A review and analysis of the first legs of both the City Lights Star Ballroom Tour and Star Rhythm Tour. 

Click here to watch the video reviews.  Carolina Orlovsky on the Solo routines In the Rhythm, Forrest Vance on the Freestyle Rhythm performances!  Don't miss them.  Ballroom videos coming soon!

Starry, Starry Nights!
City Lights Star Tour, Ballroom

Report by Didio Barrera

This past weekend was all about the City Lights Star Tours!  Over $100,000.00 will be awarded between 2 styles over 5 competitions. $50,000.00 to the City Lights Star Ballroom Tour and $50,000.00 for the City Lights Star Rhythm Tour. The first leg of the City Lights Star Ballroom Tour took place at the Yankee Classic Saturday, June 20th and the City Lights Star Rhythm Tour Sunday June 21st. There are still 4 legs to go but the excitement is already building up.

In both Star Tours we had some wonderful couples, many of them were US finalists if not already US Champions. When I decided to engage and do this project the last thing on my mind was who will be attending, my biggest concern was getting the word out, the rules published and just hoping that couples would read and be motivated to be a part of such a great attraction and prize money. So, when I got to the Yankee Classic, I was totally floored and completely humbled to see the quality and the amount of support this Star Ballroom Tour received. The group competition was fabulous to watch, I was just a little sad to see so many great dancers not qualified for the final and available to compete in this the first leg of the City Lights Star Ballroom Tour in the solo segment.

Nearly every couple left out of the final was also very capable in dancing on their own right.  I had a very favorite and when it came time for the audience to vote to select the “Wild Card” couple, I voted immediately to try to help bring my favorite couple back, also knowing that this couple had a fantastic show number. Unfortunately for me when the polls were closed and the voting was over, my favorite couple was not called.  This time the audience favorite was Igor Colac & Roxane Milotti, who were also a strong contender in dancing as well as organization, their friends audience and fans got them a whamming 54% of the overall total on that poll making them the easy Wild Card couple in this the first leg of the City Lights Star Ballroom Tour.

The actual City lights Star Ballroom Tour winner is decided by a combination of votes. The couples are awarded points for how well they do in each dance of the group competition and also more points for how well their Solo performance goes all scores awarded by the judges. In the Solo performance the audience also vote for their favorite couple and all couples get a percentage of the vote, this percentage is divided and converted into points and these points are added to each couple’s total.

The overall winner of this first leg of the tour was Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronika Egora who came into the solo performances with the highest amount of points from the group competition 28 points total.  They won three dances giving them 6 points per dance and took second in two dances where they took 5 points per dance. Their solo performance was not the best score overall in this challenge they got 89.29 in their solo performance, but it was high enough to keep them afloat. Their worst scores came form the audience who only gave them a 5% of the vote translating to 2.5 points added to their combined total from the judges.  Their total score overall was 119.79 good enough to win but only by a hairline.  They need to improve on the audience likeability as well as on their showdance in order to stay in front of the pack.

I said hairline because second position was by a small margin.  Igor Coloc & Roxane Milotti received an overall score of 119.06 total, and here is how they managed to get so close to the top.

Firstly, Igor & Roxane qualified by being the audience favorite and being the Wild Card.  This allowed them to compete with their solo and also for this they were given 3 points going into the solo competition. Their solo, I must say, was excellent.  It was a little rough but I personally thought they did a great job putting this solo together with a theme of James Bond and all. The judges placed them 5th in the solo by awarding them 77.56. Igor & Roxanne’s strength was the audience, they were clearly the audience favorite from the start.  In this solo they were awarded by the audience on the internet telecast and by the audience in the ballroom an impressive 77% of the vote and after we divided it they ended with an extra 38.5 points - a big difference between them and the winners who only received 5% of the people’s vote. In the end Igor Colac & Roxane Milotti leapfrogged into second position with 119.06 points.

I was very impressed with Igor & Roxane, they seamed to be preparde for the task from the word go, they knew what they had to do if they did not make the final, unlike some of the other couples they had prepared a 3 minute routine and they knew that their strength would be to get the audience on their side because they would have little or no points going into the showdance, and that they did! I’m totally impressed!  They were the most prepared out of the 16 couples in the two tours.

Third place in the Star Ballroom Tour went to Andrey Begunov & Anna Demidova, they went in to the Showdance portion with 19 points, they placed third in four dances collecting 16 points for that and fourth in the quickstep this gave them 3 points, so as you can see when you add the scores that’s how they got their starting points of 19 after the group competition. When it came to the show, the judges where thrilled by this couple’s interpretation of Marilyn’s Mr. President.  By far they were the judges’ favorite in every way. Their score was 90.43.  However, when it came to the popular vote they got one of the saddest scores of only 2 points. Had this couple done a little more work in social media and alerting some of their fans who I’m sure they have, they would have done better and could even be in the lead right now. Their final score was of 111.43 and this has them in 3rd position going into the next leg of the tour.

Occupying fourth place in this leg of the tour were Mikhail Avdeev & Olga Blinova who were overall second in the group competition and went into the showdance with 27 points.  Mikhail & Olga won two of the group competition dances and were 2nd in the other 3. In the Star Tour Showdance portion they placed third overall with the judges with a score of 78.57, not an impressive score considering fourth place for the judges was 78.42 so less than 0.2 difference. What I think killed this couple was the fact that they possibly did not read the rules from top to bottom and time does make a difference. All couples entering the tour portion have to have a solo of 3 minutes max, if you pass that line there is a point deduction for every second. Michael & Olga did not get a deduction for this but they had to stop the routine at 3 minutes and in some of the judges’ eyes this might have been interpreted as an incomplete routine. Judges want to see a full package when it comes to solo performance, the good thing is they received no deductions and so they go into the next leg of the tour with a good number of points. The other score that could improve their standing is the popular vote, they were the least popular couple when it comes to the audience on the internet and on the ballroom, they only managed to get 1 point that means they did not appeal to the audience and none of their friends were there to support them. Their final score going into the next leg of the tour is 106.57, putting them in fourth position slightly behind Andrey & Anna.

