“A KINGDOM DIVIDED CANNOT STAND”

By Susan Silva

A Column To Help Dancers Journey In Life

You might be saying to yourself, what does the title of this article, “A Kingdom Divided Cannot Stand” have to do with Ballroom Dancing?

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And a Fond Farewell........

And so we come to the final day of the 6-day extravaganza that has become the USDC.  The featured divisions today were the WDC Super Series Professional Divisions in Ballroom and Latin.

For the most part these were repeats of the US National divisions with a couple of additional couples from foreign parts, but several withdrawals from some US couples.

In the Latin Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zagoruychenko were once again the victors in all dances, but they did not have the perfect scores that they had in the National Championship.  They lost a few first place marks to the runners-up, Maurizio Vescovo & Andra Vaidilaite (Canada).  The closest scored dance was the paso doble that was won by 9 firsts to 4.  Third in all dances were Nikolay Voronovich & Maria Nikolishina.  4th went to Dorin Frecantanu & Maria Sergeeva (Moldova) 4,4,4,4,5;  5th to Aleksandr Skariato & Yulia Lesokhina (Ukraine) 5,5,5,5,4 and 6th Gunnar Gunnarsson & Marika Doshoris.

Victor Fung & Anastasia Muravyeva were the winners of the WDC World Super Series Ballroom winning all dances and losing only 1 single 1st place mark out of the 65 available.  US Champions, Arunas Bizokas & Katusha Demidova did not compete.  2nd in all dances went to Domen Krapez & Monica Nigro (Slovenia).  3rd in all to Marat Gimaev & Alina Basyuk and 4th in all to Artem Plakhotnyi & Inna Berlizyeva.  5th and 6th places were a little closer.  5th went to Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronika Egorova 5,5,6,6,5 and 6th to Denis Kutepov & Lesya Sinitsa 6,6,5,5,6.

There was a little shuffle in the World Professional Cabaret, in comparison to the national event.  Tonight, with their new routine, the winners were Shane & Shannon Jensen – up from 2nd in the national.  2nd this time went to Justin Guilmette & Kimerlee Piedad which left 3rd place to the 2014 Blackpool Exhibition Champions, Craig Smith & Micheline (Hong Kong).

In the afternoon the US National Professional Showdance Championships were decided.  These are world championship selection divisions.  The Classic Showdance division was the larger with 8 entries and the two representatives are 1st, Pavel Cherdantsau & Svetlana Rudkovskaya and 2nd, Mikhail Avdeev & Olga Blinova.  In the South American division, the reps are 1st, Andre & Natalie Paramonov and 2nd, Genya Bartashevich & Yana Masnikova.

The Pro-Am US Open Cabaret Championship was won by Nicole Haute w/ Justin Guilmette and the US National Mambo Championships by Kia Malone w/ Eddie Rivera.

New this year was a Professional Grand Championship between the winners of the US National Championships.  This was judged by audience applause with a “clapometer.”  The winners were Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zagoruychenko.  Arunas Bizokas & Katusha Demidova did not compete.

In the evening two prestigious awards were presented.  The John Monte Award went to Martin Chiang, CEO of American Ballroom Company and United States Championship Hall of Fame Award went to Bruno Collins & Luann Pulliam. 

$100,000 in Top Teacher prize money was given out this week and the big prize winner overall was Siniza Vasic.

Many try - few have made it!

A long time ago it was simple time, a time of no separation, a time when you danced everything and dance gods like Larry & Betty Silvers won everything - 10 Dance, Latin and Ballroom. You also had long-time legend Frank Regan dancing with Victoria Regan (who is here this weekend) winning the Latin and the Ten dance.

And when the big bang came and the American Style separated Charles & Jean Penatello won both the Smooth and Rhythm, shortly followed by Joe Lozano and Jan Mattingly who also won these two styles.

Then came development and changes and the first couple to win the Smooth and Nine Dance was David & Carrie Kloss. We then had our first World Champions, Gary & Diana McDonald who won the US Latin plus the World and US 10 Dance. Ben and Shalene Ermis were the last of the few to win a duel multi-dance event in the same year, they won the Smooth and the Nine Dance in 2006.

Since that year the US has not had any other duel Multi-Dance Champions, but that was all changed last night at the United States Championships in Orlando, Florida when Peter and Alexandra Perzhu became the US National Professional Smooth Champions adding to their previous collection of 5 consecutive gold medals as US Nationals Professional Nine Dance Champions.  But this year for the first time they also won the vacant crown as the US National Professional Smooth Champions.  They won all 4 dances.  As a note we most point out that Peter & Alexandra won three dances with the majority of firsts but in the waltz they got 8 firsts out of the 17 judges.  Having these two titles is an accomplishment that as you read in our opening paragraphs, many try for but few have accomplished in the multi-dance arena.

With the exception of the new US Champions Peter & Alexandra Perzhu the competition for us was very close between the other couples in the final. A big surprise for us and I think to many in the independent world, was the ascension to runners up of Mikhail Zharinov & Galina Zharinov who had never occupied this spot. Mikhail & Galina are the Fred Astaire National Champions and you could see by the President of Fred Astaire’s face (he was presenting the awards) and by a huge crowd jumping off their seats, that they were pleased to have their heroes promoted to this high position. Mikhail & Galina took a few first place marks in every dance from Peter & Alexandra, but not enough to make a huge dent and not enough to be second comfortably.  They placed second in both their waltzes but third in the other two dances. It is also fair to say that this panel of 17 judges had only one or two judges from the Fred Astaire organization, this as far as we can tell was a very independent panel.

Third in this excellent final went to Mazen Hamza & Izabella Jundzill who placed second in the tango, third in the waltzes and fourth in the foxtrot. This most have been a very disappointing result for this couple who until last year had been so close to the mark. Fourth in this heat went to what we would say was our true favorites of the night, Nick Cheremukhin & Victorija Barasihina who placed fourth in three dances and second in the foxtrot. We could not agree more with the judges in the foxtrot decision this couple has a very unique style but one that with every outing keeps blossoming. Travis & Jaimee Tuft took fifth in every dance and Mikolay Czarnecki & Victoria Malko were sixth.

Olga Foraponova will have the report for Dance Beat.

What can we say about the US Professinal Latin? Very little, for us it was more of the same and it did not bring the crowd to excitement levels as did the Ballroom on the night before. Unequivitable and clear winners from the first round Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zagoruychenko won all dances with perfect scores from all the judges, not a second was place in their box. Second in all dances went to Roman Kutsky & Anna Kovalova, but here they did get a few lower marks than second place, specifically noted were the scores of Ms. Shirley Ballas who awarded sixth in both the Paso and Jive and fifth in the samba and rumba, only to upgrade them in their cha cha to a fourth position.

Third in this professional Latin heat went to Nikolay Voronovitch & Maria Nikolishina who placed third in every dance. Nikolay & Maria did not get any major drasticly varying marks but there is definitely some tension between them and Roman & Anna.  We are not quite sure what’s going on between these two couples, but this is the second or third time that we have witnessed some, should we say, horseplay between the men. This was caught on tape from what I hear and we cannot wait to dig in.  Hey!  It’s all great fun for us but we most caution the couples in question that some judges may not like this type of behavior.  Just after the awards we were accosted by two judges who asked us what’s going on? So if anyone knows what their issue is let us know we would love to have the insight!

Andrey Tarasov & Yuliya Kuznetsova were fourth and here it became a little more difficult for the judges to decide 6,5,4,4,4.  Fifth was awarded to Vitalii Proskurin & Eugenia Shatilova who for the Dance beat Team gave an excellent performance one that we would said deserves better than some of the marks they received 4,4,5,5,6. Sixth position was awarded to Ivan Mulyavka & Loreta Kriksciukaityte, 5,6,6,6,5. We think this to be a very disappointing finish for this couple who we are sure wanted to move up a little in the ladder of the final

Nadia Eftedal will have the full report for Dance Beat members.

