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• Standing ovation for Mazen Standing ovation for Mazen
• Mazen Hamza & Izabella Jundzill - retirement Mazen Hamza & Izabella Jundzill - retirement
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The Amateur Ballroom was also of great quality. US Professional Smooth runner-up, Mazen Hamza, announced his retirement from the dance floor after a long career in all the major finals. His partner, Izabella, will continue her competitive career. This packed evening of dancing went quite well, finishing before midnight with quite a few of the audience still seated in Battelle Hall waiting for the interesting results.

• Pro Latin 5-Dance Pro Latin 5-Dance
• Troels Bager & Ina Jeliazkova Troels Bager & Ina Jeliazkova
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The Professional Latin started with a first round of competition with way over 30 couples entered but in the end only six were brought to the final. In this five-dance event the obvious winners for most judges were Troels Bager & Ina Jeliazkova who won all five dances with a huge majority of firsts from all the judges. Only two judges awarded them very low scores Linda Dean who awarded then 5,5,5,5,6, and Ray Rivers who awarded them 5,6,4,3,1. There were a couple other judges that gave this couple other marks than 1st but not one of them went below 3rd place.

• Artur Tarnavsky & Anastasia Danilova Artur Tarnavsky & Anastasia Danilova
• Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets-Nikishkin Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets-Nikishkin
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However, in the professional Latin Showdance, Troels & Ina dropped to fourth place. The winners here were Artur Tanavskyy & Anastasia Danilova who placed fifth in the five dance Latin event 4,5,5.5,6,6. Artur & Anastasia did a take on a ballet dancer with Artur wearing tights and no shirt, this was quite funny and they hit the mark with the audience and the judges. Troels & Ina were only fourth for the overall showdance photo, because moments later they were declared winners overall between the two contests the Latin and the Showdance.

In the Star International Latin Tour the result changed drastically one more time with the audience vote now included. Troles & Ina were left scratching their heads possibly because they don’t even know what the Star Tour is all about. The winners of this leg of the Star International Latin Tour were Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shevets –Nikishkin, leaving Troels & Ina holding third place on this one and not knowing even why? So as you can see it was very exiting and possibly one of those few occasions in ballroom dancing when no one really knew where they were going to place. Dimitry & Olena were fourth in the 5-dance Latin event 5,4,4,5,4. Dimitry & Olena changed roles in the showdance and we mean “changed roles!” He wore the dress and she wore the pants, one more time the audience rolled over in laughter and the judges loved it they were second in the showdance to Artur & Anastasia.

We must point out that in the audience vote for the Star Tour portion, Dimitry & Olena were second with 14 points added to their scores from the audience, and Artur & Anastasia were third with 4.5 points added to their scores from the audience. Troels & Inna were last in the audience vote with only 0.5 vote added to their scores.

Second in the 5-dance Latin event was awarded to Mykhailo Bilopukhov & Anastassia Shehypilina with the scores of 2,2,3,3,2. However, their showdance was not as appreciated in this venture the most they could muster was a fifth place finish. They also were not very successful in the Star International Latin Tour result here they also placed fifth. They did manage to get a ? point more from the audience vote compare to Troels & Ina, they got 1 point from the audience towards their Star Tour score. Mykahilo & Anastasia placed also 5th in the tour.

Third in the 5-dance Latin competition went to Andrey Tarasov & Yulia Kuznetsova 3,3,2,2,3. In the showdance they were third overall, but in the Star International Latin Tour they placed fourth. Andrey & Yulia also did poorly with the audience they got 1.5 extra points added to their scores for the tour.

Ilya Maletin & Polina Maier from Canada, were 6th in the 5-dance competition and were totally unaware that Ohio Star Ball has a compulsory 1:45 that the couples have to do as well when you make this grand finals. Their lack of preparation showed the most on the judges’ scores they were last in this venture and had the lowest score of all couples 75.14. When it came to the Tour Ilya & Polina were also last.