In fifth place overall on the tour so far is Igor Mikushov & Ekaterina Romashkina, who took 15 points from the group competition, a 78.42 from the judges for the tour solo challenge and 1.5 points for the audience vote, giving them a 94.92 total going into the second leg of the tour. As with many of the competitors, this couple needs to improve their popularity with the audience in order to secure a higher placement in the future legs of the tour.

Sixth in this leg of the tour went to Oscar Pedrinelli & Lenka Kovalcikova. They earned 15 points from the group competition, took 74 points in their solo tour performance and they shared with the winners a 2.5 points from the audience. Their total at the end of this leg is 87.5 going into our next stop.

Seventh position in this tour went to Ronen Zinshtein & Mariam Izmaylova who placed sixth in all dances in the group competition and captured only 5 points before going into the solo challenge. In the solo challenge, they too were last with only 69.71 points being awarded for their performance by the judges. They were not the least popular couple for the audience, they received a 1.5 points more than Mickail & Olga just 0.5 point above them and so their total score for this leg of the tour was 76.21. Like most of the couples in this competition they need to improve their performance and thrill their audience to motivate them to vote for them.

We are looking forward to the next leg of the Star Ballroom Tour at the International Grand Ball July 24-26 2015.

 

It’s a Rhythm Tour!
Colorado Star Ball – first leg

Report by Didio Barrera - Click here for video

The first leg of the City Lights Star Rhythm Tour commenced this past June 21st at the Colorado Star Ball and it was an affair of who’s who from the dance floor, nearly every US finalist was present and the competition ran smoothly as a feather. There were a few bumps we should mention. The biggest bump was a strong penalty issue to the overall winner due to a time limitation rule that was in place to make the tour run smoothly and quickly, “Routines (Solo) should be 3 minutes or less. Any couple that dances over three minutes will get a deduction of a point per second over three minutes. (eg. If you dance 3 minutes and 10 seconds, 10 points will be deducted from your final tally during the leg of tour).” There are other rules concerning props etc. but all couples have done great with these other rules, no infractions have been made over props or other rules.

Before the infraction was applied the winners of two of the challenges were Emmanuel Pierre-Antoine & Liana Churilova.  They won all dances in the group competition and so they earned the maximum points you can earn by winning all dances and that was a whamming 30 points. In their solo performance they also did well - they received the highest score of all solo presentations, a 96.43. In the audience department they were not as popular as they could have been, they only earned 6 points making them the 4th most popular couple with the audience. Overall they received the most points out of anyone with a 102.43, unfortunately they also went 73 seconds beyond the 3 minutes giving them a penalty of 73 points placing them in a disappointing 9th place.  This was comparably to an athlete falling of his bike or losing her grip on the asymmetric bars. Their total of points after the fall (or the penalty) was 59.43 that put them in 9th place overall. We have spoken with Emmanuel & Liana and they have gotten up, cleaned up and are ready for the next contest.  We believe every ones’ heart  fell as the results were announced but these two are used to competing and they know what to do to get up there in the ratings again.

The winner of this leg were Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryshova, they placed second in every dance in the group competition earning them 25 points, 5 points per dance. They were the judges’ second favorite with a score of 92.43 in the solo but they were not very popular with the audience because they only managed to get 2 points from there. Remember couples, every vote counts even your own!  Anyone can vote looking at their computer at home or texting through a phone device.  We understand that the dance couple’s main focus is to practice and get their dances to perfection, but a little public relations to tell you friends, students to vote on the night might help greatly.  We are broadcasting the tours through internet and so people can see it from the comfort of their bed, we had a fan email us a photo of him on his bed watching the tour and saying that it was fabulous to be able to see it, LOL. We know sometimes time differences might put a strain on the east coast fans, but you’d be surprised how many people would stay up to see their favorite dancer compete for such grand prizes.

Second overall on this one leg of the tour went to Andre & Natalie Paramonov, who took 20 points from the group competition before their solo where they got 91.86 from the judges.  Their fans were also not very motivated, they only managed to get  2.5 points from them, giving them a total of 114.36 total and placing them in second position at the end of the first leg of the Star Rhythm Tour. Work needs to be done to motivate their fans to vote during the tour, remember every vote counts.

Third place so far goes to Mikhail Vlasov & Vanda Polakova. They took 14 points in the group competition, they could have taken another point had they not placed low on the bolero. Their solo performance could also be improved, they placed fourth in this challenge with a 79.14 awarded to them by the judges.  I think Mikhail & Vanda will have to develop their solo routine more in order to bridge the gap between them and the current leaders. When it came to the audience, Mikhail & Vanda were not too bad, they still need to do a little work in this department they got a fair 7 points but could have done better. In the end they stand in third position with 100.14 points till the next leg.

The fourth place couple in this leg of the tour is Aaron & Irina DeSoto, they earn 5 points from the group competition, the judges awarded them 79.29 for their solo routine in the tour portion of the event and they were quite popular with the audience gaining 9.5 points from the audience.  I think these two did a great job in this department considering they were far away from their fans. Overall they are now in fourth position with total points of 93.79 total.

