They also had competitions on being great teachers and great specialists who deal with everyone that wants to social dance, and all were rewarded with wonderful prizes.

From about 8AM yesterday morning the professional competitions began and over 90% of the events had quarterfinals and first rounds. Many of the couples competed in the 4 styles that everyone knows both in the Rising Star and open categories. The most populated events were the Smooth and Rhythm categories with huge entries in both. The Ballroom and the Latin were not as popular but they were beautifully presented as “invitational events” and some very well known couples both from the professional and amateur ranks outside the Arthur Murray organization were invited to compete and this made these two categories as impressive and as exiting as the Open Smooth and Rhythm Championships.

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As the previous night, Brent Mills provided and directed the live band and we must say that it was fantastic for both the Pro/Am the night before and last night for the professional finals. All the musicians were fantastic and you could tell they were very experienced, never getting ahead of themselves or changing their tempo, something very important for a ballroom competition.

Before we fill you in as to who won what, we most let you know that in AMI the professionals in all styles have to do an extra dance. For example, in the professional smooth the chairman choses one of the four dances and the couples have to do it, but it’s all restricted to basic figures only, and so the professional smooth that only has 4 dances is tabulated as a 5-dance event including the basic dance. All heats start with the basic dance and the couples do not know what dance the chairman of judges is going to chose for that round. I asked the organizing committee and they told me that Arthur Murray wants their professionals to improve their basic skills of dancing, not just learn step and tricks and as we all know very well, that can only be really improved by perfecting your basics skills. So if you want to compete in AMI you most do your homework you can’t just learn tricks and interesting bits.

• Mark & Melanie Perkovich Mark & Melanie Perkovich
• Pro Smooth Pro Smooth
• Daniele Scalise & Alla Andriushchenko Daniele Scalise & Alla Andriushchenko
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Six couples were called for the final of the Open Professional Smooth and here you will see how each couple did including that fifth dance. The overall winners in all dances were Daniele Scalise & Alla Andriushchenko and they took first in all dances including the basic dance. Second was awarded to Mark & Melanie Perkovich and they took second in all dances and these two couples were very close and we can easily see why they were first and second. Things were not as clear from third place on Drew Miller & Krista Humphery placed third but not in all dances, they placed 4 in the basic dance, 4th in the waltz and 3rd in the other three dances. Fourth place was not clear either, here Alessio Miraglia & Stephanie Van Der Poll placed 3,3,5,6,6. Fifth position was awarded to Peter Hahn & Jude Coraldi 6,6,4,4,4, and in sixth place were Jimmy Mulligan & Dani Atkins 5,5,6,5,5. The couples here were all from AMI and we have to say that the level of expertise was terrific from the earlier rounds on.

• Pro Rhythm Pro Rhythm
• Dmytro Gurkov & Snow Urbin Dmytro Gurkov & Snow Urbin
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The Rhythm, as we mentioned was also very populated but in our opinion, not as proficient as in the Smooth. The Rhythm as the Smooth had also a basic dance so the competition was decided by 6 dances rather than just 5 as it is in the independent world, and here Dmytro Gurkov & Snow Urbin won all dances including the basic dance. Second was awarded to Andrei Svirdzenka & Yuilya Zubaba who placed second in all six dances, leaving third to Donovvan Dominguez & Rose Dimova and they took third in all dances. From fourth place down there were some variables Evgene Parkhimovich & Anna Lukashova took fourth overall but not in all dances 5,5,5,4,4,4, fifth place was awarded to Volodymyr Nikolalev & Polina Ishchenko with this marks 4,4,4,5,5,6, and last but not list in sixth place was Kervin Valdizan & Maria Paz Leon taking sixth in five dances and fifth in the mambo.

• Invitational Ballroom Invitational Ballroom
• Anton Lebedev & Anna Borshch Anton Lebedev & Anna Borshch
• Rudy Homm & Katya Kanevskaya Rudy Homm & Katya Kanevskaya
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In the Open invitational Ballroom (amateur and professional) 6 couples were called back for the final, from a strong semifinal and here Rudy Homm & Katia Kanevskaya won the competition by placing first in four dances and fourth in the foxtrot. In the invitational competitions there was no compulsory basic dance that the couples had to do, we presume because some of the invited couples are not accustomed to doing this. Second went to Anton Lebedev & Anna Brosch 2,2,4,2,2. On this we have to disagree with the judges, we felt that Anton & Anna were far superior to Rudy & Katia, from the start they were more musical, moved with a terrific ease and were not even at the same level. Third in this very interesting event went to Gaetano Lavarone & Emanuela Napolitano 4,3,2,1,3, fourth were Oskar Wojciechowski & Carolina Holody 3,4,3,3,4, fifth went to Oleksandr Kalenyuk & Olena Abiltsova who placed fifth in all dances and sixth was James Cuttler & Vriginia Primeau. We have to say that we really enjoyed the dancing of Oleksandr & Olena, and we felt that they too could have been marked a little higher.