• Hayk Balasanyan & Emilia Pogosyan Hayk Balasanyan & Emilia Pogosyan
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In the Star International Latin Tour as you just read the audience were very active, and at Ohio they were able to bring an extra semifinalist of their choice for the solo competition. In the Latin this honor wen to Hayk Balasanyan & Emilia Poghosyan. In the overall Star Tour Hayk & Emilia are fighting for first place at the moment and to be able to do this solo meant they can still have a fighting chance when the race ends at City Lights Ball next year. Hayk & Emilia’s strength is the audience. They won the popular vote by far in this contest and they gathered 27.5 extra points to their score. These points in combination with their solo score propelled them to second place on this leg of the Star International Latin Tour. You must understand that the Star Tour is a combination of points won from the group competition, the solo number and the audience vote.

• Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija
• Pro Smooth 4-Dance Pro Smooth 4-Dance
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As you read the Latin was all drama on all counts, but the Smooth brought down a little more civility to the night. Here the winner on all counts was Nick Cheremukin & Viktorija, they won all four dances with a huge majority of firsts in all dances during the 4-dance portion. Only two judges marked them third or lower and they were Eddie Simon who awarded them 1,4,1,1, and Roy Stone who awarded them 3,3,2,2. In the Showdance they got the highest score 94.00. Their weakness is always the audience vote for the Star American Smooth Tour, but here they seemed to do a little better, going from usually no points to earning 3 points total, not many but this we think really helped them solidify their win on the Star Tour. We must say that when Viktorija came out holding a lit ball in her hand it brought everyone to attention and the way they used it in their routine was very bewitching and captured the best score of the night for the solo portion.

• Max Sinitsa & Tatiana Seliverstova Max Sinitsa & Tatiana Seliverstova
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Second in the 4-dance competition went to Max Sinitsa & Tatiana Seliverstova, but not in all dances, they placed third in the VW. This third place in the VW also helped Nick & Viktorija when it came to the Star Tour points. Their solo was very edgy with a “Joker” theme to it. They spent lots of time creating this but we’re not sure everyone appreciated this including the judges who gave it a third place finish. In the tour it came down to them and Nick & Vicktorija and their scores were good enough to get ahead of Travis & Jaimee Tuft but not good enough to surpass the reigning US Smooth Champions, Nick Cheremukin & Viktorija. We must add that Max & Tatiana were the second audience favorite and for this they got 10 extra points towards the Tour score.

Third in the 4-dance event was Travis & Jaimee Tuft. They placed second in the VW and third in the other three dances. When it came to the showdance they placed second doing a vampire routine. As far as the tour they only managed to get 7 points extra from the audience and so here they had a fourth place finish on that account.

• Kyle & Allie Spinder, audience favorite Kyle & Allie Spinder, audience favorite
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Kyle & Allei Spinder placed fourth in the 4-dance competition 4,4,4,4, they were also fourth in the Showdance portion and when it came to the tour they placed third overall. Kyle & Allie were the audience favorite in the Star American Smooth Tour with 17.5 extra points added to their scores, giving them an edge over Travis & Jaimee in the Star American Smooth Tour.

Fifth place in the 4-dance Smooth was awarded to Roman Malkhasyan & Kat Wagner who placed fifth in every dance. In the showdance they were fifth place overall, and in the Star Tour they placed sixth. In the Star American Smooth Tour they got 3 points from the audience, and so here they took sixth place.

Sergey & Maria Barsukov were sixth overall in the 4-dance event and also 6th in the showdance competition. When it came to the Star Tour competition they took the last place seventh position. They got very little audience voting for them and a 0.5 was awarded to them for this.

• Kris Suakjian & Briana Haft, wildcard Kris Suakjian & Briana Haft, wildcard
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The Wildcard was Kris Suakjian & Briana Haft, they obviously did not participate in the final of the Smooth 4-dance but did the showdance as part of the Star Tour and here they were sixth. Their audience vote helped them in the final tally of the Star American Smooth tour and that was 9.5 extra points pushing them to fifth place on this leg of the tour.

You can get the current results for the overall Star Tours here

• Open Amateur Ballroom Open Amateur Ballroom
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The Amateur Ballroom event was a nice break from the shows and the Pro Smooth, Latin events and here Oskar Wojciechowski & Karoline Holody were first, second was awarded to Andri Mykhailov & Anna Bohachova, leaving third to the new partnership of Patryk Ploszaj & Diana Bohachova. 4th were Mikhail Vorobiev & Sonya Tsekanovsky and 5th went to another new partnership, Dan Malov & Anna Kaczmaski. Fernando Lareu & Nicole Palagashvili.

