaken with emotion when their first placement was announced, he cried through the entire presentation, lucky for him Anna held it all together for both of them! Second in this 9 dance was awarded to Maksym Lotoskyy & Sarah Haworth 2,4,2,3,3,2,2,3,2; third went to Shandor Shtefil & Aleksandra Barsukov 3,3,3,2,5,4,3,4,3. We must also point out a very interesting fact in this 9-dance event, Kyle & Allie Spinder won all the Smooth dances but as you will see their Rhythm held them from getting a higher placement than fourth overall 1,1,1,1,6,6,6,6,7. Fifth place overall went to Ilya Abdullin & Tara Barkov; sixth place was awarded to Viktor Tkachenko & Yuliya Lukina, and seventh went to Ivan Dishliev & Marieta Nedyalkova.
It was a 4 couple final in the US National Professional South American Show Dance Championship. The winners overall were Andre & Natalie Parmonov and they received 14 of the 15 first place marks. Second place went to Vasily Anokhin & Kristina Androsenko who did a very interesting routine with him wearing a blindfold for part of the routine. Third was awarded to Maksym Kapitanchuk & Elena Krifuks, leaving fourth place to Christiano Callegari & Katia Kuznetsova.
There were also two Rising Star events this evening, the US National Professional Rising Star Ballroom and the US National Professional Rising Star American Rhythm.
The Ballroom Rising Star went to Stefano & Bianka Di Brino and they won all dances, with a majority of firsts in every dance. Second overall was awarded to Yuriy Nartov & Sarika Hudson, who placed second in every dance. Third place overall went to the favorite to win and that was Christian Radvan & Kristina Kudelko who scored 3,3,4,3,5. At Embassy Ball last week they won this event. Fourth went to Leonid Burlo & Liana Bakhtiarova 5,5,3,4,4; fifth was awarded to Luca Balestra & Kristina Balestra 4,4,5,5,3, and sixth position went to Slava Kostianets & Valeriia Kostianets 6,6,6,6,6.
Perhaps the weaker event when it came to the actual dancing but the best when it came to attendance was the US National Rising Star Rhythm. Here there were some couples that appeared quite new to the scene, but then ofcourse, that’s why it’s called “rising star.” The winners overall were Ilya Abdullin & Tara Barkov winning four dances but placing 3rd in the mambo. Second overall was Maksyn Lototskyy & Sarah Haworth 2,3,2,2,2. Third went to Riccardo Papi & Sabrina Moretti 3,2,3,3,1. Fourth was Kristian Sese & Mae Lozada 5,4,4,4,4; fifth was awarded to Ryan Lockhart & Danelle Newman 6,6,5,5,5 and in sixth position were Dmitriy Zavialov & Mariya-Khristina Shurupova 4,5,6,6,6.
When it came to the US Open to the World Pro/Am Smooth Scholarships Championships, we know we have said it before but this year was fantastic in all categories. They were well-attended and the quality was great.
In the “A” division, Yulia Rudenco dancing with her father Andrei, won all dances all with the majority of firsts. Her lowest marks came from Jenell Maranto who placed her 4,7,6,7. Second was awarded to Whitney Myers w/Evgeny Malko and they placed second in every dance. We really liked both these ladies just mentioned but we though Whitney had an edge when t came to creativity and softness. Third in this great final was awarded to Madison Stribling w/Mayo Alanen 3,3,4,3. This young lady has great potential, unfortunately her technical merit did not hold up to her musicality and interpretation but with time we see this young lady being on top of it all. Fourth went to Natalie Crandall w/ Decho Kraev 4,4,3,4. Fifth place came to a three way tied between the following ladies, all with 24 points at the end of the competition. So in the end fifth place went to Thara Salomone w/ Jim Maranto 5,7,7,5 in a rule 10 decision. Sixth was Kailee Donovan w/ Gunnar Sverrisson 7,5,6,6, in a Rule 11 decision, and seventh place was awarded to Irene Lee w/ Nick Cheremukhin 6,6,5,7.
The “B” division was perhaps the toughest of the open smooth divisions and went to Aiyesha Dey w/Mayo Alanen and they won all dances with a majority of firsts. Second was Joanne Tatem w Mariusz/Zakrewski and she was 2nd in all dances and is rapidly improving in this style. 3rd and 4th places provided the tightest contest, separated eventually by a Rule 10. With 3,3,5,5, Sirinda Sincharoen w/ Max Sinitsa took the 3rd spot over Selene Steelman w/ Travis Tuft who placed 4th with 4,5,4,3. Cathy Howell w/ Martin Cawston was also very close in 5th place scoring 6,4,3,4. Patricia Schneider w/ Nick Cheremukhin closed this very strong final placing 6th with 5,6,6,6.
