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This is your life and career - you are a dancer!
Meet Star Ballroom Tour Champions: Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronika Egorova
This is your life and career – you are a dancer!!! It shouldn’t be hard – be prepared – it’s always very nice to see a prepared couple.
As we mentioned on our blog, the American Star Ball changed to a new venue and this venue to me is as American as Apple Pie. Their new venue is located right on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, giving you total easy access to everything this gambling city has to offer. If you love the beach as I do, it’s right out the back door, or you could just walk down the famous Atlantic City Boardwalk, buy yourself a pretzel or take a ride on a Ferris wheel.
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Report by: Didio Barrera
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Photos by: Dance Sport Photography
The Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Chicago was filled with dancers – both from the Windy City Open and the NUVO Dance Convention which made for a very exciting weekend! Congratulations to organizers Kris & Ezbieta Kasperowicz, Glenn Weiss, and Michelle Carpentier-Lazarz who continue to put on a great event in the Midwest!!
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Photos by: Ryan Kenner & Timeline Media
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Author: Amy Anderson
The Emerald Ball was a very exciting competition as usual. I commend Wayne and Donna Eng for maintaining such an elegant atmosphere and attracting such a high level of dancing all these years; students and professionals alike.
On to the American Rhythm competition. The event started with a quarter-final. The final 6 were pretty clear in the callbacks. The 1st and 2nd place couples were definite in their results but 3rd and 4th ; 5th and 6th were very close. I have to say this was no surprise. All the couples did seem to have some fabulous moments but when I would compare and look back to a couple, the consistency was lacking. A few of the couples seemed to run out of gas by the third dance.
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Report by: Susie Thompson
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Photos by: Mary Tweeddale
What a fun and fabulous time we had at Ballroom Beach Bash in San Diego hosted by Toni Redpath, Michael Mead and Jonathan Roberts!! This threesome has created one of the most entertaining and unique competitions of the year. The playful and relaxed atmosphere attracted many people to the beach of San Diego this year, and as judges, we were treated to some fantastic dancing! We would like to congratulate Toni, Michael and Jonathan on an exceptional job with this very enjoyable competition. Paul and I were asked to provide the write-up for the very exciting Professional Ballroom Division.
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Report by: Paul Holmes & Maria Hansen
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Photos by: Stephen Marino
If you wanted to see every event of this year’s Emerald Ball, you basically had to check into the LAX Hilton on Monday April 26th and check out Monday May 1st. That’s right a full week of dancesport competition! Emerald Ball, run by Wayne & Donna Eng for the past 27 years, is certainly one of the USA’s largest competitions and the largest on the West Coast. This year, more time was added to the schedule with an earlier start on Tuesday and this made everyone a little less stressed and allowed some downtime for competitors and officials alike. It is certainly the trend of competitions to become longer and longer nowadays, but as entries continue to increase for many, there is little option.
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Report by: Keith Todd
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Photos by: Mary Tweeddale
San Diego Ballroom Beach Bash 2016: Professional Latin
Report by Eugene Katsevman
Photography by Stephen Marino
What a pleasure it is for me to comment on the Professional Latin at the Ballroom Beach Bash in San Diego! As a new organizer, I travel the world experiencing our wonderful industry in a completely new way — paying attention to details, and appreciating the tremendous amount of work that goes into organizing a dance competition. Every organizer tries to find a niche for their comp, something special that sets it apart from the rest. Beach Bash pulled this off with flying colors! A beach vacation theme with a relaxed, casual atmosphere was kept up though the whole event. Light, fun and spontaneous mood was a perfect reflection of the organizers’ personalities, which made the whole thing feel organic and never forced. But don’t be fooled by the fun theme: the entries were huge and the pro events were all serious business and highly contested!
Emerald Ball 2016: Professional Ballroom
By Beth Knoll
Photography by Mary Tweeddale
Congratulations to Wayne and Donna Eng and their entire team for presenting yet another fabulous Emerald Ball. This is the first time I’ve had the privilege of judging, and all I can say is WOW, what a spectacle. The entire week was filled with amazing dancing at every level in every style. The Professional Ballroom was an excellent event featuring familiar faces, returning faces and new shining stars. The style is perched on the brink of exploding, something it’s needed to do for some time.