• Open Pro Ballroom Open Pro Ballroom
• Stefano DiBrino & Bianka Zubrowska Stefano DiBrino & Bianka Zubrowska
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The Open Professional Ballroom had the most entries and was in our opinion the best show of the night. Stefano Di Briano & Brianka Zubrowskova won the competition easily with the majority of firsts in all dances and for us Stefano was one of the few gentleman in the group to actually look as if he was holding a lady in his arms and not just a tool. Igor Coloc & Roxanne Milotti placed second overall and although they are quite efficient in the skill at times it could easily look like an exercise and not a dance. Third went to Yuriy Nartov & Sarika Hudson taking third in all dances and fourth were Sarosh Ahman & Zoe Whydrough, leaving fifth place to Japan’s Shoji & Yushiko Fujimi.

• Open Pro Rhythm Open Pro Rhythm
• Danus Jaksevicious & Yuki Haraguchi Danus Jaksevicious & Yuki Haraguchi
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The Professional Rhythm was a four couple final that perhaps left many of us wondering what each one of the couples were trying to do. Danas Jaksevicius & Yuki Haraguchi won all dances with a majority of firsts in all dances, but to us they went from pose to pose as if they were in a photo shoot and not a dance floor. Their worst judge was PJ Navarro who awarded them 3,4,4,4. Second in this heat went to Riccardo Papi & Sabrina Moretti and they placed 2,2,3,2T,2, this in our opinion was perhaps the only couple that could have challenged, however, they seemed to just be going through the motions and in our eyes they spent the time just walking. Third was awarded to Ryan Lockhart & Danelle Newman 3,3,2,2T,3, and fourth was Mitchel & Bobbie Kibel and they took fourth in every dance.

• Pro Showdance Pro Showdance
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There were just two couples in the Professional Showdance and the easy winners in our eyes were Misha Belfer & Julie Garczynski. Although the routine seemed a little rough, it had a wonderful composition and idea. Second was awarded to Igor Coloc & Roxanne Milotti. We should point out that Misha & Julie only lost 3 first place marks to Igor & Roxanne.

As we mentioned earlier the majority of the time during this last day at the Colorado Star Ball was spent on the International Ballroom division in the pro/am field. There were two Global Closed International Ballroom Scholarships that are worth the mention, the silver and the bronze . The silver was awarded to Pat Kayser w/Timmy Merz and they placed 2,1,3,1,2, second in this heat wen to Darcy Adamszyk w/Gary Dahl 1,4,2,3,1, and third was Sara Hadley w/Yuriy Kravets. The Bronze Global was award to Defne Dinler w/Yuriy Kravets and they placed first in all dances, second went to Eloise Abraham & todd Munson 2,2,3,2,2, and third was Sherri Hansen w/Timmy Merz 3,3,2,3,3.

• Open PA Ballroom A Open PA Ballroom A
• Open PA Ballroom B Open PA Ballroom B
• Open PA Ballroom C Open PA Ballroom C
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In the Open International Ballroom Scholarships the “B” division was the strongest and here Rachel Schans w/Timmy Merz was the overall winner 1,1,1,1,3, second went to Nadia Tippett w/Yuriy Kravets and they took all seconds and third was Mike Brown w/Anna Oblakova. In the “C” divicion there was a five couple final and here Mike Brown w/Anna Oblakova took the prize home 2,1,1,1,1, second was awarded to Nadia Tippett w/Yuriy Kravets 1,2,2,2,2, and third wen to Gina Hsu w/Alexander Novikov and they took all thirds. The “A” was a two couple race and this went to Rachel Schans w/Timmy Merz with first in all dances, second was Darcy Adamczyk w/Gary Dahl.

With this, the final day the Colorado Star Ball came to a close. As usual there was an after party and in the Jennifer & Richard Booth style food dancing and a live band was provided making it a terrific closure to this four-day competition and the 20th anniversary of the Colorado Star Ball.

 

A Night to Remember!

