Professional Ballroom had strong competitors from the semi-final. First place went to First Igor Colac and Roxane Milotti (1,1,2,2,1). Their lowest marks came from Vibeke Toft who placed them fifth in all dances. Second place went to Cristinan Radvan and Kristina Kudelko (2,2,1,1,2). Leonid Burlo and Liana Bakhtiarova took third place (4,4,3,3,3). Rufus Dustin had them marked sixth in all dances. In fourth place were Radu Sterban and Xenia Cletova (3,3,4,5,4). Slava Kostianets and Veleriia Kostianets in fiftht (5,5,5,4,5). In sixth place were Serhiy Averkov and Olena Barna (6,6,6,6,6). Anatoli Triliskiy was their best judge marking them first in all dances.

• Pro Ballroom Pro Ballroom
•  

The Amateur Latin Championship had a Rule 10 for first place. After all counts, first place went to Yevgenii Orlov and Maryna Yerina (1,1,1,3,2) and second to Roman Drobotov and Natella Devitskata (2,2,2,1,1). Both couples are strong and stood out as entertainers to the audience. In third place were Danya Rubashevsky and Anastasiya Visotska (3,3,3,2,3). Bob Powers had them marked first in all five dances. Eric Ascione and Stephani Sosa placed fourth (5,4,4,5,4). In fifth place were Jacob Murillo and Alexis Warr (4,5,5,4,5). Their best scores came from Stuart Cole, who marked them first and second across the board. Sixth place went to Zlatko Devcic and Rhonda Lee (6,6,6,6,6).

• Amateur Latin Amateur Latin
•  

The Senior I Ballroom Championship events had some strong competitors with very high quality dancing. Definitely goes to show that sometimes age has no boundaries. First place went to Dan Manea and Mia Hu (1,1,1,1,1). In second were David Gretchell and Allison Gonzales (2,2,2,2,2). Peter and Teresa Jockel took third (3,3,3,3,3). In fourth place were Jonathan Crawford and Brenda Dalzell (4,4,4,4,4). John Huang and Angela He in fifth (5,5,5,5,5).

• Senior I Ballroom Senior I Ballroom
•  

Professional Rhythm had only a three couple final. Nations leading finalist Andre and Natalie Paramonov placed first (1,1,1,1,1). Up and coming from California Riccardo Papi and Sabrina Moretti took second place (2,2,2,2,2). Third place went to Miguel Dominguex and Genevieve Paz (3,3,3,3,3).

• Pro Rhythm Pro Rhythm
•  

The Professional Rising Star Latin had some strong couples. The marks were consistent across the panel for most of the competiros. In first place by one point higher mark were Audrii Voloshko and Kateryna Kyrylenko (2,1,2,1,1). In second were Sasha Altukhov and Cheyenne Murillo (1,2,1,2,2). Sergei Panchenko and Natalia Zakrevskaya placed third (3,3,3,3,3). Karlis Treijis and Anastasiia Krivosheeva took fourth place (4,4,5,4,5). In fifth were Aleksander Vukosavljevic and Jess Li (5,5,4,5,4). Sixth place went to Dmitriy Solomakha ande Kateryna Kyrylenko (6,6,6,6,6).

• RS Latin RS Latin
•  

Rising Star Pro Smooth had a three person final. First place were Serhiy Averkov and Olena Barna (1,1,1,1). In second were Brent Bianchini and Christina Musser (2,2,2,2). Miguel Dominguez and Wendy Lopez took third (3,3,3,3).

For entertainment there was a broadway-esk performance by Imaginatio Arts with a live band. The ensemble included famous ballerina Mariko Ishikawa and two acrobats off a Cirque du Soleil. The show was themed “Catch the Train” – and told a story of passengers, with of course a beautiful stunt girl falling in love with the conductor. This production arts company is directed by Chelsea Farrah.

• 
• Imaginatio Arts Imaginatio Arts
•  

Session ended when the clock rung twelve, and everyone enjoyed an ending to the night with a catered dinner in the open atrium.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Autumn Dance Classic kicks of in San Francisco with Smooth Tour!

This is the fifth year of Autumn Dance Classic hosted by Jonathan Wilkins & Olga Foraponova. The hotel went through renovations since last years event, giving it a fresh and chic new look.

This is matched in the ballroom, where new furniture gives the ballroom a more open and bright new look as chair and table covers weren't used. This year there is a more diverse U.S. judging panel with less international judges. 

• Judges Judges
•  

The city of San Francisco at the Autumn Dance Classic, hosted another leg of the Star American Smooth Tour, and we are getting closer and closer to the grand prize of almost $60,000.00 to be given at the City Lights Open 2017.

Last night was very interesting as it has been on every stop of this American Smooth Tour. The winners of the four-dance group competition were Nick Cheremukhin & Viktorija who won all dances and we mean all dances they also won the Star Tour Solo performance with a total of 90.86 from the judges. Unfortunately for them in the Star Tour the audience also has a say and this has always been their “Achilles” heal.  On this challenge the audience voting only awarded them 1.5 points towards their final tally, placing them in third position overall on this leg of the tour with a total amount of 116.36. We think perhaps their absence at a couple of the tour stops really affected them and without the audience behind them, they will place highly but not strongly enough to knock down the other front runners in this race. In the overall Star American Smooth Tour race after this competition they continue to be in third position.