The elusive wild card, and the lucky couple chosen by the audience was Daniel Lee Tran & Elizabeth Kinney Taylor, they are now on the 5th spot on the tour and all because you the audience wanted them there. They came into the solo performance with only 3 points since they could not earn any from placing in any dances in the group competition because they were not in the elite final. The judges were not as happy with their performance as was the audience, they awarded them 61.71 the lowest score awarded in this leg. But the fans in the room and at home were very motivated and love these couple awarding them 22 points. In the end the audience managed to keep this couple afloat and in fifth place overall with a score of 86.71 points total.

Sixth place in this leg went to Danas Jaksevicius & Yuki Haraguchi. In the group competition they earn 11 points. In the Tour Solo challenge they were awarded 70.29 by the judges making theirs the sixth favorite routine for the judges. Danas & Yuki were really not very popular with the audience they only got a 0.5 of a point from them and so their total score as they stand in sixth position is 81.79.

It was an 8-couple final in the group competition and so it was a 9-couple City Lights Star Rhythm Tour, on this leg of the tour. The seventh in line couple on this venture is Ivan Dishliev & Marieta Nadyalkova, they took 5 points from the group competition, got a 64.71 for their solo routine from the judges and had to share with a number of couples their audience score they too got 0.5 from the audience for their efforts. Their score going into the next leg of the tour is 70.21 points total.

Eighth in this dramatic 9-couple tour final were Igor Ustymovych & Briana Santiago, they also earned 5 points from their group competition. They were the second lowest score in the solo performance with a 63.57 points awarded to them by the judges. And they too were not very popular with the audience, they only managed a 0.5 points from the audience, giving them a total of 69.01 going into the next leg of the tour.

As you can see this was a very challenging leg, one that will be remembered for some time to come. Nearly all couples lacked popularity with the audience in the ballroom and in their homes at their computers. I hope to see them motivate more of their friends to watch so they can earn more points and so we can turn that into dollars. Congratulations to all competitors and we’ll see you next stop, the Twin Cities Open, July 9-12. Maybe we can all celebrate your win and my birthday? 

Watch the event videos!  Click here to view!   

They Keep Coming Back for More!
Emerald Ball 2015  

Report by Keith Todd
Photos by Mary Tweeddale (unless marked)

How do you measure the success of a competition?  Is it the number of entries? Emerald Ball 2015 had 14,132 entries this year. 

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USA Dance National Junior II Standard Championship

Report by Inez S. Sahlin
Photos by Ryan Kenner Photography

This event took place on Saturday night and it was a treat from the start.

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Can the Candyman?

Click here for a tiny foretaste of the Millennium Show of Shows.  Check your local listings for air dates on ASN network

Yes siree! The Candyman can, and did!  For two nights in a row Mr. Michael Chapman, organizer and producer, of the Millennium Dancesport Championships, was able to deliver a show to be remembered. Coca Cola was the main theme featuring the trapese artists, men on stilts, a formation team, all a part of an opening act for Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zagoruychenko, World Latin Champions, who enthralled the audience to “Coca Cola,” that now very popular cha cha.

The Coca Cola formation and act could only be equaled by possibly the best performance we have seen from Peter & Alexandra Perzhu, US Professional Smooth Champions, who performed a dramatic waltz also to be remembered for time to come. The legendary team of Andrew Sinkinson & Charlotte Jorgensen also presented a waltz to "The Impossible Dream." The show was slightly shorter than the night before leaving us, unusually, wanting more, something that we usually crave but we never get. Our congratulations to Mr. Chapman for making it a perfect show of shows for us.

The evening would not have been complete without the usual lifetime achievement award and this time it went to a neighbor and a woman that we have all come to admire and respect for her contribution to ballroom dancing in Canada, Meryem Pearson. Meryem has taught many well-respected and established personalities in North American, such as Christiane Primeau, Stephan Champagne and Alain Doucet, who were all present and all Canadian Champions plus Pierre Allaire & Mireille Veilleur who made a surprise appearance.  These dancers and others also became well known throughout the world and Alain Doucet & anik Jolicoeur became World Champions. We ourselves were very touched personally by this presentation, since Meryem also had a strong hand and influence in shaping both the editor, Keith Todd and the feature’s editor Didio Barrera’s careers. Meryem continues to contribute to the world of ballroom dance by running perhaps what began as the most significant competition in North America, La Classique du Quebec.

Last night was not only about world class performances and awards it also featured three major professional events, Cabaret, Rhythm and Ballroom. The Ballroom was a name-dropping event.  Victor Fung & Anastasia, second in the world of professional Ballroom dancing, won all five dances with perfect scores from all judges, a somewhat rare occurence. Second overall went to Marat Gimaev & Alina Basyuk who took the majority of seconds in all dances. However, there were a few who dissented.  The most noteworthy was Amy Anderson who awarded them all sevenths.  In defence of Amy’s position we too, the Dance Beat Team, thought this not to be Marat & Alina’s best performance. Third overall was awarded to Artem Plakhotnyi & Inna Berlizyeva who also placed third in every dance. Fourth went to Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronica Egorova and they took fourth in every dance.  Fifth were Mikhail Avdeev & Olga Blinova placing fifth in every dance and sixth went to Iarolsalv Bieliei & Lilia Gladiuk.  They placed sixth in four dances and seventh in the quickstep. The quickstep sixth position went to the seventh couple overall and that was Andrey Begunov & Anna Demidova.