As we mentioned earlier, the Ohio Star Ball came to a fantastic dramatic finish with different results in the different categories this is something we applaud because it is always nice to be surprised. To go to an event and not have pre-knowledge of how the result is going to be is a wonderful thing and here at the Ohio Star Ball it was very prominent in many of the categories especially in the last few mentioned concluding with the Star Tours.

• Allen Brown Allen Brown
• Janice Stanton Janice Stanton
• World Dancesport Series Top Teachers World Dancesport Series Top Teachers
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The Ohio Star Ball is the conclusion of the World Dancesport Series each year and the top students and teachers for the year are awarded. This year’s top students were Janice Stanton and Allen Brown. The top three teachers were Clive Phillips (1), Louis Bar (2), Shalene Archer (3).

A Minions’ World Last Night!

Last night at the Ohio Star Ball it was a Minions’ world when Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova took to the floor for their showdance performance.

• The Minions - Nazar & Irina The Minions - Nazar & Irina
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Within seconds of their entrance the audience were rolling in laughter and it seemed as if we have been given a new lease on the night. Their performance was clever, funny, had a story and best of all energized us all after a long night of solos and showcases.

Irina & Nazar went on to win all the categories, the Rhythm Showdance with a majority of firsts and their Rhythm group final with perfect scores in the cha cha and bolero. Irina & Nazar also won the other three dances in the group competition with the majority of firsts in all dances and nearly a perfect score in the swing, but Dan Rutherford awarded them the only second score in this dance and so they nearly had a perfect run in this dance too.

• Rhythm Showdances Rhythm Showdances
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Many of the Rhythm contenders had some interesting showdances to challenge and some of the results were perhaps a bit of a surprise. Second in the Rhythm showdance went to Vard Margaryan & Inga Demetryan, who also did a very entertaining routine featuring a suitcase full of money and they used this prop to their advantage not just to carry it around, and we suppose the audience were not the only ones to like this routine. In a surprising result cabaret sensations Shane & Shannon Jensen who placed second in the Solo exhibition earlier in the evening now placed third in the Rhythm showdance, we were all wondering if 1:45 was enough time for a couple of this stature to develop a storyline.

Fourth in the Rhythm Showdance went to Danas Jaksevicius & Yuki Haraguchi, fifth went to Ilya Velesnitskiy & Mariya Ilchenko and sixth in this showdance was awarded to Mykyta Serdyuk & Anna Krasnoshapka.

In the actual Professional Rhythm event as we mentioned before Nazar Norov & Irina Krudyashova were the clear winners, followed by Vard Margeryan w/Inga Demetrian who did quite well in the showdance but it was not as clear in the group competition. When looking at the marks the judges awarded Vard & Inga marks from 1st to 6th place in nearly every dance, but in the end they still placed second in every dance. Third was awarded to Shane & Shannon Jensen, they too had a variety of marks from second to sixth place but not one first place mark was awarded to them unlike Vard & Inga who got one or two first place marks in at least three dances.

Fourth overall in the Rhythm went to Danas Jaksevicius & Yuki Haraguchi, they also got a variety of marks including some second place marks but in the end they placed fourth in all five dances. In fifth place were Ilya Velednitskiy & Mariya Ilchenko with the marks of 5,5,6,5,5, and sixth place was awarded to Mykyta Serdyuk & Anna Krasnoshapka and they placed 6,6,5,6,6.

The big winner in all around last night were Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova who pleased the crowd and the judges in all the categories. We must point out that tonight is a Star Tour night and that Nazar & Irina were the winners of the $25,000.00 last year and so there is no wonder why they are so proficient in making a showdance that sticks, they had a year of training with the American Rhythm Star Tour.