• Invitational Latin Invitational Latin
• Nikolai Voronovich & Maria Nikolishina Nikolai Voronovich & Maria Nikolishina
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The Open Invitational Latin was only a three-couple final and the competition went to Nikolai Voronovich & Maria Nikolishina placing first in all dances, second were Roberto Imperato & Beatrice Tibera who took all seconds and third went to Davide Fumagalli & Deborah Macaluso.

We saw so much dancing during the day and we were so impressed with the organization’s forward thinking that we feel it necessary to mention some of these memorablel events and who won some of them.

The Professional Bachata, went to Kervin Vandizan & Maria Paz Leon from Ecuador. The Professional Hustle was awarded to Jimmy Mulligan & Dani Atkins. The Professional Night Club Two Step went to Jean & Wendy Dobre. And last but not least, one of our favorites of the day, the Professional Salsa went to Kervin Vandizan & Maria Paz Leon from Peru.

We want to say congratulations to John Kimmins, Arthur Murray’s president and to his team, lead by Tom Murdock for putting on such a fantastic festival. It was very interesting for us and very exiting to see that the world of Ballroom dancing has not forgotten its roots and that in this world dance organization the word “social” is not a bad word, but something you do and enjoy! Congratulations on the 1016 Superama!

AMI - All about the fun!

Last night at the Arthur Murray Superama in Las Vegas, Nevada, the evening began with all pro/am scholarships and it progressed into a carnival party of colors and costumes, where everyone had some fluorescent kind of “bling” on.

The evening concluded with some excellent professional dancers, the one group from Peru brought the house down with a medley of cha cha/salsa.

The professionals’ dancing during the costume party was a delight but the evening attraction was the pro/am scholarships. The Smooth and Rhythm scholarships were heavily contested with full quarter final rounds for most of them.

• Open Pro-Am A Smooth Open Pro-Am A Smooth
• Open Pro-Am B Smooth Open Pro-Am B Smooth
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The “A” Smooth category was very contested. Seven couples were called back for this final and the easy winners winning all dances was Alicia Hawryluk with Dmytro Gurkov, who placed first in all dances. Second was a different story here it was really contested. There was a tie between the two ladies and a rule 11 had to be called. In the end Jaravae Christensen w/Justin McClendon won the event, her overall scores before the tie was broken were 2,2,3,3. Third after the tie was broken went to Rebecca McCarthy w/Peter Hahn and their scores were 3,3,2,2. Fourth in this heat was awarded to Carolyn Dominguez w/ John Lenio, 4,4,4,5, fifth was Jed Tiongson w/ Daniela Fisher, 5,5,5,4, sixth place went to Ariana Kuninleavitt w/ Ray Guzman sixth in all dances and seventh was Joanne Middonte w/Christopher Smith.

The “B” Smooth also ended up as a seven couple final and here Dianne Dale & Luis Dettling were the winners placing first in foxtrot and VW, second in the waltz and third in the tango. Second place was Megummi Nishitsuji from Japan w/Ludovic Moureau and they placed 1,2,2,3. We must point out before going further that last time we covered the Superama there were not many studios from Japan, this year they were in full force and also the studios from Peru had quite a number of excellent dancers. Olga Popovich w/ Volodrymyr from Kiev, Ukraine placed third overall in this competition with the following scores 3,1,3,2. Fourth place was Lucie Trepanier w/Michael Hovover placing fourth in all dances, fifth went to Maria Swanson w/Octavio Morales 6,5,5,5, sixth was awarded to Debra Hoag w/Gherman Mustuc 5,6,7,7, and finally in this heat seventh went to Kyle Campbell w/Susan Johnson 7,7,6,6.

