Le Chic De La Danse

Report by Brian Puttock
Photos by GSR Studio www.gsrstudio.ca

My congratulations go to Alain Doucet, Anik Jolicouer, Francis Lafreniere and Claudia Primeau, organizers of the Le Chic De Las Danse.

I was very happy to accept the invitation to adjudicate at this competition and I was looking forward to spending the weekend with many Canadian friends.

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Reverse Turn at Platinum! It was a reverse turn at Platinum Dancesport last night in the Pro Ballroom. Alexander Voskalchuk & Veronika Egorova were the clear winners taking almost all the judges’ first places.  (Although they did receive one 4th place and two 3rd places from one judge).  The reverse came in the 2nd and 3rd placements.  Last week in Maryland, Gianni Caliandro & Arianna Esposito defeated fellow Italians Emanuele & Francesca Pappacena by 3 dances to 2.  Here it was the reverse, with Emanuele & Francesca placing 2,2,2,3,3 over Gianni & Arianna, 3,3,3,2,2.  Sergey Samchynskyy & Yuliya Besarab were 4th in all dances and Vladimir Triazin & Alicia Gruttadauria were 5th.

It was a great beginning for Maksym Lototsky & Sarah Haworth who won all dances in the Rhythm on their first outing together.  They won all dances, but had the majority of 1st places in only the cha cha and rumba.  Overall the judges’ scores were quite divided in this event.  Another new partnership, Sandor Stefil & Aleksandra Barsukov were 2nd, 2,3,2,3,4.  With 4,2,4,2,3, the experienced Stephen Smyth & Viktoriya Kleyman took 3rd.  Tamas Kardos & Mariya Khristina Shurupova were 4th, 3,4,3,4,2;  Romney Reyes & Brooke O’Donnell were 5th in all dances and Egor Shalvarov & Alla Profatilova were 6th. 4 diverse couples contested the Showdance and the winners were Clifton Sepulveda & Mar Martinez performing to “At Last” in a classical style.  The more whimsical James Brann & Sayra Vazquez took 2nd with a jazzy west coast swing.  Carlos Zapata & Dora Yaneva were 3rd and Paolo & Liene DiLorenzo were 4th. The audience were thrilled with the closing show performed by Canadian Pro Latin Champions and World Finalists, Mauritzio Vescovo & Andra Vaidalaite. Next year Platinum is returning to its Downtown Miami home.  Stay tuned to the Dance Beat Subscriber site for more about this year’s event. Pro Smooth Gives Surprise Ending at Platinum The Pro Smooth was the feature event of Friday at Platinum Dancesport and it yielded a surprise finish.
 
Not too much surprise in the winners, however, as Mikhail & Galina Zharinov won all dances losing only 3 1st places out of 36.  The surprise came with the ascendance of a new partnership, Chris Germain & Olga Chekhova to the runners-up position, besting the established partnership of Vlad & Vera Kosarev by 3 dances to 1.  Vlad & Vera placed 2,3,3,3 to Chris & Olga’s 3,2,2,2.  It was a split panel of judges between the 2 couples, but the majority favored the newbies in 3 dances.  You’ll have to wait until the next edition of Dance Beat (or become a web subscriber) to hear our opinion.  This event began with a semifinal.  The remaining places in the final were:  Stephen Smyth & Viktorija Kleyman (4,4,4,4);  Egor Shalvarov & Alla Profatilova (5,5,5,5) and William Proper & Jennifer Caminas (6,6,6,6). It was also a pleasure to watch the children from the local studio, Dance Town, who performed most of the night in the various junior and youth divisions. For the pro-ams it was a full day of Rhythm and Ballroom, with some strong dancing especially in the Ballroom divisions.

On the first night of Platinum (Thursday) it was all celebration as a cast of dance stars performed for the TAP Benefit Gala.