• Ballroom Showdances Ballroom Showdances
• Andrey Begunov & Anna Demidova Andrey Begunov & Anna Demidova
• Oscar Pedrinelli & Lenka Kovalcikova Oscar Pedrinelli & Lenka Kovalcikova
• Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronica Egorova Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronica Egorova
•  

The Professional Ballroom was also held last night but unlike Nazar & Irina, the overall Champions had to share some of their win on the showdance portion of the competition. Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronika Egora won all dances in the group competition with the majority of firsts in every dance. However, when it came to the Showdance they had to settle for second place to Oscar Pedrinelli & Lenka Kovalcikova who did also a very entertaining routine also full of simple humor that made the audience laugh, at that late hour of the night it was a great thing. Lenka’s dress as the Pillsbury boy dancing with a girl scout was hilarious and in the end it won them a first place mark in the showdance category, not enough to push them up a place in the overall competition, but a good result for them nevertheless. Oscar & Lenka placed second overall in the group competition but not in all dances, these were their placements 2,2,3,4,2.

It must have been a tough night for Andrey Begunov & Anna Demidova who placed third in the ballroom showdance category, but who were fifth overall in the group competition with the scores of 3,5,4,6,6. Andrew as usual danced a showdance number without his shirt showing his athletic physique and doing some very dramatic lifts with Anna and so we were not surprised they placed third in the showdance. It was an excellent night for Igor Mikushov & Ekaterina Romashkina who placed third in the group competition with these marks 4,3,2,3,3, and they also managed to pull a fourth place in the showdance number, even though many of the audience where wondering what the number was all about? They wore camouflage makeup on their faces had ripped shirts and pants etc. but even we could not figure out what it was all about.

When it came to the solo’s division the judges and the audience were not happy in ether style rhythm or ballroom to just see the couple do a basic dance with an entrance and exit, they craved for more and it was just proven in all the last results mentioned. A perfect example in the ballroom division was Rudy Homm & Katia Kanevskaya who placed fourth in the group competition with these scores 5,4,5,2,4. However, in the showdance portion they were sixth, with quite a number of sixth and fifth position marks to prove it. Not far behind were Vladishlav Shakhov & Ekaterina Popova who placed fifth in the showdance portion and sixth in the group competition. These two couples just mentioned had very little effort in their solo number they just rely on their basic competition skills to get them through it.

• Professional Cabaret Professional Cabaret
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The evening started with the Professional Theatrical-Exhibition category and we saw seven routines total. The clear winners for many of us were Travis & Jaimee Tuft who did a fantastic rendition of “Nature Boy”, they did not miss a lift and the number had a huge degree of difficulty. However, when looking at the marks they tied for first place marks with the couple that came second overall Shane & Shannon Jensen who did a jazz cabaret number and who were also liked by many in the audience. But even though Shane & Shannon had the same amount of firsts as the Tufts in their routine, they got lower marks than the Tuft from the other 6 judges. We must tip our hat to Clyde Harris & Summer Elkin who gave a tremendous performance and who in our opinion could have easily been in the top two mix, in this competition they placed third overall.

We must say that the routines in the Theatrical-exhibition were great and we must mention them: Luka Milacic-Perusina & Jenalyn Saraza were fourth, Zachery Pohl & Ariel Freilich placed fifth, Morozo Stanislav & Tashkinova Ksenila were sixth and seventh went to Alyenendrov Tsorokean & Maria Wheeler.

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• Open Amateur Latin Open Amateur Latin
• Austin Joson & Nino Dzednaladze Austin Joson & Nino Dzednaladze
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The final of the Amateur Latin was also presented in the night session. This ended as a 3 to 2 win for Austin Joson & Nino Dzneladze 1,2,1,1,2 over Pasha Stepanchuk & Gabriella Sabler 2,1,2,2,1. Each couple had the majority of firsts in the dances they won. 3rd in all dances went to Allen Rudman & Svetlana Lisnd. 4th were Taras Savitskyy & Yuliya Steshenko 5,4,4,4,4. The new partnership of Andriy Beseydin & Amanda Herrschaft was 5th 4,6,5,5,6; Yevgenii Orlov & Maryana Yerina were 6th 6,5,6,7,7 and Roman Drobotov & Natella Devitskaya were 7th 7,7,7,6,5.