The C Division was also very tight with no competitor receiving a majority of 1st places in any dance. The winner by 3 dances to 1 was Lynn Shanahan w/ Darius Mosteika and she placed 1,1,2,1. This is another victory in a very successful year for Lynn. The runner-up was Lisa Lowery w/ Roman Malkhasyan and she won that foxtrot and placed 2nd in the other dances. Once again we had a tie for 3rd and 4th places, separated by a Rule 10. Michiko Cantor w/ Evgeny Malko was the winner in this placing 5,4,3,3 and taking the 4th spot was Sophia D’Angelo w/ Ilya Reyzin 4,3,4,4. Sue Eldred w/ Oleksiy Pigotskyy 3,5,5,5 and we see enormous improvement in this lady’s dancing recently with her new pro-am partner. Darla Davies w/ Jim Maranto took the sixth spot 6,6,6,6.
Congratulations to Charlotte Carey w/ Kostadin Bidjourov as she won both the C2 and S1 Championships.
The pro-ams also completed their Open 9-Dance divisions. Sophia D’Angelo w/ Ilya Reyzin won the C Division, winning all 9 dances. Natalie Crandall w/ Decho Kraev won the A 9-Dance winning 8 of the 9 dances.
And The 2016 National Champions are ………
Yesterday, here in Orlando, Florida, we began selecting the 2016 US Champions and here are the results.
The very first US National Professional title to be decided was the Theatre Arts, an event now individual to the USDC, where couples compete to pre-selected music in one dance that allows lifts. The winners last night were once again, Travis & Jaimee Tuft from NJ. 6 couples in total contested the event and 12 of the 15 adjudicators placed them to win, 2 placed them 2nd and 1 placed them 3rd. The music selected was a “waltz” and this was a good selection for Travis & Jaimee who also compete in the Smooth category. 2nd tonight went to Shane & Shannon Jensen (CT) and 3rd were Trevor & Emily Guthrie (NC). Interestingly, these top 3 couples are all BYU alumni. 4th spot went to Mikhailo Azarov & Tetyana Makarenko (FL); 5th Aaron Stowell & Shelby Henderson (FL) and 6th Zachary Pohl & Ariel Freilich (WI).
The other US National Championship decided last night was the Classic Showdance. This attracted only 3 entries, but they were all of the highest caliber and each received some 1st places from the 15 adjudicators. The winning routine came from Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronica Egorova who presented a mime style number complete with white face makeup for both. It was an ingenious routine and well danced. They received 9 of the 15 first places. 2nd went to the 2015 Champions, Pavel Cherdantsau & Svetlana Rudkovskaya who gave us one of their signature comedy routines that was also faultlessly presented and for us was very challenging to the winners. Paulo & Liene DiLorenzo gave a much more dramatic presentation to a rendition of “Swan Lake” and this too was highly accomplished. All three couples are from Florida.
The pro-ams completed 2 days of Rhythm divisions and these ended with the Open to the World US National Scholarships.
Natalie Crandall w/ Decho Kraev (AZ) won the A Division, winning all dances with the majority of 1st places. We were very impressed with this lady’s dancing today. She has made tremendous improvements over the last 12 months and was a strong winner today. Natalie also won the US National Title. With 2,2,2,2,4, Isabella Libatore w/ Charles Cunningham (FL) took 2nd. Isabella has a great look on the floor and gave a strong performance in this division, making up for the much worse result she received in the US National Championship earlier in the day. 3rd in all dances went to Chastity Smith w/ Eddie Ares (GA). Chastity also has made some great improvements this year. Mengqi Huang w/ Emmanuel Pierre Antoine was 4th placing 4,4,4,4,2. This was a new lady to us, but very impressive. She had a “cool” presentation that was effective for her, but a more energetic interpretation in places might help create more light and shade. 5th place went to Alina Sakura w/ Aaron DeSotto (IL) 5,5,6,7,5. We liked her light and bright presentation. 6th spot fell to Kathryn Harper w/ Rex Jones 6,6,5,6,7 (GA) and 7th to Matthew Shimizu & Jessica Nicole (MA) 7,7,7,5,6. We did feel Matthew was a little unlucky with this result. He had placed much higher in the National Championship and we did not see that his performance was compromised in this championship. He was 2nd in the National Championship, ahead of the runner-up in this Open Championship.