The Pro/Am competition, although it did not have the massive entries we are used to seeing in the afternoon, in some ways was quite exciting.

The “A1” US Open Ballroom went to Carley Chik from Hong Kong, partnered by Domen Krapez, and they won all dances, second in this heat went to Denise Evens w/Artem Plakhotny but here it was not an easy placement as you can see by the marks 2,2,3,3,2, and third was awarded to Jennifer Lee from Canada with Serghei Pogonet 3,3,2,2,3. Rebecca Kuhn w/Andrei Faraci was fourth in all dances, Irene Lau w/Mikhail Avdeeev placed fifth 5,5,6,5,5, Lin Meng w/Kamil Urbaniak was sixth 7,6,5,6,6, Rachel Schans w/Garry Gekhman was seventh 6,7,7,8,7, and in eighth place was Estefania Papadpulos w/Ben Seifert 8,8,8,7,8.

The “A2” US Open Pro/Am Ballroom was also a terrific event and here Celia Chou w/Erminio Stefano took first in all dances, second went to Canada’s Beverly Moore w/Alain Doucet, however this was not an easy second overall Beverly was awarded two thirds one in tango and one in VW. Third in this same heat went to Langxi Gao & Kamil Urbaniak and they took the two seconds away from Beverly, 4,2,2,3,3. Fourth overall wen to Bo Chang w/Giampiero Giannico 3,4,4,4,4. Fifth was Audrey Paek w/Ronen Zinshtein 5,8,5,6,5. Sixth was awarded to Michael Peng w/Mikhail Avdeev 7,6,6,5,7, seventh was Lily Chang w/Sergey Kiselev 6,5,8,7,6, and in eighth place was Brynda Insley w/Martin Reinbold 8,7,7,8,8.

As you can see all US Open Pro/Am Scholarships Championships were difficult for the judges making them bring back at times more couples than they were asked for and in the “B” it was no different here too the judges brought back 8 couples. The winner was Leilani Viney w/Kamil Urbaniak they took three firsts and placed third in the waltz and fourth in the quickstep. Lynn Murrell w/Alexander Voskalchuk was second 1,4,2,4,2. Beatrice Wang w/Giampiero Giannico took third 4,2,4,2,3. From here down keep and eye on the marks - Connie Edmonds w/Samuele Pacchini was fourth 2,3,5,5,1. Paige Riffle w/Iaroslav Bieliei placed fifth 6,5,3,3,5. Deborah Errico w/Dariusz Michalski was sixth 5,8,6,7,6. Tammy Knight w/Artem Plkhotnyi placed seventh 8,6,7,6,7 and Suzanne Lee w/Igor Suvorov was eighth 7,7,8,8,8.

The “C1” and “C2” were also great competition and here in the “C1” Susan Walter w/Samuele Pacchini won every dance.  In the “C2” Sandy Fortier w/Richard Tonizzo (Canada) won the overall and placed first in three dances but third in the quickstep, this was still good enough to give Sandy the US title. 

The US Open Amateur Championships were disappointing, attracting few entries.  The winners of both the Latin and Ballroom, however, certainly deserve a mention.  Andres & Veronica End in the Ballroom and Alexey Karaulov & Vlada Semenova in Latin.

As you can see although not the most thrilling night it was a night of making history and a night of solid entertainment. Tonight the open to the world events should be fun but we expect a repeat of all the other national competitions with one or two people pulling out and maybe even one or two couples coming in from outside the US. Saturday is like a box of chocolates you never know what you’re going to get!     

“At Last!”

“Our waiting days are over…….” They had a dream and last night Emmanuel Pierre-Antoine & Liana Churilova’s dream came true, they are officially the current United States Professional Rhythm Champions.

The road has not been easy for this couple with many years spent preparing for this day and a number of stumbling blocks in their way, but after all they still standing and now on top of the world.

Congratulations Emmanuel & Liana from the Dance Beat Team, and in looking at the marks, they won every dance with a huge majority of firsts only a handful of judges’ dissenting the decision.  Their worst marks came from Linda Dean who awarded them 3,4,3,3,1 and Melissa Dexter 2,3,2,3,1.

Second place in this very phenomenal competition and somewhat of a surprise to all following the “caravan” over this summer, went to Nazar Norov & Irina Kudryashova who took second in all dances. We said “surprise” because up until now every competition we have witnessed has been won by the third place awardee’s here at the United States Championships Andre & Natalie Paramonov, who just about a year or so changed styles from the International Latin to the Rhythm.  (This was the first time Andre & Natalie had competed against Emanuel & Liana). But the marks say it all, the only dance where the Paramonovs came close to second was the rumba where they tied the ‘second or better’ scores with Nazar & Irina and second in this dance was decided by “third or better.” All fourths were awarded to Peter & Alexandra Perzhu, fifth overall but not in all dances was awarded to Mikhail Vlasov & Vanda Polakova 5,5,5,6,5 and sixth went to Vard Margaryan & Sofya Fill 6,6,6,5,6.

Dan Rutherford will report on this division for Dance Beat soon.

The US Professional Ballroom was run head to head with the Rhythm, but here there was also no lack for excitement.  Arunas Bizokas & Katusha Demidova continue to be our reigning National Champions, (their 7th consecutive title together and Katusha’s 17th consectutive title) but in the final and especially when the marks were being called out, the audience favorites were Victor Fung & Anastasia Muravyeva. Unlike the previous week at the Embassy Ball, Victor & Anastasia to the delight of the educated public, took two dances away from Arunas & Katusha, the tango and quickstep, this was well received by Victor & Anastasia whose smiles ran from ear to ear. In looking at their marks we must also point out that Victor & Anastasia took four, first place marks in the waltz, two in the VW and six in the foxtrot. It is quite reassuring to see this huge improvement in our second place couple.  This positively reinforces the United States of America’s superiority in this style in the world today.  Congratulations to both these wonderful couples!

Marat Gimaev & Alina Basyuk took third in all dances, Artem Plakhotnyi & Inna Berlizyeva were fourth 4,4,4,5,4, Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronika Egorova fifth 6,5,5,4,5, and in sixth place was Mikhail Avdeev & Olga Blinova 5,6,6,6,6.

Watch for Irina Suvorov’s report on this division.

The 2014 National Ballroom Championship was dedicated to the memory of Mr. Brian Puttock.  American Ballroom Company presented Mrs. Sue Puttock with a Lifetime Acheivement Award for her husband and partner.  The whole ballroom rose in salute.

The third national title decided on this night was the Professional Mambo.  The winners this year were Matthew Hauer & Lauren Schelfhaudt.  Jonathan Chen & Nadine Messenger were the runners-up and Timothy Polaschek & Katie Hutchinson took 3rd.

The atmosphere in the ballroom last night was electrifying to the point that we did not want to leave our seat for fear of missing a beat. The excitement carried over to the US Open National Pro/Am Latin Scholarships in the afternoon and early evening.

The Open “A1,” a straight final this year, went to Cheyenne Murillo w/ Sasha Altukhov with first in all dances. Second in this category was awarded to Saina Hadden w/ Daniele Gozzi 3,3,2,2,2 and third to Vera Xu w/ Jakub Zeglin 2,2,3,3,4.  Fourth Grace Kuan w/ Evgeny Likachev 5,5,4,4,3;  fifth Maria Ceva w/ Lyubomir Asenov 4,4,5,5,5;  sixth Shelby Wadsworth w/ Paul Richardson 6,6,6,6,6 and 7th Estefania Papadpulos w/ Ben Seifert 7,7,7,7,7.