• Anna Shabazyan (left) w/ Denis Rogers & Casandra Schneider Anna Shabazyan (left) w/ Denis Rogers & Casandra Schneider
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Also this same evening Anna Shabazyan was presented with the NDCA Humanitarian award for her work with autistic children. Teaching them ballroom dancing has helped then enormously with their social skills.

• World Dancesport A Latin World Dancesport A Latin
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For the Pro-Ams it was a day of Latin that concluded with the Open World Dancesport Series Championships. We must say that the Open A division was the best pro-am Latin division we’ve seen certainly this year. The winner in all 5 dances was Sabrina Strasser w/ Stanislav Kochergin. Sabrina had the majority of 1st places in PD and Jive, but also picked up some lower scores in all dances. It is a measure of how tough this competition was that this lady, who has won most major events this year, had quite a fight on her hands in our opinion. 2nd went to Emily Takhatarov w/ Nikita Malakov 2,3,2,3,3. We really liked this lady, especially her legs and feet. She picked up some 1st places but also surprisingly some 6’s. Narrowly missing the 3rd spot was another one of our favorite ladies with great legs and feet, Vera Xu w/ Jakub Zeglin who scored 3,2,3,2,4. Taking that last remaining 2nd in jive was Ariana Cicatiello w/ Hayk Balasanyan and she took 4th with 4,5,4,5,2. Fifth went to Jamie Dorotov w/ Allen Genken 5,4,5,4,5 and 6th in all dances went to Nicole Pierzchalski w/ Vlad Astafiev. Once again congratulations to all these finalists!

• World Dancesport B Latin World Dancesport B Latin
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The Open B Latin had an easy winner in our opinion and that of the judges and this was Carolyn Howard with Sasha Althukov who won all dances with a large majority of 1st places. Also clear was the 2nd place finish of Maria Seragou w/ Dmitrios Damalas who was easily 2nd in all dances. With 3,3,3,4,4, Vanessa DiCicco w/ Vlad Astafiev was 3rd. Irene Wong w/ Hayk Balasanyan took 4th with 4,4,4T,3,3 and Colette Marotto w/ Oleksii Lytnyn was 5th 5,5,4T,5,6. Taking 6th was Brijet Whitney w/ Damir Karaman 6,6,6,6,5. This was a good final but not at the same standard as the A in our opinion.

• World Dancesport C Latin World Dancesport C Latin
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Lynn Magnesen won her second open championship of the weekend, taking the Open C Latin w/ Tykhon Zhyvov. Lynn placed 2,1,1,1,1, but did not have the majority of 1st places in any dance. Winning cha cha and taking 2nd in the other dances was Lisa Lowery w/ Roman Malkhasyan. All the 3’s went to Marina Svyatets w/ Aleksandor Vukosavljevic. These 3 ladies were definitely our favorites too. 4th spot went to Suzanne Saperstein w/ Ricky Bentzen 4,4,4,4,4; 5th went to Tammy Knight w/ Oleksii Lytvyn 5,5,6,5,5 and 6th to Tomoko Fujiwara w/ Ragel Spirov 6,6,5,6,6.

• World Dancesport Sen. I Latin World Dancesport Sen. I Latin
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The Senior I Open Latin went to Deborah Leibow w/ Alon Gilin and the Senior II went to Toni Mullins w/ Tomasz Wlodarski.

Pro-am Latin pictures coming soon.

Watch out for detailed reports on all these divisions later in Dance Beat newspaper and online in the subscriber section.

• Erminio's party Erminio's party
• Erminio's party Erminio's party
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Late last night we all headed to the bar to celebrate the birthday of Erminio Stefano and as you can see a great time was had by all!

A Smooth Competition!

Yesterday everything ran as smoothly as ever here at the Ohio Star Ball.

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• The winning NE Team The winning NE Team
• The NE Team The NE Team
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The Smooth categories were all decided when it came to the World Pro/Am Dancesport Series and the Best of the Best in the Gold and above was decided. And the East Coast won the World Dancesport Series Team Match.