The Professional Rhythm was also an excellent event with great eye candy.  Here it was an easy win for Emmanuel Pierre-Antoine & Liana Churilova who took first in all dances by a landslide of first place marks. Only a few judges awarded them less, the most prominent judge here was Shorena Gachechiladze who awarded them three thirds, a fourth in the swing and a second in the cha cha. Second in all dances went to Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova, however, they did get a few thirds and some firsts, but the most shocking marks came from Melanie LaPatin who awarded them a 6th in the cha, a fifth in the swing, a fourth in the bolero, and second in the other two dances.  

Third was awarded to Andre & Natalie Paramonov and they also took third overall in every dance, however unlike Nazar & Irina, Andre & Natalie were only able to steal a small amount of first place marks, one in the cha cha and one in the swing from Dan Rutherford, and one in the mambo from Tony Meredith.

Fourth place in this excellent Rhythm competition went to Misha Vlasov & Vanda Polakova placing fourth in every dance.  Fifth was awarded to Vard Margaryan & Mandy Carlisle but here they were fifth in every dance but the bolero where they took sixth. Sixth position in this heat went to Shane & Shannon Jensen and they took fifth in the bolero but sixth in the other four dances.

The Cabaret was also another feature in this year’s Millennium. 12 couples competed and a semifinal had to be run earlier in the day but in the end the first place award went to Shane & Shannon Jensen who were in our opinion perfection at work.  They received 14 of the 17 first places.  Second in this fantastic Cabaret was awarded to another couple who are very capable in this department and that was Travis & Jaimee Tuft.  However, we totally agreed with the judges’ decision today.  When comparing these two great exhibition couples, we have to feel that Shane & Shannon take a few more ricks in the work and are able to keep you in suspense through the entire routine. Perhaps Travis & Jaimee just have to go a little more on the edge to close the gap between them and overtake them.  Whatever it is, we are so lucky in the USA to have such incredible Cabaret talent all here live and well.

Third in this fantastic Cabaret competition went to Michael Azarov & Tanya Makarenko, fourth were Clifton Sepulveda & Mar Martinez,  fifth were Jamie Black & Robin Ray, sixth were Clyde Harris & Summer Black Elkin, and last but not least in seventh position were Daniel Enskat & Ahtoy Won Pat-Borja.

The Amateur Latin was a tough job for the judges and you can appreciate more when you look into their marks. The winners overall were Alexander Chernositov & Arina Grishanina taking first in four dances and second in the paso doble.  However, we must point out that in not one dance were they able to capture a majority of firsts from the judges. The closest they came to taking the majority was in the cha, where they took eight first place marks out of 17.  From this dance on they got less first place marks. Their worst marks came from Meryem Pearson who awarded them 5 sixth place marks, and Shirley Ballas who awarded them 4 sixth places and a fifth. The marks got even more interesting when it came to second placed, Austin Joson & Nino Dzneladee.  They placed second overall but not in all dances.  They took third in the paso and fourth in the jive. When looking at Austin & Nino’s marks we can see how difficult of a decision it must have been for the judges.  They got a variety of marks from first to sixth place in almost every dance. For us it was a little more clear, with the exception of what looked like Nina’s black robe, we were enthralled by this young lady’s talent and ability to Latin dance.  Had we been judging I think we might have placed this couple higher in one or two dances at least. Third overall went to Tal Livshitz & Ilana Keselman and they were the recipient of that elusive first place mark missing from the winning couple 3,3,3,1,3. Fourth were Danils Kutuzovs & Maria Shalvarova 4,4,4,4,2, fifth was awarded to Artur Tarnasskky & Anastasia Danilova 5,5,5,6,6 and sixth were Nikita Malakhov & Nadezda Vlasova.

The Amateur Junior II Latin event was sponsored by the CBZ foundation, here many of the juniors got scholarships (money) presented by Maria Kordit, director of the CBZ Foundation. The winning overall couple of this event was Yusif Amsatr & Naomi Spektor they won all dances as they had the day before in Ballroom. Second in all dances was awarded to Max Firestein & Nicole Mychedlidze and third were Denis Smotrov & Karina Mirochnik who took third in four dances and fourth in the cha cha. Fourth went to Dennis Matveev & Danielle Goldman 5,4,4,4,4, fifth were Matthew Lavitman & Olivia Agranovich 3,5,5,5,5, and sixth in all dances were Jackson Bayhi & Ashley Mattingly.

The Amateur Youth Latin was also a good event and here the winner was Clinton Cade Corder & Alexandra Gutkovich 2,1,1,1,1, second were Max Firestein & Nicole Mtchedlidze 1,2,2,2,3, and third were Gregory Rybakov & Ellen Anshelevich 3,3,4,3,2.

Pro/am was the biggest part for the Millennium this year, the impressive 5 day event. The Latin day was also packed with great dancing starting at 7AM but the Open Scholarships were late afternoon.

The winner of the A was Sabrina Strasser w/Stanishlav Kochergin from Canada and they won every dance. Second in this category was Vera Xu w/ Jakub Zeglen, however, her marks were more varied 3,2,2,3,2 and third went to Emily Tang w/ Delyan Terziev 6,3,3,2,4.  Saina Hadden w/ Daniele Gozzi was 4th, 2,4,5,4,3;  5th Joanna Wu w/ Plamen Danailov 4,6,4,6,5;  6th Yulia Rudenco w/ Andrey Rudenco 7,5,6,5,6;  7th Maria Seva w/ Lubo Asenov 5,7,7,7,7.