In the Open “A2” first place was awarded to Tina Broccole w/Delyan Terziev 1,1,2,1,1, second went to Svetlana Van Tassel w/Andrey Tarasov 4,2,1,2,3 and third was Maria Seragou w/Dimitrios Damalas 2,3,4,6,2. Fourth place, Elizabeth Rocco w/Eric Hudson 3,4,5,4,4, fifth Khuong Pham w/Jessie Mineau (Canada) 5,6,3,3,6, sixth was awarded to Jeanine Steward w/Cristiano Callegari 6,5,6,5,5 and seventh was awarded to Mattias Kirwald w/Leanne Aranza, seventh in all dances.  

The “B” Champion was Lisa Lowery w/Radek Wiatrowski, they placed first in every dance.  Suzanne Saperstein w/Ricky Bentzen took all seconds and Lynn Magnesen w/Caleb Aleman was third 5,4,3,3,3. Nora Fox w/Plamen Danailov was fourth 4,3,5,5,4, Agnes Brzeski w/Cristiano Callegari placed fifth 6,6,4,4,5, Sara Switzer w/Shandor Shtefil was sixth 3,7,6,6,6, and Linda Ciabatoni w/Slava Sergiev was seventh 7,5,7,7,7.

In the C1 and C2, the C1 was awarded to Olga Bassett w/Petr Dubovsky, and the C2 went to Janet Carrus w/Edgar Osorio.

Yesterday we predicted this to be a terrific night but it overpassed our expectations, the afternoon and night events were supurb. We hope tonight will as exciting with the Smooth title up for grabs and the Latin showcasing some of the world’s best. I’m sure tickets are still available so come join the fun!             

Birds of a Feather Flock Together!

The evening crowd is beginning to thicken as the weekend approaches and the Open US and National Championships are almost upon us. Even the birds want a piece of the action!  Yesterday during the afternoon session two birds flew into the ballroom and from what we were told one even made a dive at judge, JT Thomas. We think she or he wanted to be scored on how smooth his flight was during the smooth section of the competition. In the evening the birds all went to sleep and all that was left was fierce competition on the “Dance Floor”

The US National Ten Dance took place and after two days of competition the winners were Sergiy Samchynskyy & Yuliya Besarb they won all the Latin dances, placed second in three ballroom dances and third in the waltz, and foxtrot.  The winner of all five Ballroom dances were Igor Coloc & Roxanne Milotti.  This might have given them a great start but unfortunately in the Latin they placed third in every dance, giving them a second overall in all ten dances. Third in this excellent 10 dance heat was awarded to Simeon & Kora Stoynov and here they took second in all the Latin dances but fourth in four Ballroom dances and third in the tango.

Fourth in the US National 10 dance was awarded to Russ & Katusha Wilder 2,4,3,2,3,4,4,4,4,4, fifth were Pavel Cherdantsau & Svetlana Rudkosvakaya 5,5,6,5,5,6,5,6,6,5, sixth went to Jang & Adele Don 6,T8,5,T7,6,7,6,5,7,6, seventh position was Matt Rivers & Maliwan Diemer 7,T8, T8,9,9,5,7,7,5,7, Eighth position went to Manuel Trillo & Anastasia Zhitova 8,6,7,6,7,8,8,8,8,T8, and in ninth place was Dmitriy Solomakha & Gabriela Sevillano 9,7,T8,T7,8,9,9,9,9,T8. As you can see the ten and nine dance are calculated and per dance not overall. This makes these events quite interesting when it comes to the results.

Speaking of interesting the US National Nine Dance Championships was also run this evening here the winners with a perfect run in all dances was Peter & Alexandra Perzhu, (first in all dances). Second in all dances in this nine dance championship and second overall was awarded to Sergiy Shapoval & Ania Tarnowska. Third went to Matthias Krushel & Christina Schlege, and here things got a little different 5,4,4,4,3,

T4,T3,6,3.  Stephen Smyth & Viktoriya Kelyman were fourth overall 3,3,3,3,7,6,6,T4,5; Jan & Adele Don were fifth 4,5,5,5,5,3,5,T4,6. Sixth was Justin Guilmette & Kimalee Piedad 7,8,6,6,4,T4,T3,3,4, and in seventh position was Dustin Donelan & Kristen McCloskey 8,7,8,8,6,7,7,7,7, and finally in eighth position was Leo Mora & Christina Garced 6,6,7,7,8,8,8,8,8.

The US National Cabaret Championship also took place this evening and it was an unprecedented 9-couple final, not sure if this has been done in previews US championships but I suppose it has. With a majority of firsts Justin Guilmette & Kimalee Piedad won the event again, they only had a couple of marks lower than second place a fifth from Richard Booth, and a third from Marianne Nicole. For us Justin & Kimalee’s routine was perfectly executed with some excellent combinations of overhead lifts and dancing. Second overall went to Shane Jensen & Shannon Jensen their performance to “Cry Me River” was also worth a standing ovation, and here they took seven first places out of the 15 judges. Shane & Shannon’s worst marks came from Olga Foroponova who placed them 4th and from Glen Weiss who too had them fourth. Third in this mix was awarded to Travis & Jaimee Tuft, they did not get any first place marks from any of the judges but they did get a fifth and that was from Linda Wakefield. Fourth was Brandon Baker & Chelsey Cherie, fifth was awarded to Clyde Harris & Summer Black Elkin, sixth place went to Clifton Sepulveda & Mar Martinez, seventh went to James Brann & Sayra Vazquez, eighth place was awarded to Richard & Laurie Collect and in ninth place were Chris & Shelly Eckert.

The US National Pro/Am Smooth Championships also took place this same day, and we must say the competition was excellent.  The “A1” was won by Melonie Krumer with teacher Max Sinitsa.  Melonie won three dances with the majority of firsts but in the VW she only manage 5 first places.  Melonie’s worst judge was Inessa Strellniikova who awarded her 2 fifths and a fourth. Here are Melonie’s marks 1,1,1,2. Second place wen to Julia Vaysfeld w/Nikolay Karchev 2,2,2,1. We must point out that Julia took at least 4 firsts away from Melonie in every dance. Third was awarded to Christina Diaz & Kris Suakjian 3,3,4,3; fourth was Brianna Yadgir w/Chris Germain 4,4,3,4; fifth place went to Sara Jess w/Tomas Mielnicki 7,5,5,6; sixth was Liora Panis w/Leonid Burlo 6,7,6,5; seventh was Irene Lee w/Nick Cheremukin 5,6,8,8, and eighth was Megan Strong w/Sergey Smolin 8,8,7,7.

The “A2” was also a great event to mention and here Elizabeth Rocco partnered by Eric Hudson was the winner overall by placing second in the waltz and first in the other three dances.  Lisa Berry w/Rauno Ilo took the waltz, placed second in the T,F, and third in the VW, this combination awarded her a second overall. Third overall went to Susan Sidman w/Gleb Makarov 4,3,3,2, as you can see Susan got a much higher placement in the VW. Fourth was Kim Hardin w/Billy King 3,4,4,4; fifth was awarded to Christina Donelson w/Peter Perzhu and they were fifth in every dance, and sixth place went to Lance Smith w/Tone Jacobsen taking all sixths, we must note this was the only man amateur in this final heat.