Last night at the Colorado Star Ball the second Leg of the Star American Smooth Tour took place. The ballroom was packed to the max and the American Smooth couples were brilliant! The overall winners of this leg were Max Sinitsa & Tatiana Seliverstova who were second overall by the judges’ scores but managed to be third favorite with the audience receiving 11.5 extra points and this propelled them to a first place position on this leg of the tour with 124.21 points. In the actual race Max & Tatiana are now in second position overall.

• Max Sinitsa & Tatiana Seliverstova Max Sinitsa & Tatiana Seliverstova
• Max Sinitsa & Tatiana Seliverstova Max Sinitsa & Tatiana Seliverstova
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Second on this leg of the tour was awarded to Nick Cheremukin & Victorija. They are new to the tour and this was a strong showing for their first stop. Nick & Victorija were the judges’ favorite in both the group competition and the solo performance with a 94.71.  Unfortunately for them, their audience appeal was not as strong as Max & Tatiana’s they only manage to get 1.5 extra points from them, putting them behind by about two points with a total of 120.21 points. Nick & Victorija are now in fifth position overall on the tour.

• Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija
• Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija
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 Third in this impressive leg of the tour were Kris Suakjian & Briana Haft with 110.79 points total. Here the judges really helped. They tied for the popular vote with fourth place winners Roman Malkasyan & Kat Wager with an incredible tie of 14.5 points each. However, when it came to the judges it was close but the judges really liked Kris & Briana’s solo performance and awarded them an 88.29 compared to the 77.00 points awarded to Roman & Kat. Kris & Briana are fourth in the overall race of the Star American Smooth Tour.

• Kris Suakjian & Briana Haft Kris Suakjian & Briana Haft
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 Roman & Kat placed fifth overall in this leg of the tour with an overall score from the audience, the judges and their group competition of 104.50 allowing Kyle & Allie Spinder the current front-runners on the Star American Smooth Tour, to maintain their lead as front runner in this excellent race. Kyle & Allie were fourth on this leg of the tour with 108.21 points, but as we just said they are still leading on the overall Star American Smooth Tour race and Roman & Kate are third overall.

• Roman Malkasyan & Kat Wager Roman Malkasyan & Kat Wager
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 Misha Belfer & Julie Garczynski, the wildcard couple (The audience pick) placed sixth overall on this leg of the tour and David Estrada & Maria Koukovkaya placed seventh.  Both these couples are new to the tour. For exact scores on this leg of the tour go to www.dancebeat.com and click on the “Star Tours” link and look under results.

• Star Smooth Tour Star Smooth Tour
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The tour was one of the main features yesterday night but two other mega stars closed this incredible night of entertainment here at the Colorado Star Ball - World Professional Ballroom Champions, Arunas Bizukas & Katusha Demidova and World Professional Latin Champions, Riccardo Cocchi & Yulia Zagoruychenko. This was an incredible finale to this year’s 20^th anniversary of the Colorado Star Ball.

After this incredible night the organizers took to the floor to a standing ovation that lasted almost 5 minutes, this showed how much their local audience and dancers participating love Richard & Jennifer Booth.

• Richard and Jennifer Booth Richard and Jennifer Booth
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 The Open Professional Latin also took place and here Roman Italyankin & Alexandra Bokova placed first, Igor Coloc & Roxanne Milotti were second in every dance and Keenan & Laura Smout placed third.

• Roman Italyankin & Alexandra Bokov Roman Italyankin & Alexandra Bokov
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 The Rising Star Professional Rhythm also took place this night and here a six-couple final was called. Riccardo Papi & Sabrina Moretti won 1,3,2,1,1, Ryan Lockhart & Danelle Newman placed second 2,1,1,2,2, and Daniele Cavallo & Leela Fazzuoli were third 3,2,3,3,3. In the Rising Star Professional Ballroom Yuriy Nartov & Sarika Hudson were first, Sarosh Ahmad & Zoe Wydrough place second and Shoji & Yushiko Fujimi from Japan.