They also ran just a gentleman’s division for the “B” and this went to Robyn Murcar w/Andrea Stein placing all first from Canada. Second was awarded to Denis Dale w/Carolyn Dominguez who took all seconds and third was John Hirsch w/Jackie Bower. We must point out that many of the Pro/am Scholarships from yesterday were won by Canadians, we will keep and eye on this but is Canada’s dancing surpassing the USA’s?

The “C” Smooth like most competitions around the USA was also a hit here. Gay Griffin w/Blaine Beirne won all dances, Cathy Rivers w/Javier Ochoa took all seconds, leaving third to Ling Chi Yen w/Kyle Campbell 5,3,4,3. Fourth was Clare Seagren w/Christopher Stone 4,5,3,4, fifth went to Linda Newkirk w/Christopher Muller 3,4,5,5, Sixth was awarded to Joey Sena w/Shanti Mathan 6,7,6,6, Seventh was Heidi Ernst w/Michael Hoover 8,6,8,7, and last but not least in eighth place was Tracy Ludwing w/Timothy Hipper 7,8,7,8.

As we mentioned previously the Rhythm Categories were also well attended with also first and quarter finals in these heats.

• Open Pro-Am A Rhythm Open Pro-Am A Rhythm
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In the “A” category the winner was Daniela Fisher w/Jed Tiongson with the scores of 1,2,1,2,1, Alicia Hawryluk w/Dmytro Gurkov was second 2,1,3,1,2, leaving third for Jeravaee Christensen w/Justin McClendon 3,3,2,3,3. Fourth went to Carolyn Dominguez w/John Lenoi 4,5,4,4,4, fifth was Rebecca McCarthy w/Peter Hahn 5,4,5,5,5, sixth was awarded to Ariana Kuninleavitt w/Ray Guzman and they took all sixths, leaving seventh to Joanne Middonte w/Christopher Smith.

The “C” category of the Rhythm style was also terrific and here Gay Griffin w/Blaine Beirne placed first in all dances, second was Cathy Rivers w/Javier Ochoa but here the scores were a little more varied 2,3,3,2,2, and third went to Clare Seagren w/Christopher Stone 5,2,2,3,3. Fourth was Heidi Ernst w/Michael Hoover 3,4,4,5,4, fifth went to Shanti Mathan w/Joey Sena 4,5,5,4,5, and sixth was Maris Villarreal w/Octavio Morales from Peru.

• David Ambrecht w/ Leslie Spearin David Ambrecht w/ Leslie Spearin
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There was a Gentlemans’ “B” in this division as well and this was awarded to David Armbrecht w/Leslie Spearin, they won all dances, second was Danis Dale w/Carolyn Dominguez placing second in all dances and third was John Hirsch w/Jackie Bower.

The Ballroom and the Latin were very small scholarships compared to the Rhythm and Smooth, but a couple are totally worth the mention.

The “B” Ballroom was excellent quality and this went to Olga Popovych w/Nikolaie Volodymyr from Kiev, Ukraine wining all dances, second went to Debra Hoag w/Gherman Mustuc, third was Susan Johnson w/Kyle Campbell and fourth went to Lucie Trepanier w/Michael Hoover. The “C” Ballroom was also good in quality but only two couples competed, here Cathy Rivers w/Javier Ochoa won overall but not all dances 1,2,1,2,1, Lin Chi Yeh w/Kyle Campbell placed second 2,1,2,1,2.

• Afterparty fun Afterparty fun
• Afterparty fun Afterparty fun
• Birthdays Birthdays
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The Pro/Am Scholarships were fantastic but what made this wonderful feast of dance so incredible was how much fun these people had at the after party. Everyone was in costume, we ourselves ended up having our faces painted. Most of the after party was about what Arthur Murray is all about and that is about social dancing, everyone was up on the floor costume or not enjoying themselves, at some point a few birthdays were called and soon it was award time for the best costumes of the evening. I have to say that this element of enjoyment is very contagious and it’s something that I wish most of all the independent world should see and want to take part in. It is so much more fun when you are able to have a laugh and not a bad feeling after messing up your routine, it is so important not to forget the reasons why we all started dancing, the “social aspect” of this industry.

My congratulations to John Kimmins and his team who have managed to get through these 16 thousand entries without a hitch and with a lot of fun! Today it is all about the professionals dancing I already saw the Bachata first round that started this morning with 60 couples. I also had a great time with the Salsa group of professionals also with what seemed to be a bigger group than the Bachata. Keep and eye out for my report on the conclusion of the AMI International Superama from Las Vegas, Nevada.