In the B division the winners were Maria Seragou w/Dimitrios Damalas 1,1,1,2,4.  Second overall was Mirra Blinova w/Clement Joly 2,4,2,1,1, and third was awarded to Jacqueline Soccodato w/Delyan Terziev 3,2,4,3,3.  4th Jelena Sevaljevic w/ Stanislav Kochergin (Canada) 4,3,3,4,2;  5th Suzanne Petersen w/ Damir Karaman 5,5,5,5,5;  6th Colette Marotto w/ Oleksii Lytvyn 7,7,7,7,7.

It was an 8 couple final in the C division and first was awarded to Lorraine Peoples w/Andrei Gavriline 1,1,2,1,1.  Second this time went to Lisa Lowery w/ Radek Wiatrowski 2,2,1,2,3, and third went to former World pro/am Champion Beverly Moore w/ Alain Doucet from Canada 3,3,3,3,2.  4th Lynn Magnusen w/ Vard Margaryan 5,5,4,4,4;  5th Tasha Romero w/ Evgeny Likachev 6,4,5,5,5;  6th Nora Fox w/ Plamen Danailov 4,6,6,6,6;  7th Tammy Knight w/ Oleksii Lytvyn 7,7,7,8,8;  8th Sharon Iannacone w/ Genya Bartashevich 8,8,8,7,7.

Candy Unwrapped!

Last night organizer, producer, Michael Chapman unwrapped his “Candy” and delivered another show of a lifetime! The “Debra Fontaine Show of Shows” was nearly out of this world “literally”, with trapeze artists hanging from the ceilings performing life-threatening maneuvers with no safety net and a cast of what seemed to be 60 people performing bellow, a potpourri of candy surprises.

The featured acts Peter & Alexandra Perzhu, American Smooth Champions, Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zagoruychenko World Professional Latin Champions, and Andrew Sinkinson & Charlotte Jorgensen were delivered to us all by the fabulous cast, who intermingled with them to make the show flow seamlessly for about 30 minutes. Our favorite number because of the way it was presented by the cast and feature performers was the Perzhu’s opening number “The Candy Man Can” an American style foxtrot, that opened all our senses for what was about to unfold.

Both Peter & Alexandra and Riccardo & Yulia were in top form as expected, giving us great quality and bringing the audience to a number of standing ovations. The “retro, vintage” performance by World Professional finalists and World Ballroom Amateur Champions Andrew & Charlotte gave the show a touch of history that we all loved, our minds all went to the time when these two, separately and together, brought hundreds of houses to a standing ovation and their simple but beautiful basic movements to “Over the Rainbow” sung by our own US National Smooth Champion, Michelle Officer and accompanied on the Piano by DJ extraordinaire, Brent Mills, was touching, moving some to drop a tear and the crowd to their feet at the end of the performance.

You would have thought this was all that was going on this night but no! This was just a treat for the audience served between rounds of the well-attended and very disputed competitions going on this evening.

The 2 feature events tonight were the Open Professional divisions in Smooth and Latin and both were cracking events, the Latin beginning with 36 couples.  In no doubt at all were the winners, Canadian Champions, Maurizio Vescovo & Andra Vaidilaite who received every 1st place from every judge in all dances.  Almost equally clear in the judges’ minds were the runners-up, Andrey Tarasov & Yulia Kuznetsova who had large majorities of 2nd places in all dances.  

But from there down the couples were jockeying for positions.  The big gain came for the 3rd place couple, Mykhalio Bilipukhov & Anastasia Shchypilina who scored 5,4,5,3,3 for their overall 3rd position.  This was a big gain from one night before when they placed 2nd in the RS.  We can understand this gain!  This is a really talented and unique couple, a great recent gain to the US dance scene from, we believe, Ukraine.  3rd tonight, but obviously very close, were Dmitry & Olena Nikishkin who scored 3,3,6,6,4.  5th went to Roman Italyankin & Alexandra Bokova 4,6,3,4,5T and 6th to the RS winners, Sasha Althukov & Cheyenne Murillo 6,5,4,5,5T.  A quick bit of arithmetic will show you how close it was from 3rd to 6th places and how the luck of the draw (and the Skating System) meant that Sasha & Cheyenne placed 6th overall but actually placed 6th in only 1 dance.

Unfortunately Nikolai Voronovich & Maria Nikolishina had to withdraw after the first round.  Their presence would have been enjoyable in the final we are sure.

Gocha Chertkoev & Shorena Gachichiladze will have the report in Dance Beat soon.

The Smooth brought out all the nation’s best (with the exception of the Perzhus who were performing in the show).  Mikhail & Galina Zharinov won all 3 dances, 2 with the majority of 1st places (waltz and foxtrot).  Runners-up, Mazen Hamza & Izabella won the tango and were 2nd in the other 3 dances.  Both couples were on form tonight. This was perhaps one of the best performances we have seen from Mikhail & Galina.  The only point of interest when looking at the judges’ scores was that whilst Mikhail & Galina were fairly clear in their win, they did receive a few 6th places whereas the lowest score received by Mazen & Izabella were some 4th places.

3rd in all dances were Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija who continue to impress us with their beautiful dance action, particularly in waltz.  Today VW was their best scored dance.  Travis & Jaimee Tuft had a strong result with 4th in all dances and they picked up at least one 1st place in all dances.  Kyle & Allie Spinder were 5th in all and we also noted great basic dance actions from this duo.  The newcomers to the final were Yegor Novikov & Alexandra Smimova who were 6th in all dances.  Two judges really favored this duo, who we also found very impressive choreographically and physically and this was Nicole Caroll who placed them 2nd in all dances and Igor Litvinov who scored them 2,2,2,1.