Giovanni Fortezza w/ Jolanta Mosteika (NY) retained his title in the Open to the World B Championship. Giovanni won all dances, 3 of them with the majority of 1st places. His precision and consistency are hard to beat! 2nd went to Kia Malone w/ Eddie Rivera (FL) 3,2,2,2,2. Kia had won the National Title earlier, although Giovanni did not compete in this. Kia has great personality on the floor and has done much to improve her technical accuracy in the past year. Well done! With 2,3,3,3,3, Kelly Wain w/ Vlad Astafiev (CT) took 3rd. This is a newer competitor to us, but we were very impressed – a quiet but precise performance. Thara Salamone w/ Jim Maranto (AZ) was 4th 4,4,4,4,5. Thara’s dancing improved as this day went on in our view. From a slightly shaky beginning she became so much stronger and very deserving of this placement. 5th spot went to Lana Lusher w/ Jose DeCamps (NY). Lana is a seasoned competitor and we always like her earthy style. She placed 7,5,5,5,4. 6th Darcy Ehrlich / Aaron DeSotto (IL) was 6th in all dances. We really liked her light demeanor on the floor. Mariana Lvoff w/ Vald Kosarev closed this strong final placing 5,7,7,7,7 and always gives a strong and consistent performance.
Lynn Magnesen w/ Vard Margaryan (CA) continued her successful run from Embassy Ball last week winning the Open to the World C Scholarship here. She also won the National Title earlier in the day. Lynn scored 1,2,1,1,1 here and certainly she has improved all year long. Runner-up today was Sophia D’Angelo w/ Ilya Reyzin (PA) 2,1,2,22. For us this is close contest between 2 superb competitors. Joan Goddard w/ Aaron Talbert (MA) took 3rd 4,3,3,3,4. Joan is an experienced and consistent competitor and this paid off today in the Open Scholarship after a disappointing result in the National Championship where, strangely, she did not make the final. 4th spot went to Donna Sparano w/ Evgeny Dyachenko (PA) 5,5,4,4,3. Donna is another experienced competitor and a very strong dancer. Jennifer Marre w/ Plamen Danailov (NY) took 5th 3,4,6,5,6. Not as consistent as some in this final as can be seen from the scores, but could certainly be a leading competitor in this division soon. Janice Gonzalez w/ Vlad Kosarev (FL) was 6th 6,6,5,6,5. Janice has a very earthy and traditional approach that we like a lot.
In the S1 Open Scholarship Susan Miller w/ Hayk Arshakian (WI) was the winner and in the C2 Peggy Lavinsky w/ Aleko Khutsidze took the title.
2 Professional RS competitions were also decided last night and they were 2 of the best that we’ve ever seen here at a US Championship. The Smooth division started with 36 competitors all of a wonderful standard – so much so that 8 were returned for the final. To no great surprise the winners were Roman Malkasyan & Kat Wagner (FL) who won all dances with huge majorities of 1st places. This result might have surprised a couple of judges who scored them in the lower half of this final. 2nd tonight went to Slava & Valeriia Kostaniets (CA) 2,2,2,3. We thought they had a great night, by far the best we have ever seen from them. However, the individual judges’ scores had them all over the final with marks from 1st to 8th in all dances. John Campbell & Jaki Brockman (CT) took 3rd 3,3,3,2. The most subtly styled couple in the final, they were always in contention we felt. With 4,5,4,4 Marcin Tomaszewski & Krista Derrington (CA) were 4th. This is fairly new partnership and they gave a good showing tonight. Much potential here. The beautiful partnership of Mykyta Serdyuk & Anna Krasnoshapka (WI) were 5th 5,6,5,5. They have a great look and could have placed higher, we felt, except they appeared a little stressed in the final. Enzo Zappia & Stephanie Betts (TX) placed 6th 6,4,8,7. This is one of the best “dancing” couples in the final. Sometimes we feel that their dancing looks a little like hard work. 7th place fell to Matt Rivers & Maliwan Diemer (IL) 7,8,6,6. The judges’ scores for the majority of couples in this final were very mixed. Matt & Maliwan were the one couple we feel could have placed higher overall in this final. Closing this final with 8,7,7,8 were Andre & Elena Rudenco (FL). A very strong couple. We would like to see a little more light and shade.
The RS Latin began with a quarter-final and we thought right from the beginning the standard of the couples was remarkably even and very high. Francesco Bertini & Sabrina Manzi (CA) were the winners in all dances. They won the samba and jive with the majority of 1st places. What rhythm an energy this couple have! With 2,2,2,4,3 Alexey & Vlada Karulov (NJ) took 2nd. They have a very different appearance and so a very different interpretation to the winners, but danced well last night we thought. 3rd went to Sasha Althukov & Cheyenne Murillo 3,3,3,6,2. Another team that cashes in on energy and speed. With 4,4,5,2,4 Tykhon Zhyvkov & Anastasiia Kuzieva (CA) were 4th; Sergiy Chyslov & Daria Chyslova (IL) were 5th 6,6,4,3,5 (IL); Andrey Voloshko & Katerina Kyrylenko (CA) were 6th 5,5,6,5,6. As you can see this was an extremely hard-fought final and we offer congratulations to all. You were great!
Mazen Hamza & Izabella Jundzill
Mazen Hamza & Izabella Jundzill