The “B” was a very disputed heat and the largest heat for the Pro/Am Smooth events with 40 couples entered. At the end it all came down to a top six and the championship went to Canada’s Beverly Moore with teacher Alain Doucet, but it was not an easy task for them, Beverly placed first in T,VW, second in the W, and third in the F. Beverly’s worst Judge was Urs Geisenhaimer who awarded them fifth in the W, and sixth in the VW. Second on this very contested heat was Lisa Lowery w/ Radek Wiatrowski 1,2,2,3, for this judge Inessa Streinkova, awarded them their worst scores two sixths a five and a fourth. Third was Robin Kencel w/ Sergey Vasilyev and as you can see by her scores this too was not an easy task 3,3,1,2, however, this was a lot better than last week at Embassy Ball where she was left out of the final. Fourth was Paige Riffle w/Alex Zagrean 4,5,4,4; fifth was Sue Eldred w/Artem Plakhotnyi 5,4,5,5 and in sixth position was Gracelyn Tuoti w/Andrei Abrashin and they were sixth in all dances. 

The C1 Division went to Penelope Rostad w/ Nikolay Karchev, her 2nd Open title so far this week, and the C2 fell to Georganna Beuerman w/ Jonathan Atkinson.

The professional Rising stars were the last events run last night and they finished way after midnight.  This must have made a few competitors a little testy and on edge since a medal was thrown out to the side by a competitor apparently not satisfied with her results. The US National Rising Star Rhythm was the largest and the last to be awarded.  Here Shane & Shannon Jensen took the honors home by winning every dance, however not with a majority of firsts in any of the dances. Second in this very contested heat went to Sergiy Shapoval w/ Ania Tamowska, and they had marks from sixth to first, the majority of these first place marks were handed down by Eddie Simon who awarded them first in three dances and second in the bolero.  Their overall scores were 4,3,2,2,2.  What shocked us the most was during the prize presentation Ania seemed very perturbed by her second place finish. She seemed to be holding back with a fixed smile as she collected her award but as all pictures were taken and the party dissolved, many of the judges saw her disposing of her medal by throwing it to the side. Third in this very heated and contested competition was Shandor Shtefil & Aleksandra Barsukov 2,2,3,4,3.

The US National professional Rising Star Ballroom was not as dramatic when it came to the awards - they all took it well we did not notice anyone visibly displeased. Iaroslav Bieliei & Olga Tsikalyuk placed first in all dances, Oscar Pedrinelli & Lenka Kovalcikova took second in all dances but the waltz were they placed third and third in this final was awarded to Vladislav Shahov & Ekaterina Popova, they placed second in the Waltz and third in the other four dances.

So there you see it - there were a few birds popping up on the floor but not so many that could not be handled by the judges and officials. Good luck to all today’s competitors!

Best Rhythm of All Time!

Dance Beat has been covering Ballroom and Dancesport dancing for over 20 years and we the team agree that yesterday’s US Open Pro/Am Rhythm Championships were about the best we have covered so far.  

The US Open “A” was brilliant and there was not one lady or gentleman who was not in complete shape ready for the task of becoming a US Champion. Viktoriya Trverskaya dancing with former Professional National 10-Dance Champion, Ilya Reyzin, was fantastic, their energy as well as their quality of performance we would say rivaled even some of the professional heats at other events. Viktoriya won the overall by placing first in four dances and second in the bolero, and all the dances she won she had a majority of firsts from the judges, we most also point out that even though she lost the bolero she still manage to take four firsts out of the 11 panel of judges.

Julia Vaysfeld w/Nikolay Karchev won the bolero in this “A” category but in the other dances she had mixed marks, placed second in C,R,SW and what we think might have been a disappointing third in the mambo. Second in this mambo was awarded to Natalia Crandal w/Decho Kraev who placed third overall and third in the other four dances.  All the other couples in this category were excellent and worth a mention - Brianna Yadgir w/ Aaron DeSoto were fourth in every dance; Matthew Shimizu w/Jessica Nicol placed fifth overall 7,7,5,5,5; Rachel Sayotovich w/Ilya Velednitsky were sixth 5,5,6,7,6 and seventh was awarded to Chasity Smith w/ Eddie Ares 6,6,7,6,7.

The “A2” Rhythm Open US Championships was also excellent here as in the past four years or so Giovanni Fortezza partnered by Jolanta Mosteika took the Open US Pro/Am Rhythm title home, and in speaking with Giovanni he was quite thrilled but best for him is that he won every dance.  According to Giovanni, in the past he has won the overall but always lost a dance or two, but not this time, he had a clear sweep and this was quite special for him. Susan Sidman w/Gleb Makarov was awarded overall second place, but not in every dance in the swing they took third. Third in this impressive heat went to Julie Korsog w/Mikhail Vlasov and they placed second in the swing and third in the other four dances. Fourth was Kia Malone w/Eddie Rivera 5,4,4,4,4, Fifth went to Darcy Ehrlich w/Aaron DeSoto 4,5,6,6,5, and sixth was awarded to Cindy Wang w/Steve Vasco 6,6,5,5,6.

In the “B” Rhythm Lisa Lowery w/Radek Wiatrowski took the US Championships home, and she won all dances. Quin Bommelje w/Mikhail Vlasov was second overall but not in all dances they got a third place in their bolero. Darla Davis w/Jim Maranto was fourth 3,5,4,4,4; Gracelyn Tuoti w/Andrei Abrashin was fifth 5,6,6,5,5, and Renee Kuwahara w/Ilya Reyzin placed sixth 6,4,5,6,6.

The US Open Rhythm had to “C” categories the “C1” and the “C2.” The “C1” was won by Penelope Rostad w/ Nikolay Karchev and the “C2” went to Sharree Hannah w/Forrest Vance.

The US National Open Professional Compulsory Theater Arts took place this evening it was a very small heat with only three couples entered. We felt this to be a very difficult song to dance to and choreograph to, even the recording of this song is quite questionable. We recommend ABC puts a little more care when it comes to selecting the music in order to draw more couples to this Open Championship. The winners were Shane & Shannon Jensen, second was awarded to Justin Guilmette & Kimalee Piedad and third went to Travis & Jaimee Tuft who we felt were a little unlucky.

The US National Rising Star Compulsory Theater Arts also took place and here we had 2 couples, Clyde Harris & Summer Black Elkin who won the category and Chris & Shelly Eckert who took second.

For us here at Dance Beat out of the two professional feature events the US National Professional Rising Star American Smooth was the best from a viewing perspective. There was more stuff going on and the couples were very close in talent and performance and so this made it for a nail-biting experience. The winners were quite surprised when the runners-up were called, the lady literally started crying and big “oohs” with very emotional tears went up all the way up to the lineup podium. The 2014 US National Rising Star Smooth winners are Sergey Barsukov & Maria Sidnjova, they won overall and most of the dances but in the waltz they took a second place. With the exception of the waltz Sergey & Maria won with the majority of firsts from the judges and even in the waltz they manage to still receive 7 first place marks.

The winners in the waltz and overall second place in the competition were also quite touched by the spectacle and they were Kyle & Allie Spinder. This must have taken a lot of mental stress as well as physical strength for the couples. Kyle was gracious to be in this position but Allie was emotional as well, her tears flowed down her face standing on the podium. Third overall were Adrian & Hannah Dydynski who took third in every dance.

The US National Professional Rising Star Latin event ran side by side with the Smooth but although for us did not have much spark it was still a competition with excellent skill and quality. Here for us and the majority of the judges the easy winners were Vitalii Proskurin & Eugenia Shatilova and they won all dances.  However, in looking at the marks the cha cha was not won with a majority of firsts like the other for dances. Dmitry Nikishkin & Olena Shvets seemed to be quite disappointed and understandably so, all couples work hard for this moment in time at the US Championships and to be almost there as vice-champions must be very moving. Third in this heat went to Ryan Lewis & Tessa Marie 4,3,3,3,4.

Today we will be keeping and eye on the Pro/Am Smooth categories and later in the evening more professional events.