Amy Anderson will report on this event in Dance Beat soon.

Although a straight final, the Amateur Ballroom was also of a high standard.  It resulted in another win for Canada, as Jamie Cuttler & Virginie Primeau won all 5 dances.  We were expecting an easy win for this couple but although they won all dances, they had the majority of 1st places in only foxtrot.  Splitting the remaining 1st places were the two couples immediately behind them.  Runners-up were Marek Klepadlo & Liana Bakhtiarova 3,3,2,2,2 and third, Lucca & Krizia Balestra 2,2,3,3,3.  These are two couples of similar talent but very differing styles.  4th were Daniel Vesnovsiy & Emily Thorpe 5,4,4,4,4;  5th Brandon Buchthal & Natasha Barrera 4,5,5,5,5;  6th Jacob Tsai & Cara Yun Loo 6,6,7,7,6;   7th Danya Rubashevsky & Anastasiya Vysotska 8,7,6,6,7;  8th Yates 7,8,8,8,8.

Max Sinitsa will have a report on this division.

For the pro-ams it was a day of Ballroom and the Open Scholarships were as strong as you would expect in a competition of this size.  The A division was won by Natalie Rezal w/ Sergey Kiselev 1,1,2,1,1, this is certainly one of the strongest ladies in this field currently.  Receiving her 2nd nod as runner-up, Melonie Krumer w/ Max Sinitsa placed 2,2,1,2,5.  Vinie Miller w/ Denis Kutepov took all the 3’s and Yulia Rudenko w/ Andrei Rudenco was 4th with 4,4,4,4,2.  For us she could certainly have won the QS.  Rebecca Kuhn w/ Andrea Faraci was 5th 5,5,5,6,5;  Kelly Long w/ Yevgeny Klyukin was 6th 7,6,6,5,6;  Elena Kravchenko w/ Ivan Tarkhanov (Russia) was 7th 6,7,7,7,7 and Eliza Cheney w/ Yuriy Nartov was 8th.

It was in the B that we strayed most from form results.  The winner remained constant – Celia Chou w/ Erminio Stefano placed 1st in all dances.  2nd in all was Julie Zhao w/ Denis Kutepov.  We thought she had a good day and certainly challenged the winner.  Also in great form today was Brynda Insley w/ Martin Reinbold who was 3rd in all dances.  Suki Kramer w/ Gunnar Sverrisson was 4th 5T,5,4,4,5.  Elka Hristova w/ Artem Plakhotnyi was 5th 5T,6,5,5,4.  We also liked this lady’s easy style and personality.  Surprising us was the 6th place finish of a past winner in this division, Beverly Moore w/ Alain Doucet 4,4,6,6,6.  We didn’t quite see any major problems here that would warrant this drop, but perhaps we were not standing where the judges were?  Closing this final was Bo Chang w/ Giampiero Giannico in 7th place.

The always relaxed Hye-Kyong Park w/ Linas Korieva was a good winner in the C division, taking all dances.  Also strong in 2nd was Leilani Viney w/ Kamil Urbaniak 3,3,2,3,2 and another one of our favorites, Connie Edmonds w/ Samuele Pacchini was 3rd 5,6,3,2,3.  We don’t quite understand the 5th and 6th placements.  Betty Yeh w/ Enzo Zappia was 4th 4,2,5,4,5;  Tammy Knight w/ Artem Plakhotnyi was 5th 2,4,4,6,6;  Beatrice Wang w/ Giampiero Giannico was 6th 6,5,6,5,4 and Annie Chen w/ Denis Kutepov closed the final.

In this busy day there were also 2 professional RS divisions danced.  It was a good day for Shandor Shtefil & Aleksandra Barsukov who won the very strong Rhythm category with 3,2,1,1,1.  We also liked the runners-up, Igor Ustymovich & Briana Santiago 1,1,2,2,3.  3rd tonight were Aaron & Iryna DeSotto 2,3,3,3,2.

In the corresponding Ballroom RS, Vladislav Shakov & Ekaterina Popova were the winners placing 1,1,1,1,2.  Winning that QS and 2nd in the other dances were Stefano DiBrino & Bianka Zubrowska.  3rd in all were Youriy Nartov & Sarika Hudson.

The kids were also out in force last night at least in quality if not quantity.  CBZ Foundation sponsored the Junior II Ballrom and the easy winners here in all dances were Yusif Amsatr & Naomi Soektor.  2nd went to Denis Smotrov & Karina Mirochnik 3,2,3,2,2 and 3rd to Dennis Mateev & Danielle Goldman 2,3,2,3,3.

The JI Ballroom was won by Leroy Shaigorodsky & Sonya Elkin, the Preteen I by Daniel Novikov & Natalina Chen and the Youth Ballroom by Jacob Tsai & Cara Yun Loo.

The Millennium traditionally awards their Hall of Fame on this night and tonight the honoree was none other than the “Goumada” – Marianne Nicole, famed coach and adjudicator.  The preceding accolades were read by Marianne’s former professional partner, Rufus Dustin and for the award she was joined on the floor by husband, John DePalma who is a presenter for the ASN TV show.

In the end just when you thought it was over and it was time to take the elevator to your room, the seductive Hawaiian dancers were directing you into a fabulous after party with food, dancing and show. The free mai tais and chi chi’s were flowing but this time compliments of the Hawai'i Star Ball a competition hundreds of miles away in the Pacific where life is beautiful and people hang lose.   