• World Dancesport A Smooth World Dancesport A Smooth
• Whitney Myers w/ Evgeny Malko Whitney Myers w/ Evgeny Malko
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The “A” division of the World Pro/Am Smooth Dancesport Series and all the divisions in this year’s Smooth were possibly the best pro/Am competitions we have witnessed to date. Six incredible young ladies were called back for the “A” World Series Smooth final, and although it most have been difficult for the judges the easy winner was Whitney Myers dancing with Evgeny Malko who placed first in all four dances and who won all four dances with a majority of firsts, only three to four judges kept her from getting perfect scores. Her worst marks came from Pat Traymore who awarded her 3,2,6,6. Second overall was awarded to Madison Stribling w/ Mayo Alanen, with scores of 2,2,2,2. Madison could not be missed from the start, a very tall beautifully groomed young lady, with beautiful grace and poise. We have to add that it must have been a difficult decision to make, but in the end a correct one in our opinion, Madison was excellent but Whitney was slightly more pliable and her use of legs and feet helped per move with greater ease.

Third in this “A” division was awarded to Natalie Crandall w/Decho Kraev, 3,4,3,3, for us this lady had the upper hand in the Rhythm division that she won yesterday but here she tended to lack in some of the basic principals of Smooth, how you use your the feet and legs are very important in this field specially, especially in the swing dances. Fourth went to Brittany Falconer w/Peter Walker 4,3,4,4, another very lovely lady who had great feeling for the style especially when following. I want to congratulate most of the men teachers and students who were totally able to maneuver the students in and out of difficulty by changing their routine or waiting for traffic to pass by, that was totally unprecedented, we usually expect a lot of collisions especially in the first rounds and we noticed very few if any in many cases.

Fifth place in this excellent final went to Irene Lee w/Nick Cheremukhin and sixth place was Madeline Geiger w/Enzo Zappia.

• World Dancesport B Smooth World Dancesport B Smooth
• Kim Hardin w/ Billy King Kim Hardin w/ Billy King
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The “B” division was as interesting as the “A” competition and in many ways even more so. The overall winner was Kim Hardin w/Billy King who placed 2,1,2,1. When looking at the marks you could see the judges had a very hard time coming together for a winner. Many of the judges awarded first to Celia Chu w/Erminio Stefano and you can see this by her marks 1,2,1,3. We personally felt that Celia moved across the floor with major ease having the experience of being a former World Ballroom dance champion, but perhaps lacked the theatrics that some of the solo movements required. Also in the style Celia tends to looked a bit smaller than Kim and so a lot harder to find than Kim, nevertheless they were two very outstanding ladies and in our opinion either could have been first. Celia’s worst marks came from Pierre Allaire from Canada who awarded her 6th in all dances.

Third place overall in this very interesting final went to Karen Angel w/Gleb Makarov with the marks of 3,3,3,2. Karen is a great competitor with great experience and so we are not surprised with her second in the VW, in fact we would have not been surprise if she captured any firsts. Fourth was Selene Steelman w/Travis Tuft 4,5,4,5, fifth overall went to Amanda Levine w/Morten Jensen 5,4,6,4, and sixth was awarded to Irene Wong w/ John Campbell 6,6,5,6. We must tip our hats to all these ladies – the hard work showed last night in that ballroom!

• World Dancesport C Smooth World Dancesport C Smooth
• Lynn Shanhan w/ Darius Mosteika Lynn Shanhan w/ Darius Mosteika
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The “C” division was not far behind. Winners Lynn Shanahan w/Darius Mosteika maintained their status and won three to one - 1,1,2,1 two of the dances with a majority of firsts. This lady’s strength is that she can move with as much ease in open work as in closed position. Second was awarded to Lisa Lowery w/Roman Malkhasyan 2,2,1,3, as you can see they won the foxtrot and yes they were in terrific shape making this competition as exciting as the “A” or the “B” there really was no difference when it came to appearance between all the levels, all ladies looked fabulous and in shape ready for this world task. Third was Sophia D’Angelo w/Ilya Reyzin 3,3,3,2, another lovely lady who has a perfect physique and incredible talent, her weakness here continues to be the lack of experience moving by using the legs and feet, at one point it all looked as if in the same place, more attention should be placed in the heal, toe action when moving forward in the swing dances.