Professional Rhythm Manhattan Dancesport

Report by Danny Villavicencio
Photos by Park West

So, once again Gary & Diana McDonald outdid themselves. This year’s Manhattan Dancesport Championships was one of the most exciting and smoothly run events that I have had the pleasure to attend, not to mention one of the most contested Dancesport competitions of the year.

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Youth Latin at Manhattan Dancesport

Report by Dasha Sushko
Photos by Park West

What a great way to celebrate Independance Day! Enjoying a wonderful competition organized by Gary and Diana McDonald!

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Their First World’s!

Last night at Embassy Ball, one couple had the satisfaction of winning their 1st World Title. 

Peter & Alexandra Perzhu of Florida won the NDCA World Professional Smooth Championship taking over from last year’s champions, Slawek Souchaki & Marzena Stachura, who have retired.  The win was not unexpected as Peter & Alexandra have won their last few competitions and they were comfortable winners today with the majority of 1st places in all dances.  

Runners-up were Mazen Hamza & Izabellla who had some 1st places in all dances but never enough to threaten the Perzhus.  In fact they had the majority of “2nd or better” scores in only tango needing to rely on “3rd or better” to place 2nd in all 4 dances.  The couple moving up the ladder today were Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija who benefited from a Rule 11 tie breaker to take 3rd with 4,3,3,4 over Travis & Jaimee Tuft who were 4th with 3,4,4,3.  We thought Nick & Viktorija had a sensational night and were not at all surprised with their improvement in position.  In fact we were not surprised either by the 2 first places awarded to them by judge, Toni Redpath.  5th spot went to Mickolay Czarnecki & Victoria Malko 5,5,5,5, who are another couple that must surely be close to a breakthrough result.  Closing this truly great final were David & Natalie Shulz 6,6,6,6.  This was a strong placement for David & Natalie as this 6th place in the final was hotly contested.  Among others we noted in the semifinal were Nikolai Pillipenchuk & Natalia Skorikova, Kris Suakjian & Briana Haft and Sergey Shapoval & Ania Tarnowska.  The stage is certainly set for quite a showdown at the US Championships this week.

Bob Long will have the full report on this championship in Dance Beat soon.

Although not a world championship, the Pro Latin was a WDC World Ranking event, as was the Ballroom the day before and it certainly attracted some of the world’s best including the current WDC World Champions, Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zagoruychenko from New York.  Riccardo & Yulia had little trouble taking this event losing only 2 first place marks from a total of 75.  During the first round Riccardo aggravated and injury to his leg and left the floor during the paso doble, the audience let out a gasp, but they were back for the jive and danced the rest of the competition apparently without problems.  

Both of those 1st places not awarded to the winners were given to the runners-up, Stefano DiFillipo & Dasha (USA).  Sammy Stopford placed them 1st in rumba and Richard Porter in jive.  Stefano & Dasha easily secured 2nd place in all 5 dances and we at Dance Beat really enjoyed their performance today.  3rd in all dances went to Mirko Rissi & Maria Ermatchkova (England).  Since turning professional this duo seem to have acquired a new lease on life – for us their performance level and zest have quadrupled.  They had the majority of “3rd or better” scores in all dances except the paso doble.  Nikolai Voronovich & Maria Nikolishina took 4th in all dances.  In paso doble they had 7 third place marks (1 less than the majority) so were unlucky not to place 3rd in that dance.  5th in all dances fell to Manuel Favilla & Natalia Maidiuk (Ukraine).  They received mostly 4th, 5th and 6th places marks but did receive 5 second places from judge, Donnie Burns MBE.  Kamil Studenny & Anna Pellypenko (Canada) took 6th place 6,6,6,6,6.  This was a terrific competition although a few of the USA’s leading contenders were not present – perhaps saving their strength for the upcoming US National Championship.  Sergey Ryupin will comment on this division for Dance Beat soon.

The two supporting events tonight were both in the ballroom style.  The under 21 and over 35 – I guess if you were aged 21 to 34 you just had to sit down tonight!  England took the U/21 in a close contest.  Michael Foskett & Nika Vlasenko won the event 1,2,1,1,2.  2nd went to Patryk Ploszaj & Anna Kaczmarski (NY) 2,1,2,2,1 and 3rd to William Stansbury & Jenny Sokolsky (CA) 3,3,3,3,3.

In the O/35 Zingmin & Katerina Lu (NY) were the winners.

Embassy at Work!

The Embassy Ballroom Championships continues to be at work this weekend hosting and conducting some of the best international events in the USA today.

Last night in the Open Amateur Latin more than half the final was from outside the USA, there were also some couples in the professional Ballrooms and of course we had the NDCA Professional World Rhythm Championship.

The Professional Ballroom and the Open Amateur Latin had the most attendance. The Ballroom was excellent with what we will discribe as a fantastic, unconventional performance by Victor Fung & Anastasia Muravyeva. At first we thought that it was Victor’s home turf (California) causing all the audience to keep cheering them on, but as we got drawn to their performance we realized that it was the content of their performance that was making people rise out of their seats. We must tip our hats to this world renowned couple - their artistry last night along with their “out of nowhere,” unconventional maneuvers will keep us motivated for a very long time and yes, for those questioning our opinion at the moment - Ballroom can be astronomically fun. Victor & Anastasia took second in all dances but did manage to grab a few first places in a few dances.  (2 firsts in the tango and the quickstep from Toni Readpath, and one first in the quickstep from Alan Dixon.) Their worst mark was a third in the waltz and this came from Massimo Giorgianni from Italy.

The unmistakably winners from the judges’ perspective in this event, gave us what we can only describe as their trademark perfection from beginning to end, earning them perfect scores from all the judges in both the waltzes, and the majority of first from all the judges in the rest of the dances. The Embassy Ballroom Champions continue to be the incomparable Arunas Bizokas & Katusha Demidova’s with first in all dances. It was such a pleasure to see this two great couples of the Ballroom style go head to head in a Ballroom arena, the Californian audience and we who were there are so lucky to witness this wonderful encounter.

From what we just mentioned you would have thought that only these two couples made a splash at the Embassy, but this is not the case the rest of the final was perhaps one of the best the world can offer. Third in this spectacular heat went to Marat Gimaev & Alina Basyuk who were the only other couple other than Victor & Anastasia to take a first place mark away from Arunas & Katusha - in the foxtrot. Marat & Alina were third in every dance.

Fourth in this excellent final went to Artem Plakhotnyi & Inna Berlizyeva and as you will see the judges were not quite so sure from here down 6,4,6,5,4. And in a “rule 11” decision fifth place went to Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronika Egorova 4,6,4,6,5. Last in this parade of stars was awarded to Mikhail Avdeev & Olga Blinova. It is important to note that Mikhail & Olga were placed sixth only in the quickstep the rest of the dances they placed fifth or better 5,5,5,4,6, here again this placement was sorted by a “rule 10” and for those that want to know what rules 10 and 11 are, as Mr. John DePalma says, “read the manual.”

We thought that there were some excellent couples left out of this final but they were good enough to be there and with a little more confidence they could easily challenge.

The Professional Ballroom was not the only international professional event here at the Embassy last night, the NDCA World Professional Rhythm Championship was also a feature event here last night. The panel of judges was filled with world-renowned adjudicators, we counted at least seven judges from outside the USA out of 15. It was unfortunate that some of our best Rhythm couples were not present.  It is quite a rare occasion to have such a distinguish panel of foreign judges added to the equation, you would have thought this to be a great opportunity for advancement. Nevertheless, Emmanuel Pierre Antoine & Liana Churilova, second in command at last year’s USDC but the defending World Champoions, won every dance with a majority of firsts from the judges. There were some odd marks for Emmanuel & Liana - a number of fourths and thirds were awarded to them.  Their worst judge was Richard Porter from England who awarded them 3 fourths, and he was joined by another English legend, Hazel Fletcher who awarded them 2 third place marks and a second.