The Sweetness Continues!
Millennium Thursday

Thursday was just as sweet at Millennium as we moved into the Pro-Am Smooth divisions and a very full day it was, beginning at 7:00 AM.  The Open Scholarships were great – all danced at night and with TV coverage.

It was another win for Briana Yadgir, this time dancing with Chris Germain, in the the Open A Scholarship Smooth.  She was the winner in the A Rhythm.  This divisions was closer.  Briana placed 2,2,1,1.  Her runner-up, Melonie Krumer w/ Max Sinitsa placed 1,1,2,3.  Overall we favored Melonie by just a little – but that’s why they have so many judges!  Congrats to Briana.  Taking 2nd in foxtrot but 3rd overall was Kat Wagner w/ Sergey Barsukov.  Another really strong young lady, Yulia Rudenko w/ Andrei Rudenko was 4th in all dances.  With 5,5,6,5, Natalie Rezai w/ Slawek Souchaki was 5th.  6th was the only gentleman in the final, Stefan Tuomanen w/ Michelle Officer 7,6,5,6.  7th, Olivia Zettergren w/ Gunnar Sverrisson 6,7,8,8.  8th Ran Wei w/ Mikolay Czarnecki 8,8,7,7.  As you can see, an excellent and close fought final!

The clear winner of the B division for us, and for the judges was Joann Smith w/ Sharon Levit (Canada) and she won all dances.  Second in all was Aiyesha Dey w/ Mayo Alanen and 3rd in all was Suki Kramer w/ Gunnar Sverrisson.  These top three seemed fairly clear in the judges’ eyes.  4th place tonight went to Shiela Davis w/ Vlasislav Shakov 4,4,5,5, 5th was Carolin Woodruff w/ Alosha Anatoliy 6,6,4,4;  6th Nikki Kennedy w/ Igor Afonkin 5,7,6,6;  7th Marcy Garson w/ Mazen Hamza 7,5,7,7 and 8th Kelli Moll w/ Eugene Graev.

The C Smooth is always a great division and we were not disappointed tonight.  The winner, another double champion, was Lisa Lowery w/ Radek Wiatrowski and she won all 4 dances. This was something of an upset as the runner up was World Champion in this division, Beverly Moore w/ Alain Doucet (Canada) 2,2,2,2.  Obviously these are two great lady competitors.  We still favored Beverly slightly tonight.  Lisa was a little hard to see find where we were sitting, perhaps the dark green dress did not help.  3rd was another really strong competitor, Sue Eldred w/ Artem Plakhotnyi 3,3,3,4.  Sophia D’Angelo w/ Ilya Rezin took 4th spot, 4,4,4,3.  5th Gracelyn Tuotti w/ Andrei Abrashin 5,5,5,5;  6th Darla Davies w/ Jim Maranto 6,7,7,6;  7th Sharon Sanchez w/ Sergey Barsukov 7,6,6,7.

Following these scholarship divisions there was a high-energy and lavishly costumed Pro-Am Team match featuring 4 teams – USA East, USA West, Canada and Rest of World.  The result was an unbreakable tie between the two USA teams.

The night (early morning) ended with the first two professional events of Millennium 2015 – RS Latin and RS Smooth.  Both were quarter-final events.

The Latin was won by Sasha Althukov & Cheyenne Murrillo 1,2,1,1,2.   Obviously this was a close event and no couple received a majority of 1st places in any dance.  We liked Sasha & Cheyenne.  They do everything right.  We did think it looked a bit like an “exercise” last night.  We actually thought runners-up. Myhailo Bilopukhov & Anastasiia Shchypilina had an edge on the night.  They placed 4,3,2,2,1.  We really liked their casual but energetic approach.  Also picking up a lot of 1st places from the judges were Stanislav Savich & Nicole prosser in 3rd place.  Their scores, 2,1,4,3,4.  Also in the mix, and taking more 1st places than anyone except the winners, were 4th placed Sergey & Dasha Chyslov.  Overall they scored 3,4,3,4,3.  5th went to Adam Katona & Bella Gubzheva 6,5,5,5,5 and 6th, Jake Davies & Alyona Kalinina 5,6,6,6,6.

The Smooth was a more settled result.  The winners, Jean Paul & Lana Rossi won all dances with a majority of 1st places.  Also clear, Adrian & Hannah Dydynski were 2nd in all dances.  The remaining couples were much closer.  4,3,5,3 gave Andrei & Elena Rudenko 3rd place;  4th Radek Wiatrowski & Denise Sobiewski 3,4,3,5;  5th Sergey Smolin & Anna Tomasini 6,6,4,4;  6th Morten Jensen & Anastasia 5,5,6,6.

An interesting experiment, probably for TV benefit, was that all the semifinalists were called on to the stage and then the 6 finalists were called out in randem order to come to the floor leaving the unsuccessful couples standing on the stage.  More drama?  Hey!  It’s a competition!  Some win, some lose!  

Stay tuned for today’s exciting events!

Something good to suck on!
Candyland at Millennium 2015

“Candyland” is this year’s theme at the Millennium and as we all come to expect, the set is lavish and extravagant and reflects the style of organizer, Michael Chapman. 

Plus…… this event seems to be limitless.  Over 15,000 entries this year make it the busiest Millennium to date, and the largest competition in the USA.  The schedule is longer too, beginning on Tuesday morning and continuing through Saturday night.  Plus…… TV is making an appearance this year.  American Sports Network will film pro-am open scholarships, amateur and professional events – check back for air times.