• Rising Star Rhythm Rising Star Rhythm
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 We want to congratulate Richard and Jennifer Booth for running a first class operation for 20 years, last night’s standing ovation needs no explanation about how they have managed this competition for the past 20 years.

The pro/am Global Closed Rhythm Silver Scholarships were great and here we had a 7 couple final placing first in this heat was Jessica Mancini w/Golden Parker, second was Courtney Bluger w/ Rainier Rics and third went to MaCall Berger w/Volodia Ishchenko 3,3,3,4,4.  The Closed Bronze Rhythm Global Scholarships were also excellent and well attended.  Here Leanne Mellado w/Golden Parker won overall 1,1,1,2,1, second was Defne Dinler w/Yuriy Kraves 2,2,2,1,2, leaving third to Ashley Melville w/Scott Koogle.

The Pro/Am Open Rhythm “A” Scholarship was well attended and here Ashley Petip w/Todd Munson won every dance, second was awarded to Michelle Young w/Scott Koogle, and third went to Suzanne Dircherl w/Nathan Bales. The “B” was also well attended and here Karen Angel w/Gleb Makarov won all dances, Sizanne Discherl w/Golden Parker was second and Enid Rhodes w/Jerry Robles placed third.      

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A Hero’s Welcome At Colorado!

Last night there was a “Hero’s” welcome at the Colorado Star Ball, it was just before the nightclub session and some of the officials including our “no lack for humor” organizer Richard Booth.

• Dan Messenger as Batman Dan Messenger as Batman
• Brent Mills as Clark Kent Brent Mills as Clark Kent
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The night started with the Rising Star divisions and some Pro/am scholarships as you will read later on but the highlight of this evening was the Hero’s introduction with even a flying Superman.

The Professional Rising Star Smooth was the largest of the professional events this evening and here Roman Malkhasyan & Kat Wager won all dances and the competition. Second place went to David Estrada & Maria Joukosvkaya and they placed second in all dances and third was Kyle & Christina Campbell with the scores off 3,3,3,3. The were only two couples in the Rising Star Professional Latin and here Keenan & Laura Smout placed first in all dances and Shoji & Yushiko Fujimi took all seconds.

• Ava Kaye as Cat Woman Ava Kaye as Cat Woman
• Richard Booth as Joker Richard Booth as Joker
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Colorado Star Ball is the home of the Bronze and Silver Global Smooth Scholarships and these events were greatly attended. The Bronze was won by Defne Dinler partner by Yuriy Kraves and they placed first in all dances, second went to Leanne Mellado & Golden Parker taking all seconds and Grace Holub w/Toby Munroe who placed third in all dances. The Silver Pro/Am Global Smooth Scholarships was awarded to MaCall Berger w/Volodia Ishchenko taking first in all dances, second went to Nichelle Kennedy w/Igor Afonkin 2,2,3,3, and third was Jessica Mancini w/Golden Parker 3,4,2,2.

The Smooth Open “B” Scholarship was also great and here Karen Angel w/Gleb Makarov won all dances. Second in all dances went to Elizabeth Rocco & Eric Hudson, and taking thirds was Nichelle Kennedy w/Igor Afonkin. The “C” was a five couple final and that went to Susan Haynes w/Sergey Nekrasov placing first in three dances and second in the VW, third was awarded to Danee Shelton w/Robert Nardozza 2,3,2,1. The “A” Smooth was also a five couple contest and here Dawn Mersich w/Youriy Pavlov won overall but not all dances 1,2,1,2, and in the end there most have been a rule to break the tie to have her take the lead because Dawn Ashley Petit w/Todd Munson won also the other two dances 2,1,2,1. Third went to Darcy Adamczyk w/Gary Dahl and they placed third in all dances.

Tonight the big games begin with the second official leg of the Star American Smooth Tour and a couple of other professional events. It should be a very exciting evening so tune in to Dancebeat.com to watch it all unfold.