2 Interesting Duels at Maryland, Saturday

Maryland ended yesterday nights with all the Open Pro divisions.  Two of them provided interesting duels. 
The first was the Ballroom that pitted two Italian imports against each other – Gianni Caliandro & Arianna Esposito and Emanuele & Francesca Pappacena.  Today it was Gianni & Arianna who came out on top winning 3 of the dances.  Emanuele & Francesca won waltz and quickstep.  Each of the dances were won with the majority of 1st places.  Both couples are free-moving and exciting and for us it was a close call.  Find out more in the full article coming soon to Dance Beat.  The remainder of the placements mirrored the Rising Star division.  Oleksiy Buravenko & Victoria Karzukhina (3,3,3,3,3);  She-Young & Adele Jang Don (4,4,4,4,4) and Janis Kukanis & Milda Gecaite (5,5,5,5,5).

The second of the interesting divisions was the Rhythm.  This was won by Andrei Svirydzenka & Yuliya Zubova 1,1,2,1,1.  We thought they had a great night, showing great confidence and a lot of soul.  They won their 4 dances with a slim majority of 1st places.  2nd and winning the swing, were Shane & Shannon Jensen (2,2,1,2,2).  They offer a cleaner look than the winners, but for us didn’t really get into the mood tonight.  The remainder of the couples finished in the same position in all dances.  3rd, Stephen Smyth & Viktoriya Kleyman;  4th Romney Reyes & Brooke O’Donnell;  5th Jonathan Green & Carol Ann Miller;  6th Don Beedle & Jenn Christophel.

The Latin also proved and interesting duel between two very different couples.  The winners were the energetic and passionate Dmitry Nikishkin & Oleana Shvets.  They won 4 of the dances, all with the majority of 1st places.  Winning the rumba and taking 2nd in the other 4 were the tall and elegant Rangel Spirov & Veronika Chernyavska.  Very different to the winners both in appearance and style.  10-Dancers Sey-Young & Adele were 3rd in all dances.  A new couple to us, Vladimir Velev & Lily Kolman were 4th in all.  Zsolt Katona & Timea Potys were 5th (5,5,6,6,5) and Denis & Amanda Satonin were 6th.

The most clear cut from the judges’ standpoint was the Smooth.  This went to Kostadin Bidjourov & Erin Marie who easily won all dances.  We also liked the strong movement from runners-up, Morten Jensen & Tonya Martin (3,3,3,3).  In 3rd place was a brand new partnership of two experienced dancers – Chris Germain & Olga Chekhova.  We’re not sure if this was their first competition together, but there is certainly potential here.  They were 3rd in all dances.  4th were 9-Dancers Stephen & Viktoriya (5,5,4,4) and 5th Serge & Yana Nelyubov (4,4,5,5).  Jeffrey Golitiao & Katt were 6th.

The evening ended with an entertaining pro show produced by JT Thomas.  It had a Valentine’s theme and was entitled “Sweet Treats.”  All the numbers had “candy” themed music.  In a great “role reversal” it was the lady adjudicators who ended the show (lately it has always been the men).  Rita Algarra, Polina Pilipenchuk, Amanda Reyzin and Lydia Petrigova strutted their stuff to the enjoyment of all.

It was a really long day of pro-am dancing.  All of the Ballroom and much of the Latin was held today including both sets of Open Scholarships.  In both styles the B offered the best competition.  Yanina Kisler w/ Peter Walker comfortably won the Ballroom B, winning all dances.  2nd in all was Tomoko Shimizu w/ Emanuele Papacena and 3rd in all Kelley Weld w/ Slava Sergiev.  The C fell to Krista Stewart w/ Igor Pilipechuk who also won all dances.  2nd went to Sue Gershowitz w/ Nikolai Pilipenchuk (2,2,2,2,3) and 3rd was Julia Wang w/ Peter Walker (4,3T,4,3,2).  Jennifer Fales w/ Slava Sergiev won all dances in the A.  2nd went to Lisa Dodd w/ Garry Gekhman (2,2,2,2,3) and 3rd to Chris Nunes w/ Lisa Vegas (3,3,3,3,2).