Second in this NDCA World Rhythm event wen to Peter & Alexandra Perzhu and they placed second in four dances and third in the mambo. Alexandra sported a beautiful tight fitting black short dress for the final and her loose hair gave her a carefree appearance, totally sexy!  We are not sure about the loose hair though. Maybe it was Alexandra’s loose flowing hair but they too shared in some of those interesting marks from the judges.  Here Donnie Burns MBE, President of the WDC, awarded them four sixth place marks and one fifth, not far behind Richard Porter awarded them four 5th place marks and a fourth, they also manage to take a number of firsts from Emmanuel & Liane, two in the rumba, two in the swing and three in the bolero.

Third place in this World Rhythm went to Misha Vlasov & Vanda Polakova, here they placed third in every dance but the mambo where they took second overall. This was Richard Porter’s favorite couple he awarded them first in every dance but in the cha cha were he place them 2nd. Fourth wen to Shandor Shtefil & Aleksandra Barsukov and they placed fifth in the cha cha and fourth in the other four dances. New on the Rhythm scene Riccardo Papi & Sabrina Moretti were fifth overall 4,5,5,6,6 and sixth was awarded to Sergei Shapoval & Ania Tarnowska who we had a hard time recognizing in the earlier rounds. They sported and outfit that was quite busy and made them both unrecognizable till the final, once here they placed sixth in three dances and fifth in the bolero and mambo. In case anyone is wondering or questioning, the US National Anthem was played at the start of the competition with all couples on the floor as all couples were from USA.

The Amateur Latin was a fantastic addition to this night of shining stars.  WDC World Amateur Latin Champions, Troels Bager & Ina Jeliazkova from Denmark placed first in every dance and took the Embassy trophy home. Troels & Ina won with a huge majority of firsts from the diverse judging panel, but here it was time for the US Judges to hit back.  Ronald Montez delivered the hardest punch awarding them three sixth place marks and a fifth in the cha cha and fourth in the samba. They got also some seconds, these came mainly from our Canadian neighbor, Aigars Stolcers who gave them second in every dance. Their worst dance according to the judges was the jive where even Shirley Ballas awarded them a third. Second in all dances was awarded to Ferdinando Iannaccone & Yulia Musikhina from USA, who were Aigars’s favorite, he awarded them all firsts but in the samba where he placed them third. Third was also taken by Demark, but this time by Morten Lowe & Roselina Doneva and here they placed third in every dance.

Slovenia’s Damir Haluzan & Anna Mashchyts took the fourth overall and fifth in the rumba. Yes, there were many US couples in this heat and two more in the final. Pasha Pashkov & Daniela Karagach who took that fourth place mark in the rumba from Denmark and who placed overall fifth was one of them. The sixth place in this heat also went to the USA this time to Denys Drozdyuk & Antonina Skobina and they took sixth in every dance. To our neighbors up north wondering if there were any Canadian couples in this excellent heat, yes plenty but none made the final.

As we mentioned earlier, the US National Anthem was played a number of times in the late afternoon fro the NDCA World Pro/Am Latin Championships.  One of those times for the “A” division and Cheyenne Murillo dancing with Sasha Altukhov.  They won the “A” by placing first in all dances. Cheyenne won with the majority of firsts in all dances, but here too some of the judges had the “low mark fever.” On this occasion Robert Long awarded her a 6th in the samba.  Second in the “A” went to Vera Xu w/Jakub Zeglen 6,2,2,2,2, and you can see how indecisive the panel was by the sixth in the cha.  Third was Michael Roberts w/Milana Pliner 3,4,3,3,4. Fourth in this excellent final wen to Sabrina Strasser w/Stanishlav Kochergin from Canada 2,5,5,5,3, fifth was Emily Takhtarov w/Evgeny Dyachenko 4,3,4,6,5, and sixth in this heat went to Grace Kuan w/Evgeny likhachev 5,6,6,4,6.

The “B” NDCA World Pro/Am Latin for us was very strong in numbers and in quality.  The final was quite hard-fought but in the end it all went to Russia and to Svetlanta Mukhametshina dancing with Alexander Chesnokov.  Here they placed first in four dances and second on the jive. We must point out that Svetlanta only won two dances with the majority of firsts, the cha cha and the samba, in the other three dances she only managed to capture 3 out of 7.  Second overall went to Tina Broccole w/Delian Terziev. She won the jive and placed second in the C,S,P but an unlucky third in the rumba sealed her fate.  Robert Long was her worst judge awarding her three fifth place marks. Third went to Rhonda Lee w/Daniel Gozzi 3,3,2,4,3, fourth was awarded to Maria Seragou w/Dimitrios Damalas 4,4,4,5,5, fifth was Sabrina Strasser from Canada who also competed in the “A” with Stanishlav Kochergin 5,5,5,3,4, this most have been a tough venture for Sabrina doing this competition with so many heats you have to really be in top shape and for us she is. Sixth in the “B” division went to Loan Lam w/Nikolay Voronovich and they placed sixth in every dance.

The “C” NDCA World Pro/Am Champion was Arlene Yu dancing with Nikolai Shpakov she took first in three dances, second in the jive and third in the cha cha. We must mention that Arlene only managed to win the rumba with the majority of firsts from the judges. Lisa Lowery w/Radek Wiatrowski placed second overall.  She won the jive, placed second on the cha cha, samba and third in the other two dances. Lisa tied for third in the rumba not with the Suzanne Saperstein w/Ricky Bentzen who was third but with Rhonda Lynch w/Stephen McCann who was fourth overall.  Suzanne’s marks for her third place finish were 1,3,2,2,4 and Rhonda’s marks were 4,5,3T,5,3. As you can appreciate the judges were all over the place on this one, even in the fifth place finish that was awarded to Tammy Knight w/Oleksii Lytvyn it was a bit crazy 5,4,5,4,6. Sixth was Joan Goddard w/Chris Johnston and they placed sixth in every dance but the jive where they placed fifth.

The Senior Pro/Am World Latin was also an excellent heat, here Teryl Anderson w/Marcus Johnston was first but not in every dance, in the jive they took second. Susan Sosin w/Roberto Cavallo was second in three dances and third in the jive. As you can see the Senior was a four dance Championship without the paso doble.  Third was delivered to Michaela Puno w/Slava Sergiev 3,3,3,1, as you can appreciate Michaela won the jive. From here down the judges taste for marking up and down settled a bit and fourth went to Penelope Parmes w/Mikail Watkins and they took fourth in every dance, fifth in every dance was Jane Carrus w/Edgar Osorio, sixth wen to Katie Braun w/Alexander Andreev 6,7,6,6, and seventh was awarded to Ilona Abraham w/Vadim Lyubushkin 7,6,7,7.

World Championships were also held in the pro-am junior categories and attracted strong entries.  THe winners were:  Daniel Novikov w/ Alla Novikova (PT);  Ashley Mattingly w/ Cristiano Calegari (J);  Sam Burekovich w/ Natia Kuprava (Y).

The NDCA World Amateur Smooth Title was awarded for the first time this year and it was won by Charlie Roberts & Emily Kapral

The Embassy Ball hosts the US National Formation Championships in Ballroom and Latin and this year the BYU Team won both titles as they have done for as long as the event has been run.  At the conclusion of the awards it was announced that Lee & Linda Wakefield will be stepping down this year as trainers of the team.  What a run they have had!

Also this evening long time sponsor of dancesport throughout the USA, Josie Lee was inducted into the NDCA Hall of Fame.  The presentation was made by Brian McDonald, President of the NDCA.

As you can see it, was a busy and hard tasking day for the Embassy Ballroom Championships, but as always they continue to deliver great quality to the ballroom world.            