• Smooth Showdance Finalists Smooth Showdance Finalists
•  

There was another interesting change at this leg and that was the overtake of Max Sinitsa & Tatiana Seliverstova who placed second overall under Kyle & Allie Spinder who won this leg. Max & Tatiana were second in all four dances to Nick & Vicktorija, this gave Max & Tatiana 20 points. Their solo was not as well received by this panel of judges their score was 86, giving them a third place just a hair below Kyle & Allie. One of Max & Tatiana’s strengths is usually the people’s vote but even here they had to take second to Kyle & Allie Spinder with only 15 points allocated from the audience. In the overall race Kyle & Allie continue behind Max & Tatiana in second place, but this was an excellent run for this couple if they want to overtake the front runners. The winners of this leg of the tour as you can see by now were Kyle & Allie Spinder, and we should call them the “people’s” couple because they were by far the favorite of all the audience in the ballroom and on the internet all over the US and around the world. They performed a somewhat recent and freshly premiered routine by the theme of "Mary Poppins" that had great style and choreography. When it came to the audience vote they were far away from the pack they earned a whamming 27.5 from the audience. As you can see they were to be the audience favorite. Kyle & Allie were second best to Nick & Vicktorija when it came to their solo performance they got 86.14 for this effort a .14 advantage over Max & Tatiana. When it came to the four compulsory dances the judges awarded them 12 points. In the end all their scores gave Kyle & Allie a lead of 125.64 total, giving them first place in this leg. However, they continue to be second in the overall race, they need a few more of these to move ahead.

• Kyle & Allie Spinder Kyle & Allie Spinder
•  

During the awards presentation Matt Rivers & Maliwan Diemer were called as the audience favorite and they did get a few points, 6 total for this, but it was a miscommunication between the poll assistant and the MC, who announced Matt & Maliwan as the audience favorite, this was corrected immediately and the couples exchanged envelopes but we apologize for the slight confusion at that moment.

It must have been a little disappointing for Max Sinitsa & Tatiana Seliverstova who had been winning some of the Star American Smooth Tour stops, but on this venture they had to take second overall as we mentioned their solo was placed third by the Judges with 86 points total, .14 under Kyle & Allie’s solo. Maybe this new lower point total is due to a little slip-up they had with the leash prop. They did get 20 points for their placements in the four dances of the group competition. However, they needed a bigger push when it comes to the audience they were only awarded 15 points for this effort this time, not enough to overtake Kyle & Allie, but still good enough to keep them in first place for now in the actual race. 

Fourth in this leg was awarded to Matt Rivers & Maliwan Diemer, who were the couple chosen to perform by the audience in the Star Tour Solo as the wildcard. They did not earn any points for dancing in the final since they did not made the final on their own, but the tour always awards them 3 points in recognition of the audience vote. They got the lowest score from the judges for their solo performance a 73.86, and the audience was also lukewarm for them, this time 6 points were awarded to them. They are now in fifth position in the overall race.

We must point out that Kris Suakjian & Briana Haft were scheduled to dance unfortunately due to injury they had to withdraw.  Kris & Briana are now in fourth position in the overall race. We hope they heal quickly and we look forward to seeing them on the Ballroom floor real soon.

There were 3 couples that made this final but elected not to perform a solo. They were Yegor Novikov & Alexandra Smirnova who were 3rd in all dances. Evegeny Malkov & Anna Shabazyan were 5th in all dances and Slava & Valeriia Kostaniets were 6th in all dances.

• Pro Smooth Pro Smooth
•  

Other events this night included the Professional Latin which began with a semi-final. First place went to the Mykhailo Bilopukhov with Anastasiia Shchypilina (1,1,1,1,1). Second place Ilya Maletin and Polina Maier (3,2,2,2,2). Vitali Proskurin and Natalia Barntaseva (2,3,3,3,3) placed third. Vitali has been out for sometime due to a past injury and it is great to see him back on the floor with this his new, but seasoned, partner. Stephen Hannah marked them first in all dances. Fourth place was Audrii Voloshko and Kateryna Kyrylenko (4,4,4,4,4). Their largest supporter was Svyatoslav Vlokh who marked them first in all dances. Igor Colac and Roxane Milotti placed fifth (5,5,5,5,5). New to the west coast was Karlis Treijs and Anastasiia Krivosheeva placing sixth (6,6,6,6,6). 

• Pro Latin Pro Latin
•  

Amateur Ballroom was a straight final. In first place was Andrii Mykhailov and Anna Bohachova  (3,1,1,1,1). Second place went to Marek Klepadlo and Yang Zhi Ting (1,2,3,2,2,). Misha Vorobiev and Sonya Tsekanovsky took third (2,3,2,3,3). In fourth place Daniel Rubashevsky and Anastasiya Visotska  (4,4,4,4,4). Cezary Dyrda and Jennifer Chin placed fifth (5,5,5,5,5). In sixth place was Yates/Yates (6,6,6,6,6). 

• Amateur Ballroom Amateur Ballroom
•  

Professional Rising Star Ballroom was a semi-final round with interesting marks for all couples across the board. First place went to Slava and Valeriia Kostianets (1,1,1,1,1). In second place was Radu Sterban and Xenia Cletova (4,3,2,2,2). Placing third was Serhiy Averkov and Olena Barna (2,2,3,4,4). Karlis Treijs and Anastasiia Krivosheeva took fourth (3,4,4,3,3). Alex and Grace Want placed fifth (5,5,5,5,5). In sixth place were Dmitriy Solomakha and Gabriela Sevillano (6,6,6,6,6). 

In Under 21 Latin went from a six person to a two person final due to late diverted flights from Southern California. Second place was Braden Liu and Alayna Zenger (2,2,2,2,2). First went to Eric Ascione and Stephani Sosa (1,1,1,1,1). 

The competition continues today and it is expected to be a fantastic day and night of competitions.