Missy White w/ Genya Bartashevich won all dances in the B Latin.  2nd went to Kelley Ward w/ Slava Sergiev (3,2,2,2,2) and 3rd to Erica Triscan w/ Sergey Izyumov (2,4T,4,4,3).  Ann Morsili w/ Tibor Kerekes won the C, taking all dances.  2nd was Sue Gershowitz w/ Nikolai Pilipenchuk (2,3,2,2,2) and 3rd Laura Stolman w. Genya Bartashevitch (3,2,4,3,3).  A good duel in the A resulted in a win for Sarah Gladish w/ Ilya Reyzin (1,1,1,2,1) over Joanna Wa w/ Anton Tregubov (2,2,1,2,2).  3rd was Lauren Lapointe w/ Louis Bar.
Janice Stanton w/ Clive Phillips won the Best of the Best 10-Dance Challenge.

Pro-Am Smooth Strong At Maryland!

Yesterday the pro-am smooth topped the bill and the Open Scholarships were strong. 
After Thursday’s triple win for the men, Chris Nunes w/ Lisa Vegas kept up the tradition winning all dances to take the Open A.  Nicole Vass w/ Scott Ruddick was 2nd 2,3,2,2 and Lauren LaPointe w/ Louis Bar took 3rd 3,2,3,3.

Helena Kostik w/ Mazen Hamza took all dances in the B and showed a lot of improvement.  Also challenging, we thought, was Chris w/ Lisa once again.  He was 2nd in all dances.  Anna Boyd with Kirill Gorjatsev was 3rd in all dances.

Darla Davies w/ Jim Maranto was on form and won the C quite easily we thought and she did win all dances.  Renee Kuwahara w/ Ilya Rezin was a strong 2nd in all dances.  3rd went to Amy Pollinger w/ Slava Sergiev, again in all dances.  Darla w/ Jim also won the Best of the Best 9-Dance Challenge.

The evening finished with two rising star events.  The largest was the Rhythm.  Shane & Shannon Jensen were the easy winners here, taking all dances.  Also winning all dances in the Ballroom were Oleksiy Buravenko & Victoria Karzukhina.

“Let’s Hear It For The Boys!”

It was guys’ night out last night at Maryland Dancesport in the Open Rhythm Scholarships.  Gentlemen students won all 3!
Xavier Paol Aria w/ Mariangeles Moussou won all dances in the A, Giovanni Fortezza w/ Jolanta Mosteika won all danes in the B and Philip Widlanski w/ Jolanta Mosteika won the C 2,1,1,1T,1. We felt the C was actually the strongest division and this started with a semifinal.  2nd went to Darla Davies w/ Jim Maranto 1,2,2,1T,3 and 3rd to Renee Kuwahara w/ Ilya Reyzin 3,3,3,3,2.  2nd in all dances in the B was Angela Morisson w/ Peter Santiago and 3rd in all, Blaire Miller w/ Clive Phillips.  Lauren LaPointe w/ Louis Bar was 2nd in the A, 2,3,2,2,2 and Nicole Vass w/ Scott Ruddick was 3rd, 3,2,3,3,3.

There were 2 straight finals in professional rising star divisions.  Sey-Young & Adele Jang Don won all dances in the Latin and Jeffrey Goltiao w/ Katt won all in the Smooth.

Joining the organizational team of Glenis Dee and Andrea Ringold this year here at Maryland Dancesport is Blake Kish.

WDSF! A Work in Progress!
Report by Didio Barrera

Last year I attended a number of WDSF events in many different venues, including the second largest of the Olympic affiliated games in the world, the World Games held last year Cali Colombia and organized by the IOC. Although I tend to be more on the side of the art (Dance) rather than the sport, I find it incredible how far this organization has taken Dancesport as an “official” Olympic sport.

"I'd like to see Paris before I die, but Philadelphia will do!" Mae West.  Want to know more .......

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World Dancesport Series Pro-am Rhythm Scholarships

Report by Didio Barrera

The World Pro/Am Dancesport Series Rhythm divisions at the Ohio Star Ball were excellent, there were plenty of couples and all heats were huge, but it is not the amount but the quality of the dancing that made it special for me.

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