An International Flair at Embassy

As the Ballroom section of the NDCA Pro-Am World Championships brought a more international flair to the proceedings with several competitors from overseas contributing to the mix. 

In the final tally, the 4 winners in the open categories came from 3 countries, USA, Canada and Italy.

Beginning with the A division.  The winners was Elisa Dalia Vecchia w/ Ruedeger Homm representing Italy.  Elisa placed 1,2,1,1,1.  In the dances she won, Elisa had the majority of 1st place scores and we felt she offered the best overall package of the final.  Taking 2nd but winning the tango (also with a majority of 1st places) was Melonie Krumer w/ Max Sinitsa.  You will note that these two ladies were also 1st and 2nd in the Smooth, but the result was reversed.  With 4,3,4,3,3, Jenny Kalish w/ Rafael Sabato.  We liked her dancing and judge, Taliat Tarsinov awarded were 2 first placements.  4th spot fell Jacob Tsai w/ Iveta Pauryte-Faraci 3,4,3,4,4; 5th  to Vinnie Miller w/ Anton Koukareko 5,5,5,5,6;  6th to Rebecca Kuhn w/ Andrea Faraci 6,6,6,6,5. 

Celai Chou w/ Erminio Stefano (USA) won the highly contested B division.  Celia received the majority of 1st places in all dances except the VW, although she received all 7 first place marks in QS.  Runner-up today went to Beverly Moore w/ Alain Doucet.  Beverly was easily 2nd in all dances, but surprisingly to us, she did not receive many 1st place scores.  Taking all the 3’s was Lilly Chang w/ Sergei Kiselev.  The judges were split on Lilly’s performance with some marking her in the bottom half of the final, but the majority placing her in the top 3.  We agreed with the majority!  5,5,4,4,4 gave Michelle Peng w/ Mikhail Avdeev the 4th place.  5th fell to Lengzi Gao w/ Kamil Urbanik 6,4,5,5,5.  This is lady we were certainly considering for a top 3 placement!  6th was Audrey Paek w/ Ronen Zinshtein 4,6,6,6,6 and 7th went to Lisa Berry w/ Rauno Ilo.

The C was the largest of the divisions with 35 entries, the event danced over 4 rounds.  The winner of this marathon was Lynn Murrell w/ Alexander Voskalchuk (USA) who placed 1,2,1,1,1.  The scoring in this final was very erratic – the judges were quite at odds.  Lynn fared the best but did not have the majority of 1st places in any dance.  In fact she won the foxtrot without receiving a 1st place from any judge.  Nevertheless, this lady has made great improvement in this style – congratulations!  2nd place went to Lisa Lowery w/ Radek Wiatrowski who was 2nd in 4 dances and won tango.  Lisa has also made al lot of progress in this style.  With 3,3,4,5,4  Connie Edmonds w/ Emanuele Pacchini took 3rd.  4th went to Jill Bradford w/ Gert Roslender 4,4,5,4,3.  That left 2 couples, both of which we felt could have placed in the top half of the final.  5th went to Hye Kyong Park w/ Linas Korieva 5,5,3,3,5 and 6th to Hans Stork w/ Inna Berlizyeva 6,6,6,6,6.  Both of these unlucky couples received some 1st places.

Canada took the Open Senior - Margaret Loo w/ Joel Marasigan placed 2,1,1,1,1.  The runner-up today was Susan Walter w/ Emanuele Pacchini 3,2,2,2.  The winner of the waltz placed 3rd overall 1,3,3,4, and that was Yumiko Nakagawa w/ Robert Nemiro.  4th was Takako Trenholm w/ Valdas Padriezas;  5th Noriko Ide w/ Dariusz Michalski and 6th Gail Sherman w/ Slava Stefanov.

There was some good competition in the pro-am junior and youth divisions.  Lisa Dubinsky w/ Ronen Zinshtein won the Junior and Jacob Tsai w/ Iveta Pauryte-Faraci won the Youth

The pro-am world championship divisions closed the afternoon session.  The main event of the evening was the Open Amateur Ballroom Championship, danced over 4 rounds.  Andres & Veronika End continued their US victory tour with an easy win here taking all dances with a huge majority of 1st places.  2nd went to Canada, the new partnership of James Cutler & Virginie Primeau placed 2,2,2,5,2.  From 2nd to 7th the couples had rather mixed scores from the judges.  3rd place fell to Marek Klepadlo & Liana Bakhitarova 3,3,3,2,3;  4th to Michael Foskett & Nika Vlasenko (England) 4,5,4,3,4;  5th Ruslan Kalyuzhnyy & Kseniya Savenko 5,6,5,6,5;  6th Nicholas & Rochelle Kharlamov 6,4,7,4,7;  7th Taras Savitskyy & Tatiana Seliverstova 7,7,6,7,6.   Watch out for Igor Litvinov’s report in Dance Beat soon.

Two strong Pro Rising Star events were also featured.  The winners of the Smooth were Kyle & Allie Spinder 1,1,1,1.  2nd went to Adrian & Hannah Dydynski 2,2,2,2 and 3rd to Slava Stefanov & Jessica McMorrow 3,4,3,3.

Vitalii Proskurin & Evgenia Shatilova won all dances in the RS Latin.  Jake Davies & Alyona Kalenina (England) were 2nd 2,4,3,2,2 and Pavel Balykin & Meagen Mendoza were 3rd 4,2,4,4,3.

Only 2 couples contested the Pro Cabaret.  Travis & Jamie Tuft were the winners over Ivan Berkovic & Dena Anne Weiner.

One other feature event was the U/21 Latin.  Adam Hathazi & Morgana Lakotos-Hayward (Canada) won all dances.  Taking 2nd, and from the Ukraine, were Maksym Bodnar & Yelzaveta Vnuchkova, 2,2,2,2,2 and 3rd were Dmytry Dmytrenko & Cheyenne Murillo 3,3,3,5,3. 

Two achievement awards are customarily presented at Embassy Ball.  This year the John Ford & Marguerite Hanlon Award was presented to Michael Chapman.  Michael was unable to attend, so the award was accepted on his behalf by Rufus Dustin.  The Bill & Bobbie Irvine Award was given this year to Sammy Stopford.

A North American Draw!

Last night along with 2 renditions of the “Star Spangled Banner,” we also heard “Oh Canada” playing twice during the NDCA Pro-Am World Championships.

All the divisions were excellent so let’s look at them in order.  Melonie Krumer w/ Max Sinitsa won all dances in the A division and for us this lady is unchallenged in this category at the present time.  However, even though Melonie won all dances with a majority of 1st places she did have some judges not as impressed, most notably Hazel Fletcher who placed her 5,2,4,5.  2nd in all dances was Elisa Dalia Vecchia w/ Ruedeger Homm, but she had the majority of “2nd or better” scores in only waltz and in a vagary of the Skating System, Elisa received only one 2nd in foxtrot while still taking 2nd in that dance.  With 4,3,3,3, Christina Diaz w/ Kris Suakjian was 3rd, judge Hazel Fletcher awarded her all 1st places.  Irene Lee w/ Nick Cheremukhin was 4th 3,4,4,4, Liora Paniz w/ Leonid Burlo 5th in all dances, Elena Eroshin w/ Daniel Vasco 6th in all and Joel Jimenez w/ Lisa Cristiani Brown 7th.

The first of the Canadian victories came in the B Division as Joanne Smith w/ Sharon Levit took the competition 1,2,1,1, but it was a tight race with no competitor receiving the majority of 1st places in any dance and several sharing the 1st places.  2nd with 2,1,2,2 was Susan Sidman w/ Gleb Makarov and 3rd, Lisa Berry w/ Rauno Ilo 4,3,3,3.  The whole final was closely scored by the judges.  Sheila Davis w/ Sergey Barsukov was 4th 3,4,4,4; Kako Matumoto w/ Dave Hannigan took 5th 6,5,6,5 and Patricia Schneider w/ Slawek Souchaki was 6th 5,6,5,6.