Fourth was awarded to Sue Eldred w/Oleksiy Pigotskyy, 4,4,5,4, we really enjoyed this couple’s performance last night, at times we would say that she could have easily won, but we need more consistency on the floor for this to happen. Fifth place went to Lynn Magnesen w/Tykhon Zhyvuov 5,5,4,5, sixth place in all dances was Sherry Dong w/Dmitry Ilyushenov and seventh place was awarded to Charlene Proctor w/Viktor Tkachenko.

• Elaine Sheresky w/ Victor Russu Elaine Sheresky w/ Victor Russu
• World Dancesport Sen. Smooth World Dancesport Sen. Smooth
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The Senior 1 World Pro/Am Smooth Dancesport Series was also quite good, a number of competitors in this category were previous finalists in the B & C divisions in recent years. The winner of this competition was Elaine Sheresky w/Victor Russo 2,1,1,3, who as we just mentioned has been a finalist and winner in other categories in previous years. We must also point out that nearly all the ladies in this category maintain their shape and poise even when it all started with a second round and nearly 40 couples. Patricia Mooney w/Travis Tuft placed second overall 1,2,4,2, a well deserved placement for this lady who also looks magnificent on the floor today as she did a few years back. Third position went to Diana Best w/Alosha Anatoliy 4,4,3,1, fourth place was Pat Luthy w/Vladimir Popov 3,3,5,4, fifth went to Penelope Rostad w/Nikolay Karchev 5,5,2,5, and sixth was Barbara Selby w/Danas Jaksevicius who took sixth in all dances.

• Barbara Selby w/ Danas Jaksevicious Barbara Selby w/ Danas Jaksevicious
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We most also mention the Senior 3 dance that also had some amazing competition and here the winners were Barbara Selby w/Danas Jaksevicius. Second went to Marylin Helleberg w/Andrea Marta and third was Julia Tse w/Ian Folker.

The gold and above “Best of the Best” concluded yesterday and this honor went to a man, Giovanni Fortezza w/Jolanta Mosteika.

• Natalie Crandall w/ Decho Kraev Natalie Crandall w/ Decho Kraev
• Sophia D'Angelo w/ Ilya Reyzin Sophia D'Angelo w/ Ilya Reyzin
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Also the World Pro/Am 9 dance concluded yesterday as well and the winner in the “A” was Natalie Crandal w/Decho Kraev, in the “B” the honors went to Sophia D’Angelo w/Ilya Rezin.

Our sincere congratulations to all that participated yesterday in both the Smooth and Rhythm events, our American Style has come a long way and we can easily see this by the way our students are dancing and we could not have been more proud of all of your dancing these past 2 days of competition!

The World Pro/Am Dancesport Series Rhythm Sorted!

The Pro/Am Rhythm and World Dancesport Series concluded with the crowning of the World Pro/Am Dancesport Series Open Rhythm Division Champions. The events concluded just after midnight with four excellent finals and four terrific champions.

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• World Dancesport A Rhythm World Dancesport A Rhythm
• Natalie Crandall w/ Decho Kraev Natalie Crandall w/ Decho Kraev
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The “A” division went to Natalie Crandall dancing with Decho Kraev, she won all five dances all with a majority of firsts and the cha cha, rumba, swing, mambo she won with perfect scores from all the judges. For them she was indisputably the best on the floor, she only got two second place marks and they were in the bolero. Second overall went to Alina Sakura w/Aaron DeSoto with the scores of 2,2,2,4,2. The same cannot be said for this young lady, her marks varied in all the dances from second to sixth place and as you can see some very low scores on the bolero. Third overall was awarded to Matthew Shimizu w/Jessica Nicol with this scores 3,3,3,3,4. We quite liked this gentleman but compared to the couples placed ahead he really needed to move and show us some great Rhythm movement and isolation and in our opinion he looked a little shy and timid for the occasion.

Fourth was awarded to a veteran competitor in the field Pamela Bolling w/Ben Ermis 5,4,4,2,3, as you can see with from the marks the judges could not really figure out where to place this lady. We were a little surprised to see her enter the “A” division as in the past whenever we witness her dancing she had entered the “B” and plenty of times she has won this division. In fifth place was Kathryn Harper w/Rex Jones 4,5,5,5,5, sixth went to Daniel Hager w/Mariya Ilchenko who placed sixth in all dances and seventh was Abigail Montalbo w/Slash Sharan.