The first 2 days were all about the beat – rhythm pro-am filled 2 full days of competition and concluded quite late last night with the Open Scholarships in A, B and C categories.  All had great quality.

Brianna Yadgir w/ Evgenii Grytsak won all dances in the A.  Brianna is a former US Champion in this category, but this is the first time we have seen her with her new professional partner.  We felt she was the deserving winner.  From there it was a tighter race.  Chastity w/ Eddie Ares took the runners-up spot placing 3,2,2,2,4.  She always has a great look on the floor and appeared in contention tonight.  She could be a little more aggressive and forceful.  Tatiana DaCruz w/ Nazar Norov took 3rd, 2,3,3,3,2.  A new lady to us with great potential.  A little quiet in the final, but again, always in contention.  Isabelle Libertore w/ Charles Cunningham took 4th 5,4,4,4,3.  Our perception was totally different to the judges’.  We really liked her cha cha and felt she could have won that dance.  We found her later dances a little disorganized.  Nathalie Young w/ Volvik Edouard (Canada) wqas 5th, 4,5,5,5,5;  Lauren Watkins w/ Michael Neil was 6th in all dances.  Veronica Maoli w/ Hayk Balasanyan took 7th 8,7,7,8,7.  We felt that this lady could have placed higher in some dances.  Closing the final and also showing great improvement, we thought was Stefan Tuomanen w/ Michelle Officer.

Surprisingly the B was the smallest division today, with a straight final of 7 couples.  The winner was Kia Malone w/ Eddie rivera 1,1,1,2,1.  Worthy of this placement in our view today.  2nd went to Sheila Davis w/ Vladislav Shakov 2,2,2,1,2.  This is a new pro-am pairing and shows great promise.  3rd in all dances was Elena Cormio w/ Edwin Torres.  Although placing 3rd in all dances, we felt she was always a strong contender tonight and certainly could have placed higher in some dances.  4th went to Heather Radke w/ Kiril Arsov 5T,4,4,4,4;  5th Micko Okumura w/ Zeki Maviyildiz 5T,7,5,6,5;  6th Chris Wilson w/ Emilia Goldberg 7,6,6,5,6;  7th Faye Diamantoudi w/ Tony Santana (Canada) 4,5,7,7,7.

The C was a great contest between some of the best in the land in this division.  Winning comfortably in our view was Lisa Lowery w/ Radek Waitrowski – the judges also awarded her all dances.  The remaining places were close fought.  Taking 2nd was Lynn Magnesen w/ Vard Margaryan 2,2,3,3,3.  This followed on from her success at Emerald Ball.  3rd, also continuing to place well was Sophia D’Angelo w/ Ilya Reyzin 3,5,2,2,5.  Jennifer Marre w/ Plamen Danailov was 4th 4,3,4,4,4.  Quin Bommeljie w/ Misha Vlasov took 5th 5,4,5,5,2.  We thought this lady could have placed higher.  Sharon Sanchez w/ Sergey Barsukov was 6th 6,7,6,6,7 and Gracelyn Tuoti w/ Andrei Abrashin was 7th 7,6,7,7,6.

Today we move on to the pro-am smooth and of course anticipation runs high for the Friday and Saturday highlights still to come.

Rising at Yankee!

Last night at the Yankee Classic it was Rising Star time for all professionals, four styles were run and it was a packed night of entertainment running late into the night. Surprisingly enough the judges might have been a little worn but the couples were in very top form from beginning to end in all styles.

The Rising Star Rhythm had the biggest entry with a huge quarter final round. Kosta Trifunovic  & Domante Padleckaite took first in all dances and we think they were the easy winners. A few adjudicators thought otherwise the most prominent was Allan Tornsberg who awarded them 6,6,5,6,4. Second overall went to Ilya Abdullin & Tara Baracov 2,2,3,2,2, and third was awarded to Jhondar Lopez & Amber Osborn 3,3,2,3,4.

The Rising Star American Smooth was also excellent.  Here, top prize went to Jean Paul & Lana Rosi who won all dances and truly looked excellent. Second place was awarded to Morten Jensen & Anastasia and they took all seconds leaving third for David Hannigan & Maggie Toth.  All three of these couples were great, it was almost as if we were watching an open event.

The Rising Star Latin was also a fun competition with a full semifinal round.  The winners of every dance were Stanishlav Savich & Nicole Prosser, second were Vlad Astafiev & Jenya Didenko 3,2,3,3,2, and third were Nikita Tsernov & Annie He Xiao 4,5,2,2,5.

The smallest of all the Rising Star events was the Ballroom with only 5 couples entered. Here Vladislav Shakhov & Ekaterina Popova were the obvious winners with the majority of firsts in all dances. Mechyslav Pavlyuk & Gemma Arnold were second 2,2,2,3,3 and Anatolli Repliuk & Rusland Mamaysur were third 3,3,3,2,2.

The pro/am Open Latin was also a great competition and here the winners were Nicolas Nguyen w/Helle Rusholt-Yi, they won four dances and placed second in the Paso.  Second went to Shelly Meshkausk w/Thomas Shiloshvili 2,2,2,1,3, leaving third to Zoe Antoniou w/Andre’ Strinadko 3,3,3,3,2. This competition also started with a healthy semifinal round in both quality and quantity.  

The night was a little long, however, the couples were in such great shape and ready to go as if they were dancing on a lovely afternoon, inspiring all of us old judges to stay attentive and even a large percentage of the attendees stayed until the end. Congratulations couples!!