Beverly Moore w/ Alain Doucet was back on top in the C Division to score Canada’s 2nd victory of the night, but it wasn’t a clean sweep, Beverly placed 2,2,1,1, with the majority of 1st places in the VW.  Lisa Lowery took the runner’s up spot w/ Radek Wiatrowski.   Her scores were 4,1,2,2.  Paige Riffle w/ Alex Zagrean was 3rd today with 3,4,3,3.  Taking 1st in the waltz, but 3,5,4 in the other dances, Lynn Murrell w/ Peter Perzhu was 4th, Monica Broch w/ Kris Suakjian was 5th 5,6,4,6 and Alla Neyshtadt w/ Erik Pali was 6th 6,5,6,5.

The second US victory was in the Senior division where Michaela Puno w/ Slava Sergiev took the title with 4,2,1,1.  This division was the most diversely scored by the judges with almost all couples taking a 1st place in each dance.  2nd went to Doreen Marchack w/ Youriy Pavlov 1,1,2,6;  3rd to Yiru Sethavanish w/ Kris Suakjian 2,4,4,2;  4th to Norio Yamamato w/ Anna Shabazyan 3,3,3,5;  5th to Kathy Boyle w/ Alexander Novikov 5,6,5,3;  6th to Sarah Spindler w/ Eddie Stutts 6,5,6,4;  7th Cher Cunningham w/ Daniel Vasco.

There were two strong Pro Rising Star events danced tonight also.  The Ballroom was headed by two new partnerships.  The win fell to Iaroslav Bieliel & Olga Tsikaliuk 2,1,1,1,1, over Vladislav Shahov & Ekaterina Popova 1,2,2,2,2.  Oscar Pedreinelli & Lenka Kovalcikova took all the 3rds.  Mechyslav Pavlyuk & Gemma Arnold were 4th 4,5,4,4,6;  Simeon & Kora Stoynov were 5th 5,4,6,6,4 and Oleksiy Buravenko & Victoria Kazukhina were 6th 6,6,5,5,5.

The RS Rhythm was also a strong division, we thought it was close between the top 4 couples, but agreed with the judges that Shandor Shtefil & Aleksandra Barsukov got the better of it.  They won all dances in the end.  2nd spot went to recent Rhythm converts Riccardo Papi & Sabrina Moretti, although they scores 2,3,3,3,3.  Taking two of those elusive 2nd places were 3rd placed Donovan Dominguez & Rose Dimov 3,2,2,4,4 and the other 2nds went to 4th placed Andrei Svirydzenka & Yuliya Zubova 4,4,4,2,2.  All the 5ths went to Tommy Belmontez & Jessica Holty; 6th fell to Richard & Marianne Myers 6,6,6,6T,7 and 7th to Martin Barthold & Natalya Bychkova 7,7,7,6T,6.

An upset in form gave the Amateur Masters (+50) Ballroom to John Chen & Jenny Du over Hans & Ans Stork.  It was a Rule 11 tie that broke in John & Jenny’s favor.

Star Spangled

Last night at the Embassy Ballroom Championships the Star Spangled Banner was played 4 times during the award ceremony for the NDCA World Pro/Am Rhythm Championships.  Four US contenders took the honors home.

This was not an unexpected occurrence, the majority of the competitors were from the USA, and right out of hand we only spotted less than a handful from outside the USA. One of the unusual countries participating was Australia, we are sure to get other countries as the weekend continues and the international style categories draw more participation.

Out of the 4 main Rhythm NDCA Pro/Am World Championships, the C, B, and senior were the most populated with a semifinal round in each. The “A” was nearly nonexistant with only two couples participating. As you can see although there were no major rounds to these championships the competitions were still of good caliber and the competitors had a good fight for top placement.

In the “C” category Lisa Lowery partnered by Radek Wiatrowski won all five dances but not all with the majority of firsts. Lisa had a majority of firsts in the cha and rumba, but in the other three dances she only manage to get 4 out of the nine firsts that could be awarded by the judges. When looking at the marks Lisa was given quite a collection of marks down to even a sixth in the mambo from Aigars Stolcers from Canada who was perhaps her worst judge on this panel.

Joan Goddard w/Chris Johnston took second in every dance overall and did manage a number of firsts including three in the rumba and three in the swing. Joan too managed to acquire a few sixes but for her they came from Ronald Montez and Toni Redpath who both awarded her two sixes each. From second down as you will see things got a little murkier Lynn Murrell w/Peter Perzhu were third overall but not in every dance 5,4,3,3,3.  Quin Bommelje w/Misha Vlasov took fourth 3,3,4,4,5. Renee Kuwahara w/Ilya Reyzin placed overall fifth 4,6,5,5,4, and to show you how varied this panel of judges were in their marks, Renee was the recipient of three first place marks form Aigars Stolcers from Canada. Last but not least in sixth position was Sally Bard w/Steve Vasco 6,5,6,6,6.

The “B” was also an excellent event and here Susan Sidman w/Gleb Makarov became the NDCA World Rhythm “B” Champion by winning four dances out of five. Susan took three dances with a majority of firsts, and in the swing she took four out of nine firsts and won. However, in the bolero although Susan took the same amount of firsts (4) she was still second because Shelia Davis dancing with Sergey Barsukov managed to get the majority of firsts in this dance. Overall Shelia Davis placed second and in all dances but the bolero were as we said she had the majority of firsts and was first.

Third in this NDCA Worlds was awarded to Jacqueline Bequette w/Daniel Lee Tran 3,3,3,4,5. Fourth went to Cindy Wang w/Steve Vasco 4,4,5,3,6.  In fifth position was Donna Sparano w/Evgeny Dyachenko 5,6,4,5,4, and in sixth place was M’Balia Tagoe w/Mariusz Zakrzewski 6,5,6,6,3.

Out of such wonderful talent we have seen all year around at Manhattan, Wisconsin State, Empire and even NV Ball, it was a little sad to only have two couples entered the NDCA World Pro/Am Rhythm “A” category, however although this was a small heat it was still a mighty competition with two excellent ladies going head to head.  Nadia Kireyko who has turned from a junior to an incredible, highly skilled and talented lady won the category but not every dance. Nadia placed second in the cha partnered by her teacher, Daniel Vasco. Well knownn competitor Chasity dancing with renowned Rhythm dancer Eddie Ares took first in the cha cha and second in the other four dancing giving them second overall.

The NDCA World Pro/Am Senior division was also well attended with excellent ladies and certainly worth a mention. Quin Bommelje who placed fourth in the “C” division now won the Senior by placing first in all dances. Yiru Sethavanish w/Kris Suakjian placed second overall 2,2,3,2,3, and Sarah Spindler w/Eddie Stutts was third 4,3,2,3,2. The last three ladies in this final were also terrific and they were Cher Cunningham dancing with Daniel Vasco who placed fourth 3,4,4,4,4, Penelope Parmes w/Mikal Watkins took fifth in all dances and sixth was awarded to Ruby Yap w/Felipe Telona Jr.

As rumors had it, the now “Hotel Irvine” (formerly the Hyatt Regency) has ongoing renovations but arrangements have been made so that you can still enjoy a good meal as well as a fun time at the bar, now located in the lobby, for a nightcap if you wish following the competition. The hotel staff have been great and nothing has been missed, even a temporary gym has been set up.

Today we concentrate on the Smooth divisions and we are sure the NDCA World Championships are going to be great as usual.