• World Dancesport B Rhythm World Dancesport B Rhythm
• Giovanni Fortezza w/ Jolanta Mosteika Giovanni Fortezza w/ Jolanta Mosteika
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The “B” Division is always a favorite of ours and this time it was no different. Here a six-couple final was called and the winner as in many of the past “B” competitions in America was Giovanni Fortezza w/Jolanta Mosteka, placing first in all dances with a majority of firsts in all dances. Giovanni looks very comfortable in this leading role and his isolation of the upper body is getting better each time. It is great to see a number of men participating nowadays in the Rhythm competitions. Second in this heat was awarded to Karen Angle w/Gleb Makarov and she took second in all dances. It is great to se this lady on the floor and although we do not see her as much as before she still takes to the floor and is able to command our attention.

Third in the “B” category was awarded to Kia Malone w/Eddie Rivera, 3,3,4,4,3, this lady’s contagious smile is fantastic and very complementary to this style, her basic background still a little green but her natural sense of movement allows her to capture this prominent placement. In fourth place was Kelly Wain w/Vlad Astafiev 4,4,3,5,6, fifth went to Joanne Tatem w/Mariusz Zakrzewsk 5,5,6,3,4, and in sixth place was Vita Vygovska w/Evgeny Dyachenko 6,6,5,6,5, as you can see with the exception of the first two placements the judges had a hard time placing some of these excellent ladies.

• World Dancesport C Rhythm World Dancesport C Rhythm
• Lynn Magnesen w/ Vard Margaryan Lynn Magnesen w/ Vard Margaryan
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The “C” Division was very contested and the top two places were decided three firsts to two and the winner taking the cha cha, swing and bolero was Lynn Magnesen w/Vard Margaryan. From where we saw we felt that it too was very close and either of these two ladies could have won. However, second place was awarded to Sophia D’Angelo w/Ilya Reyzin and they won the rumba, mambo and placed second in the other three dances. Third place in all dances went to another great lady who helped make this final a fantastic one, Lisa Lowery w/Roman Malkhasyan. These three ladies can really dance, Lisa could be a little more punchy or should we say aggressive to get further up but when it comes to dancing all three were great.

Fourth in the “C” division of the Rhythm was awarded to Quin Bommelje w/Mikhail Vlasov with these marks 4,4,6,6,5. We must also point out that Quin won the Senior 1 competition this same night a very contested division on its own. Fifth place was Dianne Caracciolo w/Nazar Norov, and we should mention that she tied with Quin for fourth position with these scores 6,6,4,5,4, and it came down to a Rule 11 decision and that is how she placed fifth overall. Sixth was Janice Gonzalez w/Vladimir Kosarev with these scores 5,5,5,4,6 and she too tied with the last two mentioned but her tie was easily broken down with a Rule 10 decision.

• Quin Bomelje w/ Mikhail Vlasov Quin Bomelje w/ Mikhail Vlasov
• World Dancesport Sen Rhythm World Dancesport Sen Rhythm
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As we mentioned earlier the Senior I competition was also well attended starting with a healthy quarterfinal and when it came to the final 7 fine ladies were called back. Quin w/ Mikhail won the event by placing first in all 4 dances. Susan Miller w/Hayk Arshakian took second place overall 2,2,3,2, and third was awarded to Penelope Rostad w/Nikolay Karchev 3,3,2,3. Fourth was Leslie McLeod w/Melbin De La Cruz 4,4,5,6, fifth went to Shary Mathieu w/Decho Kraev 5,5,4,5, Sixth was Diana Best w/Alosha Anatoliy 6,6,6,4 and seventh went to Patricia Mooney w/Tarvis Tuft and she placed seventh in all dances.

For us it was a fantastic evening of Rhythm dancing, and it is nice to see that the Rhythm style has come such a long way. We are also happy to see it grow and have such interest among the fans.

There were two “Best of the best” competitions and we most mention the overall winners in the Bronze division Alyssa Ivanson w/Tony Didier won and in the Silver category Mona Maerz w/Christjohn Batters took the trophy home.